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More Bus Moves


sw4400

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In this case, it was a fill-in run from Forest Glen. You see, this morning North Park was short on operable 40-footers: A run on the full 151 to Devon run was filled in with a Kedzie 40-foot hybrid bus (805) while a run on the #49 Western was filled in with another Kedzie 40-footer (1647).

Actually it looks like patbarn350 was on to something about 1222 being at NP as a loan because tonight it's on 147. So when he saw it on 206 the other day on what should have been a NP run, it was in all likelihood a NP run and not a Forest Glen fill in.

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Actually it looks like patbarn350 was on to something about 1222 being at NP as a loan because tonight it's on 147. So when he saw it on 206 the other day on what should have been a NP run, it was in all likelihood a NP run and not a Forest Glen fill in.

That might have been because NP lost some of its 40-footers to down south. NP lost 1309 to 77th and 1758 and 1759 to 74th just recently. Thus, FG loaned 1222 and Kedzie loaned 805 and 1647 to NP to compensate.

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1760 going EB #67 @ 67th/Jeffery via LaRabida.

Implication that 74th either got a bus back or something just above its range. However, since it was indicated that 74th was running the R69, it obviously would need some additional equipment to do so.

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That might have been because NP lost some of its 40-footers to down south. NP lost 1309 to 77th and 1758 and 1759 to 74th just recently. Thus, FG loaned 1222 and Kedzie loaned 805 and 1647 to NP to compensate.

Yeah it could be since even with giving 1152-1161 back to 74th along with giving up 1162-1166 to that garage, Kedzie sounded like it was still at somewhat of a surplus of buses given until Sunday it had pretty much all the 1590s after fall and winter transfers from Chicago plus traded out 7 or 8 4000s for about double that number delivered.

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Bus 1222 is on route 22 at this time.

I chalked that one up as a temporary transfer from FG to NP of that particular bus.

Also, with the Red Line reconstruction project underway, it is not surprising that the #29 State (normally a 103rd-only route) is being operated out of all three of the South Side garages (74th, 77th and 103rd) during rush periods.

By the way, the run number display on 6478 might not have been working properly that time: That bus was one of four Novas that 77th transferred to 74th (along with 6594, 6595 and 6663) weeks before the Red Line project began. In return, for the duration of the project, 74th loaned out 6641 to 77th.

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I chalked that one up as a temporary transfer from FG to NP of that particular bus.

Also, with the Red Line reconstruction project underway, it is not surprising that the #29 State (normally a 103rd-only route) is being operated out of all three of the South Side garages (74th, 77th and 103rd) during rush periods.

By the way, the run number display on 6478 might not have been working properly that time: That bus was one of four Novas that 77th transferred to 74th (along with 6594, 6595 and 6663) weeks before the Red Line project began. In return, for the duration of the project, 74th loaned out 6641 to 77th.

Well with news reports that CTA made the on the spot tweak of adding ten extra evening rush buses on the 29 and an unspecified number to the morning rush after seeing Monday morning buses on that route overcrowded it's definitely not a surprise that all three south garages put buses on the route.

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#1040 from Chicago Ave is operating on the #28 Stony Island

Chicago did send buses 1038-1040 down to 103rd just before the Red Line reconstruction began. Chicago Ave. Garage lost at least 14 buses to down South in the weeks leading up to the start of the Red Line project. First, it lost 1585-1591 to 74th. Then, just before the project began, it lost 1038-1040 to 103rd and 1928-1931 to 77th.

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Yeah it could be since even with giving 1152-1161 back to 74th along with giving up 1162-1166 to that garage, Kedzie sounded like it was still at somewhat of a surplus of buses given until Sunday it had pretty much all the 1590s after fall and winter transfers from Chicago plus traded out 7 or 8 4000s for about double that number delivered.

Actually, 1166 is still at Kedzie. After last summer, Kedzie gave back 1152-1159 to 74th while also handing over 1160-1165 to that garage as well.

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Chicago did send buses 1038-1040 down to 103rd just before the Red Line reconstruction began. Chicago Ave. Garage lost at least 14 buses to down South in the weeks leading up to the start of the Red Line project. First, it lost 1585-1591 to 74th. Then, just before the project began, it lost 1038-1040 to 103rd and 1928-1931 to 77th.

I thought 1591 was one of those 1590s that made its way to Kedzie for a while before moving south.

