New Express Routes Coming Soon.

[Busjack]

I took a trip out to NWTC. The correct signs are now on the bus shelters, with a different text code for each. The 611s are wrapped community vehicles, the one I saw was 16404. The destination sign for 607 is ELGIN/RANDALL PNR. Finally, the sign for 757 was changed to 757 HARLEM/SOUTH BLVD/CTA GRN LINE.

[Pace831]

9 hours ago, Busjack said:

Passenger Notice that 606 will be improved to once every half hour on weekends, effective Mar. 5.

High ridership is the cited reason, which can probably be attributed to the new connecting routes at NWTC. Ridership was already very good even before the improvements.

3 hours ago, Busjack said:

I took a trip out to NWTC. The correct signs are now on the bus shelters, with a different text code for each. The 611s are wrapped community vehicles, the one I saw was 16404. The destination sign for 607 is ELGIN/RANDALL PNR. Finally, the sign for 757 was changed to 757 HARLEM/SOUTH BLVD/CTA GRN LINE.

I drove the tollway west of Schaumburg Thursday night. All the pavement and lighting is finished, all the way to Rockford. The overhead digital signs are all in place but not yet activated. At Barrington Road, they are starting to put up the steel structure for the pedestrian bridge. The ramps and the tunnels under them were completed a while ago. Randall Road had about 25 cars in the park n ride.

[pudgym29]

On 1/28/2017 at 10:23 AM, Busjack said:

There used to be a 555 between Elgin and Prairie Stone (generally interlined with 554). Again, since there was a call to retain 554 and none to retain 555, I don't think the demand is there.

True, but the recent pdfs indicate that the Barrington Road distributor is to serve south of the Tollway.

There should be some semblance of a transit route from Chicago | Rosemont for events at the "white elephant" Sears Centre Arena (which nobody really want to go to), where even musical legends cannot sell out the facility, and second tier sports franchises suffer lethal blows.

[BusHunter]

I took a count one morning in the AM rush to see how many riders got off a #603 and I counted 6 riders, so I don't know how successful ridership is so far. But to be fair no there isn't a bos lane established yet and yes the service is new. As an operator told me years ago with new service, the riders have to find the new service and adjust to it, plus in this case be lured out of there cars.

What hasn't really been established is how the buses will run through toll plazas as that's where all the waiting is on the tollway. I would make all those buses use a standard I-pass lane to avoid any trouble. Trouble is that can't be done at the River road toll plaza unless they wanted to go to Cumberland. Might be why I see most buses take the I-90 detour as that toll plaza gets ridiculous in the rush.

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, pudgym29 said:

There should be some semblance of a transit route from Chicago | Rosemont for events at the "white elephant" Sears Centre Arena (which nobody really want to go to), where even musical legends cannot sell out the facility, and second tier sports franchises suffer lethal blows.

I don't know what the deal Pace has with 222 to Allstate Arena, but your post implies that Sears Centre would have to have a similar draw for 610 to be scheduled as other than a Park and Ride route to Sears Centre.

30 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

What hasn't really been established is how the buses will run through toll plazas as that's where all the waiting is on the tollway. I would make all those buses use a standard I-pass lane to avoid any trouble. Trouble is that can't be done at the River road toll plaza unless they wanted to go to Cumberland.

Since Pace buses ride toll free, I assume they are I-Pass or just blow through the I-Pass lane without getting a violation notice. The issue at Rosemont is that there used to be a ramp from the toll plaza directly into the bus station, but that doesn't seem to have been reconstructed. If Pace can have special access to the Ill.25 proposed Park & Ride, I don't see why the ramp to Rosemont can't be built. Obviously, Cumberland is not an option (remember the plan for a flyover from the tollway to Cumberland) or Pace would now use it instead of I-90 to the Mannheim cloverleaf turnaround.

[BusHunter]

I wonder after the flyover gets built they wouldn't just be better off running the #600's through the I pass lanes at the river road toll plaza and going via the flyover to cumberland blue line. You know if they did that both ways they could have direct station access. When you think about it the River Road and Higgins to expressway option is slower than that. All this touring of the O'hare  area is not too fast either. They sometimes get hung up at the tri state toll plaza there where they get on i-190.

[west towns]

i believe access to cumberland is by the manual booths so the ipass lanes wont work.

