June 14th Changes

[Busjack]

I wonder what caused the postponement of this change. Was there a major uproar?

I had put on the CTA Tattler suggestions page that CTA should consider community transit in that area.

However, I am sure that there is a 99.9% chance that isn't the reason.

[jajuan]

Well yesterday was the last day of the 38, now to be combined with the 157 come Tuesday. I'm wondering how long it will take to take down the other half of 38 signs not replaced with 157 ones I still saw up yesterday in the UIC vicinity.

[busfan2847]

Well yesterday was the last day of the 38, now to be combined with the 157 come Tuesday. I'm wondering how long it will take to take down the other half of 38 signs not replaced with 157 ones I still saw up yesterday in the UIC vicinity.

Near the east campus all 38 signs were being taken down Thursday lunchtime and had been replaced by 157. Caused a problem Friday afternoon when tow women who had been to Staples at Canal/Roosevelt wanted to catch a 157 to Michigan & Chicago from Taylor! There were no route change notices on the bus stop and they almost would not get on the 38 that stopped to pick them up.

[jajuan]

Near the east campus all 38 signs were being taken down Thursday lunchtime and had been replaced by 157. Caused a problem Friday afternoon when tow women who had been to Staples at Canal/Roosevelt wanted to catch a 157 to Michigan & Chicago from Taylor! There were no route change notices on the bus stop and they almost would not get on the 38 that stopped to pick them up.

Not all of them were taken down. I typed that post on Friday evening after still seeing half the 38 signs still up on campus on Taylor Street and in the medical district as of the start of Friday's PM rush. Other changes we know are happening are the addition of midday hours for the 18 on weekdays and the extension of the 67 to Ford City. 94 is getting extended by one hour Mon-Sat evenings, 53A local gets a later Sunday evening end time, and 53A Limited gets extended local service from Pulaski/51st Orange Line up to 31st during the AM rush period to name a few other changes.

[qwantae]

I drove from my home to Burbank this morning, I went to stop by Ford City Mall for early shopping. When I turned off Pulauski into mall ramp (76th) by Daley College. I spotted unknown NF #160_ with #67 sign turning at that intersection, then I spotted 2-3 Flxs #6000s sitting at Ford City Lot near Wendy's where they usually sit at for break. It's about time for #67 to Ford City and Its great to see #6000s back at Ford City after 8-9 years since 6000s left 77th for Nova 6400s. I love old days.

[jajuan]

Coming home from work today, I spotted 1664 on the 157 going what's now considered WB for the new combined route at Ogden/Taylor. It didn't have an updated destination sign yet. The sign still showed what was the SB destination of the previous 157 that terminated at Harrison/Desplaines. I also noted that there are still 38 signs up on what is now the new 157 Streeterville/Taylor and there are no notices up letting people know that the 38 got merged into the 157. CTA has to get it together in informing people who don't necessarily have access to the internet like us when there are major changes to service like this one.

[Busjack]

At least they got BusTracker fixed quick.

The question: Didn't CTA at least put the paper signs on the poles holding up the bus stop signs, or are they relying only on the computer printing enough of whatever they put on the metal signs to cover them? It seems like there are complaints that they were too fast on some and too slow on others.

[New Flyer]

The same can be said for 67th bus to Ford City. No paper signs along west end of route but a new sign far side at 71st/Pulaski and in front of Daley College.

[jajuan]

At least they got BusTracker fixed quick.

The question: Didn't CTA at least put the paper signs on the poles holding up the bus stop signs, or are they relying only on the computer printing enough of whatever they put on the metal signs to cover them? It seems like there are complaints that they were too fast on some and too slow on others.

If they did they may not have posted them on all because I don't remember seeing any before the 38 signs that did get replaced with the new 157 ones got taken down. And I don't remember hearing any mention of any. The route is taken by a few coworkers, and the previous changes made (the split from the former 37, reinstatement of midday service, and the cutback to California at Mt. Sinai Hosp) got talked about a couple weeks before they happened because folks saw notices about them. I didn't hear many people talking about the most recent change this time around.

[busfan2847]

If they did they may not have posted them on all because I don't remember seeing any before the 38 signs that did get replaced with the new 157 ones got taken down. And I don't remember hearing any mention of any. The route is taken by a few coworkers, and the previous changes made (the split from the former 37, reinstatement of midday service, and the cutback to California at Mt. Sinai Hosp) got talked about a couple weeks before they happened because folks saw notices about them. I didn't hear many people talking about the most recent change this time around.

