Pace Budget Hearings

[MetroShadow]

6000's at Cumberland Rosemont this morning.

I saw them at Rosemont, although I could've been at Irving and Cumberland heading to the office.

Fixed it for ya. ;-)

[artthouwill]

In todays Tribune in the Marketplace section p.5 where the bids are placed Pace is having hearings next month to eliminate service and raise fares for ADA passengers. 4 routes to be eliminated are from Colonial Coach sub contractor and screw-up for Pace.

326,616,696,699 which would only leave them 2 routes the 600,606. Maybe Pace will finally come to thei8r senses and cancel the contract that expires at the end of the year.

Perhaps so but when I worked out there for Keeshin, there were mostly splits with 3 morning straight shifts on the 606 and one of those interlined with a 616. In the p.m., there was 1 straight shift 606 and 1 a.m. 326 and 1 p.m. 326 that were straight shifts, so without any interlining (other than 600s which only run during rush anyway), there would be a lot of split runs at NW if they were to take over UNLESS they interline with other routes like 223, 230, 290 or something and the cost may be too prohibitive. More than likely Pace would let Colonial keep those routes hoping they would do the work at a bargain or until Colomial decides there is no profit in it and bail out at the end of the contract.

[Busjack]

In a slightly related topic, I was by Mariano's Fresh Market. They had a sign about how environmentally involved they were, including being next to public transit. I guess that holds up so long as the 696 is still running next to it on Kensington.

[Busjack]

Despite Pace indicating no cutbacks for next year due to the budget, they are advertising a public hearing on most Park Ridge service (209, 240, 241). However, since the notice seems to deal only with midday service, maybe not an effect on the number of buses, as rotjohns surmised elsewhere.

[rotjohns]

Despite Pace indicating no cutbacks for next year due to the budget, they are advertising a public hearing on most Park Ridge service (209, 240, 241). However, since the notice seems to deal only with midday service, maybe not an effect on the number of buses, as rotjohns surmised elsewhere.

There will always be reviews of service cuts based on ridership as I am sure that's what they did for the West routes. My take on it would be Pace isn't providing major cutbacks like they did last year as far as we know. The 209 probably means only one bus runs during non-peak as opposed to 2 currently. It also appears that the 240/241 clearly would need El Dorados no matter what time of day it is ran and must be pretty low on ridership. 2 questions on this: 1) Did Pace ever do a major reconstruction on NW routes like they did at Fox Valley and others? 2) I don't know the NW burbs that well, but are there school runs on either the 240/241 that has to be taken into consideration with these proposed cuts?

[Busjack]

1) Did Pace ever do a major reconstruction on NW routes like they did at Fox Valley and others? 2) I don't know the NW burbs that well, but are there school runs on either the 240/241 that has to be taken into consideration with these proposed cuts?

1) Not with NW, but the NS restructuring in 2005, which dealt with any line going through Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood, or Wilmette, had peripheral effects on NW territory. There was some talk at the NS restructuring that if they restructured 290 to go to Rosemont instead of Cumberland, they would have to do something in Park Ridge, but nothing happened with that. Also, the 209 received its current configuration when the NS restructuring decided that 208 would go straight through to Schaumburg, including the portion of 209 on Golf Road west of Des Plaines.

2) There are a number of school runs on the 240 and 241 schedules, but the S runs are usually not affected by this. For instance, even though 228 was converted to 423, school runs were not affected. Especially on 240, the scheduled school runs are mostly off the regular route. 240 has a number of special runs serving Maine East and Maine South.

[rotjohns]

I was reading the August minutes and this is a sure sign that Pace and CTA is way behind on the times. The chairman was talking about going to the APTA conference for the first time and found it to be very interesting. He noted that NY transit has adopted a system where passengers pay their fares at kiosks right outside the station, then board 3 door buses with tickets/receipts in hand. I know reading about other cities the transit police will be on those buses from time to time checking to ensure they paid to be on those buses. I've seen smaller and bigger cities adopting this big time to speed up board times. Is that something that Pace/CTA could possibly see in the future? I just feel that both transit agencies are so far behind that Chicago would be the last major city to adopt this type of plan.

[Busjack]

There was, in prior minutes, that they had advertised for a consultant to start up the Milwaukee Ave. project and also were going to proceed on Dempster, and that the RTA was going to do Cermak.