 

could the ohare detour remain due to the cta gate construction?   Maybe they are waiting for completion then starting instead of having to detour again

[Busjack]

30 minutes ago, west towns said:

could the ohare detour remain due to the cta gate construction?   Maybe they are waiting for completion then starting instead of having to detour again

More than likely.

[Busjack]

4 hours ago, west towns said:

i believe access to cumberland is by the manual booths so the ipass lanes wont work.

I haven't been out there since the reconstruction, but is it something like on the Tri-State at Touhy (NB) or Irving Park (SB)? If so, there still is an IPass only lane next to the attendant ones on the "local" side of the barrier.

[west towns]

Are the cta parking gates in yet?

[Busjack]

Passenger Notice that the detour via I-190 is to end Monday.

On 3/13/2017 at 6:39 PM, west towns said:

Are the cta parking gates in yet?

Yes.

[Busjack]

On 3/29/2017 at 9:56 PM, Busjack said:

Passenger Notice that the detour via I-190 is to end Monday.

Yes.

I scoped it out again today. The gates with lanes are in. The strange thing is that the lane that the buses use is the southernmost one. Then, to the north is the in parking lot lane,a lane that had automobiles stacked in it, and the automobiles exit lane.

Also, on the toll plaza question, the right lane is marked "Authorized Vehicles Only."

[Pace831]

Work on the Barrington Road bridge is progressing. They have the steel frame over the highway in place and faux-brick panels on the stair/elevator towers.

[Busjack]

4 hours ago, BusHunter said:

...

I wish I could say the same about the I-90 express'. I took a round trip on a midday #603 I only had myself and someone else going with me on the bus, coming back had 3 or 4 riders counting me...

While I was at Elgin transit center, I saw how River was scheduling it's operators. They all seem to do reliefs right there at the Elgin terminal. The #603 I came back on became a #600, so I bet then a #600 becomes a #603 for a relief.....

Paragraph 1: Since the reference was to I-55 you have to first remember that there was a contractor operated 855 before that, and the surprise in Oct.2011 was that the BOS was to be operated by Pace employees. It's had 5 years to develop ridership since then. The split into 850.851/855 happened several years into the process. The route also went from the about 8 buses initially assigned to something like 27 now.

On the other hand, before any of this started on I-90, the only express service was rush hour 600 in the rush direction and 610 in the reverse rush direction. Ridership isn't going to develop instantly, and I've mentioned several times that CMAQ assumes a 3 year trial. One also has to consider that the Barrington Road and Ill. 25 park and rides have not opened yet, and the Ill. 25 one hasn't even had the contract awarded. All the Elgin and Randall Road buses are planned to stop there.

 

Paragraph 2: If 603 becomes 600, that's a deadhead, but not an unheard one. However, since 600 becomes 607 at NWTC, it isn't going to the Elgin TC. I'm not going to question what you saw, but the more likely thing is that something at Elgin becomes a 607.

 

[BusHunter]

Might be a #603 becomes a #600 a #600 becomes a #607 a #607 becomes a #605 and a #605 becomes a #603. Theres probably variations on that though. That sounds like too much time for 4 hrs travelling but I could be wrong 

[garmon757]

46 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Might be a #603 becomes a #600 a #600 becomes a #607 a #607 becomes a #605 and a #605 becomes a #603. Theres probably variations on that though. That sounds like too much time for 4 hrs travelling but I could be wrong 

Did they use to do that with 606-600-600-606-616???

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Might be a #603 becomes a #600 a #600 becomes a #607 a #607 becomes a #605 and a #605 becomes a #603. Theres probably variations on that though. That sounds like too much time for 4 hrs travelling but I could be wrong 

If there is a relief at the Elgin TC,it isn't.

Schedule indicates a single trip on 600 takes 30 minutes, 603 40 minutes, 605 40 minutes, and 607 28 minutes, so a round trip can be made in about 90 minutes, which is a heck of a lot shorter than most local routes, some of which have 3 hour segments.

What seems to be the solution, is that while 607 runs consistently at every 30 minutes, 600 runs every 15 minutes in the rush hour. Maybe the deadhead from the Elgin TC is for the couple of additional buses needed to do that.

20 minutes ago, garmon757 said:

Did they use to do that with 606-600-600-606-616???

600 was a return trip of 606, rush hour only, 616 was never interlined with anything.Later on (after Academy folded), all were some mixture of R and NW, until 600 was made exclusively R-East Dundee. One 616 trip goes to and from Itasca, but since the rest are reverse rush only, there may be a question what they become at Rosemont.