They had posted them on most but not all bus stops between downtown and the UIC East Campus (this is the section I catch daily). For the people that regularly catch the 38 there have been announcements of the upcoming change for the last three weeks on board buses (usually as the bus travels along Taylor from Clinton to DesPlaines in either direction) and signs on stops have been up for at least two weeks. The stop at Clinton north of Madison which was no longer served had a number of notices including one that said passengers would have to move a block south to Monroe to catch the 157 which appeared last Thursday.

Some of the buses today did have the new destinations (Streeterville/ Taylor is a two line display). Some were still showing the old Streeterville destinations as far as I could see all were making announcements that the route was Steeterville/Taylor to California even when (for instance 1625) the display showed Harrison as the terminus. The driver of 1625 this morning stopped at all stops downtown on Clinton and called out that the 157 had replaced the 38.

[jajuan]

They had posted them on most but not all bus stops between downtown and the UIC East Campus (this is the section I catch daily). For the people that regularly catch the 38 there have been announcements of the upcoming change for the last three weeks on board buses (usually as the bus travels along Taylor from Clinton to DesPlaines in either direction) and signs on stops have been up for at least two weeks. The stop at Clinton north of Madison which was no longer served had a number of notices including one that said passengers would have to move a block south to Monroe to catch the 157 which appeared last Thursday.

Some of the buses today did have the new destinations (Streeterville/ Taylor is a two line display). Some were still showing the old Streeterville destinations as far as I could see all were making announcements that the route was Steeterville/Taylor to California even when (for instance 1625) the display showed Harrison as the terminus. The driver of 1625 this morning stopped at all stops downtown on Clinton and called out that the 157 had replaced the 38.

Ok. But the more important point is not all signs were changed, and a number of CTA passengers have a bad habit of not listening to the automated announcements. Of course in the case of the nonlisteners, that's their problem. But for the passenger who may not be as frequent a rider on this route, they should have done a better job of communicating the change. The route does of course go beyond the Medical District and UIC campus. Sure there were notices posted along the route portions you mentioned but not along Western for instance though the Western stops now say 157. As I mentioned today and Friday, even in the UIC vicinity there are still route 38 signs. And keep in mind that not all riders are hearing customers. What of them in the case of the buses that had the old 157 terminus. Make sure all bases are covered for those who would make the reasonable effort to keep abreast of that sort of info. There is no reason that there sholud still be half-stepping (thinking of the fact that a year after the west terminus change and nine after the east terminus change, maybe half the 12 signs still display this route operating between Monitor and Museum Campus) like they obviously still have a knack of doing on keeping people informed of a big service change like this.

[BusHunter]

Ok. But the more important point is not all signs were changed, and a number of CTA passengers have a bad habit of not listening to the automated announcements. Of course in the case of the nonlisteners, that's their problem. But for the passenger who may not be as frequent a rider on this route, they should have done a better job of communicating the change. The route does of course go beyond the Medical District and UIC campus. Sure there were notices posted along the route portions you mentioned but not along Western for instance though the Western stops now say 157. As I mentioned today and Friday, even in the UIC vicinity there are still route 38 signs. And keep in mind that not all riders are hearing customers. What of them in the case of the buses that had the old 157 terminus. Make sure all bases are covered for those who would make the reasonable effort to keep abreast of that sort of info. There is no reason that there sholud still be half-stepping (thinking of the fact that a year after the west terminus change and nine after the east terminus change, maybe half the 12 signs still display this route operating between Monitor and Museum Campus) like they obviously still have a knack of doing on keeping people informed of a big service change like this.

It looked yesterday like the #157 in the downtown area wss not running too frequently. At 4:30 in the afternoon there were only two buses in the loop (Halsted to Lakefront) It might have been because of Oprah. The former #38 territory had about 4 0r 5 buses, it seemed to be running better. Let's see how it runs today. I guess we won't see any more artics on the #157 unless they want to run them down Taylor which looks kind of tight to me.

[jajuan]

It looked yesterday like the #157 in the downtown area wss not running too frequently. At 4:30 in the afternoon there were only two buses in the loop (Halsted to Lakefront) It might have been because of Oprah. The former #38 territory had about 4 0r 5 buses, it seemed to be running better. Let's see how it runs today. I guess we won't see any more artics on the #157 unless they want to run them down Taylor which looks kind of tight to me.

You might be right about it being Oprah Bushunter. 143, 144, 145, 146, 147 and 148 were also affected on their southern ends close to Oprah's party for a bit yesterday afternoon. 148 especially was showing more buses beyond the portion of the route than in the vicinity of the Oprah taping. They were showing up in groups of three almost right behind each other once north of Ohio.