Of course, CTA took a step backwards by eliminating the X routes, and while it had various BRT grant applications, only got minimal funding for those discussed here.

I don't know how NY enforces SBS fare collection, but you know that Chicago can't afford ticket checkers on its bus system.

[rotjohns]

There was, in prior minutes, that they had advertised for a consultant to start up the Milwaukee Ave. project and also were going to proceed on Dempster, and that the RTA was going to do Cermak.

Of course, CTA took a step backwards by eliminating the X routes, and while it had various BRT grant applications, only got minimal funding for those discussed here.

I don't know how NY enforces SBS fare collection, but you know that Chicago can't afford ticket checkers on its bus system.

Looking through various bus transit sits on www.apta.com, I found the following link http://www.rtcsouthernnevada.com/transit/brt/ where the Las Vegas transit system is doing exactly what we're talking about. Dedicated lanes connecting to downtown, the ability to buy transit passes at kiosks before boarding, and sleek buses. I know it costs money and Pace/CTA simply can't afford it right now (especially CTA), but hopefully within the next 5 years, something will generate to the point that it is seriously looked at.

[Busjack]

On the Park Ridge front, the Niles Bugle said that the cuts go into effect on Dec. 12 (last day of current service Dec. 11). Since it serves Morton Grove and Park Ridge, the Bugle didn't have anything about Itasca (616).

[rotjohns]

On the Park Ridge front, the Niles Bugle said that the cuts go into effect on Dec. 12 (last day of current service Dec. 11). Since it serves Morton Grove and Park Ridge, the Bugle didn't have anything about Itasca (616).

I'm trying to pull it up on their website, but can't get anything. Pace doesn't have anything up yet on theirs although I would expect to see something Monday or Tuesday.

[Busjack]

I'm trying to pull it up on their website, but can't get anything. Pace doesn't have anything up yet on theirs although I would expect to see something Monday or Tuesday.

I saw it in the paper version.

[Busjack]

The notice for 616 is finally up. I guess you have a short window to compare schedules.The main thing is that trips in what would be considered the rush direction are limited to one each way, while the reverse rush seems pretty intact.

[Guest]

The notice for 616 is finally up. I guess you have a short window to compare schedules.The main thing is that trips in what would be considered the rush direction are limited to one each way, while the reverse rush seems pretty intact.

The notices were placed on our Pace buses this morning. Could quite possibly be the end of Orions here.

[Busjack]

The notices were placed on our Pace buses this morning. Could quite possibly be the end of Orions here.

You were talking one bus anyway, that should have been replaced by 6252.

The real question is does this have any effect on employment, when most of the runs become deadheads?

[artthouwill]

This may be slightly OT, but since Pace needs to begin replacing the 2001 Orions soon, and CTA needing to replace their Novas also, couldn't the two agencies, or RTA (on their behalf) submit RFPs for new equipment for both agencies? There should be some cost savings with that. Unless the winning bid is submitted by NABI, I don't see any problems with this. Perhaps RTA could piggyback with another transit agency needing equipment. What manufacturer wouldn't want a large order?

[Guest]

You were talking one bus anyway, that should have been replaced by 6252.

The real question is does this have any effect on employment, when most of the runs become deadheads?

Were obviously bidding on new runs soon before the cut takes place on the 22nd. I dont believe it will have much of an effect on employment. Drivers come and go so quick here!. :)

[Busjack]

This may be slightly OT, but since Pace needs to begin replacing the 2001 Orions soon, and CTA needing to replace their Novas also, couldn't the two agencies, or RTA (on their behalf) submit RFPs for new equipment for both agencies? There should be some cost savings with that. Unless the winning bid is submitted by NABI, I don't see any problems with this. Perhaps RTA could piggyback with another transit agency needing equipment. What manufacturer wouldn't want a large order?

Since capital is part of the budget, it isn't OT. A lot of other places do that, and since the budget says that buses purchased with state money (if any) must be hybrids, that would seem to make some sense, which is of course why the politically fractured transit systems here don't do it.

I believe that Minnesota has such a deal, our friends from there could elaborate. Pa used to have one, but Pittsburgh didn't like the Neoplans that Philadelphia was also getting

Another thought: That actually happened in 1976, in that the RTA advertised for both the pumpkin 8000s and the CTA 9600s, although the 9600s were on a CTA spec. Too bad I didn't keep the legal ads from the Sun-Times 35 years ago.