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I thought 1591 was one of those 1590s that made its way to Kedzie for a while before moving south.

Last year, Kedzie did have 1591 for a few days when it picked up 1591-1595 from Chicago. But after a short stay at Kedzie, 1591 went back to Chicago Ave. while Kedzie kept 1592-1595. And of course of the 1590s it had, 1592, 1593 and 1597 were transferred to 103rd for the Dan Ryan Reconstruction Project pick; Kedzie still has 1594, 1595 and 1596.

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From a short distance, I observed bus 1262 working the 90 Harlem attempt to make a right turn from North Blvd onto Marion. That is about a 105 or 110 ° turn. As I approached, he figured out he couldn't make it and decided to back up. First problem was he had to wait because cars behind.him decided to squeeze between his right and the curb going under the viaduct. A 305 bus showed and blocked traffic. Problem 2 was the driver of bus 1262 couldn't get the bus to back up. You could hear the warning beep that indicated that the bus.was in reverse, but every time he tried, the bus lurched forward, which put him closer and closer to the abutment in the middle of the street under the viaduct. I suggested to the driver to shut down the engine and restart it, hoping to reset the transmission He did but still wasn't able to get bus to back up. Finally another 90 showed and that driver shut the bus down again, waited about 30 seconds, restarted the bus and backed it up. Then the original driver got behind the wheel and drove away.

I wonder if he was one of the ,400 new hires. I would think that if he was trained on this route, he would know the turn is normally made at Forest/Home. I have only seen 2 40' buses successfully make that turn, and only one did it without having to back up. Thus when North Blvd is closed, CTA buses continue south to Washington on Harlem and.305 buses continue north on Harlem to Lake. Optima buses have made this turn as well.

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... First problem was he had to wait because cars behind.him decided to squeeze between his right and the curb going under the viaduct. A 305 bus showed and blocked traffic.....

Aside from all the other technicalities, and even though buses have an R selection, I can't see how one can back a bus up, since there is no way of seeing what's behind you, given the lack of a back window (not that it would make any difference) and the back being 40 feet behind the driver.

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Actually backing up with a bus is easy. Its just using your mirrors. The chief thing is to make sure no one is in directly behind the bus, which of course is a blind spot. If necessary, I would get off the bus and visually check before moving the bus.

Even when driving a car, I use the mirrors as opposed to turning my head and body back .

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I sometimes wonder about these ZF transmissions and their reliability. It seems odd that you have to shut the bus down and restart it to get it into "R" because it seems like the bus is lurching forward, not backward. I've noticed this with buses in "N", both NOVA and New Flyer with the ZF transmission... it seems like many drivers have to go "D", "N", "D" just to get the bus out of Neutral. I rarely see a CTA Operator put his/her bus in "R", but I'm sure the same thing has to be done there too.

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I sometimes wonder about these ZF transmissions and their reliability. It seems odd that you have to shut the bus down and restart it to get it into "R" because it seems like the bus is lurching forward, not backward. I've noticed this with buses in "N", both NOVA and New Flyer with the ZF transmission... it seems like many drivers have to go "D", "N", "D" just to get the bus out of Neutral. I rarely see a CTA Operator put his/her bus in "R", but I'm sure the same thing has to be done there too.

I remember driving an MCI 102C3 coach that would "freeze" in gear while going down the highway. In other words, it wouldn't shift to the next highest gear. This isn't good on the expressway when the coach won't go more than 40 mph. I would have to pull over, put the bus in N, shut it down and restart it. Once I put it in D and started rolling, I could do the speed limit. But that was 18 years agi.. ZF laterwhich they use in their trucks and Prevost coaches. came out with a 10 speed with a clutch, but no stick shifter. Nowadays they have the automatic 12 speed that shifts like a manual, but its computerized. Volvo also now has a similar tranny called I-Shift.

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Actually backing up with a bus is easy. Its just using your mirrors. The chief thing is to make sure no one is in directly behind the bus, which of course is a blind spot. If necessary, I would get off the bus and visually check before moving the bus.

Even when driving a car, I use the mirrors as opposed to turning my head and body back .

One time on the 95E, the operator had to make a 3-point turn out of Avalon onto 93rd St cause he made a right instead of a left at Woodlawn &93rd. And that is a pretty tight spot.
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