[garmon757]

39 minutes ago, Busjack said:

600 was a return trip of 606, rush hour only, 616 was never interlined with anything.Later on (after Academy folded), all were some mixture of R and NW, until 600 was made exclusively R-East Dundee. One 616 trip goes to and from Itasca, but since the rest are reverse rush only, there may be a question what they become at Rosemont.

Thanks!

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, Busjack said:

If there is a relief at the Elgin TC,it isn't.

Schedule indicates a single trip on 600 takes 30 minutes, 603 40 minutes, 605 40 minutes, and 607 28 minutes, so a round trip can be made in about 90 minutes, which is a heck of a lot shorter than most local routes, some of which have 3 hour segments.

What seems to be the solution, is that while 607 runs consistently at every 30 minutes, 600 runs every 15 minutes in the rush hour. Maybe the deadhead from the Elgin TC is for the couple of additional buses needed to do that.

600 was a return trip of 606, rush hour only, 616 was never interlined with anything.Later on (after Academy folded), all were some mixture of R and NW, until 600 was made exclusively R-East Dundee. One 616 trip goes to and from Itasca, but since the rest are reverse rush only, there may be a question what they become at Rosemont.

Im coming up with about 2hrs 40 minutes if you figure #603 is a round trip. If you look at the #603 schedules layover at rosemont in the midday is like 20 minutes. Thats too high to me. I think almost all #603's originating at rosemont came as something else. So adding up the layovers of maybe  5-10 minutes per stop, actual running time could be about 3hrs 40 minutes so it sounds like that is what they are doing cause its close. Theres a relief car stationed  at elgin btw.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Theres a relief car stationed  at elgin btw.

If you mean one of those gray Pace automobiles, there usually is one.

I thought there would have to be one if the relief point is the TC rather than the East Dundee Garage. Relying on 543 would be too chancy.

BTW if you want to compare a long route, add up the numbers for the following, which appears to be one interlined trip:
 

565?	Waukegan to COLC
574	COLC to Hawthorn
272 	Hawthorn to Golf Mill
272 	Golf Mill to Hawthorn
574	Hawthorn to COLC
572	COLC to Waukegan.

No wonder the driver needs to stop at the Dunkin Donuts in Prospect Heights.

[Busjack]

Daily Herald article on approval of rebuilding the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) from 95th to Balmoral, with an explicit reference to "a 'Flex Lane' for express buses."

[BusHunter]

3 hours ago, Busjack said:

Daily Herald article on approval of rebuilding the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) from 95th to Balmoral, with an explicit reference to "a 'Flex Lane' for express buses."

Question is now does Pace want to jump on that with a multi bus corridor? They have until 2025 to decide. (why does this road project take 8 years, that's the real Double Jeopardy question here)

[Busjack]

31 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Question is now does Pace want to jump on that with a multi bus corridor? They have until 2025 to decide. (why does this road project take 8 years, that's the real Double Jeopardy question here)

There was the TIGER application with the Tollway for a CNG division based at the UPS TC, But, as you note, about 15 years will separate one from the other.

[BusHunter]

1 hour ago, Busjack said:

There was the TIGER application with the Tollway for a CNG division based at the UPS TC, But, as you note, about 15 years will separate one from the other.

They could also link two separate projects together like would a Plainfield to O'Hare express run be attractive? Maybe but how in the heck would you expand a kiss n' ride remote O'hare lot, but no one said you couldn't go to Rosemont. Ultimately that makes more sense because you are linking transfer points and developing a system. For two rides one could feasably go to Prairie Stone or Woodfield from Plainfield.

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

They could also link two separate projects together like would a Plainfield to O'Hare express run be attractive? Maybe but how in the heck would you expand a kiss n' ride remote O'hare lot, but no one said you couldn't go to Rosemont. Ultimately that makes more sense because you are linking transfer points and developing a system. For two rides one could feasably go to Prairie Stone or Woodfield from Plainfield.

Part of the last plan was that there would be various transfers en route, such as to go to Oakbrook off the I-294 spine.

I suppose that this bus could pull into the Burr Ridge P&R to connect with 855. However, your example is one of the examples of the problem of a hub and spoke system--having to go in to go back out, instead of having the STAR Line over the EJ&E. At least one only has to go to Burr Ridge instead of the Loop.