Early 1970's CTA

[7944]

I remember in the early 70's getting on the bus with my mom at Central and North ave going northbound on Central ave. We paid our fare and received two transfers. I remember distinctly the transfers had 66 Chicago printed. I went to the driver and asked' is this a Central ave bus and, he replied Yes. And then I asked why the 66- Chicago ave transfers, He replied, I started on Chicago ave and then I am finishing on Central. this occured a few other occasions during rush hour. Neddless to say, when we did transfer to another route, the other driver asked how did we get these transfer(s) and related to him that in fact the bus we got off on Central ave was actually a Chicago Ave bus covering 85 Central. It took a while to convince him. Looking back on this, I think it could apply today. Start on one route and finish on another. It could be a good rush hour tactic considering service cuts.

[Busjack]

I remember in the early 70's getting on the bus with my mom at Central and North ave going northbound on Central ave. We paid our fare and received two transfers. I remember distinctly the transfers had 66 Chicago printed. I went to the driver and asked' is this a Central ave bus and, he replied Yes. And then I asked why the 66- Chicago ave transfers, He replied, I started on Chicago ave and then I am finishing on Central. this occured a few other occasions during rush hour. Neddless to say, when we did transfer to another route, the other driver asked how did we get these transfer(s) and related to him that in fact the bus we got off on Central ave was actually a Chicago Ave bus covering 85 Central. It took a while to convince him. Looking back on this, I think it could apply today. Start on one route and finish on another. It could be a good rush hour tactic considering service cuts.

The rule, according to Lind, was that if the transfer didn't correspond to the route, the driver was supposed to punch E for Emergency.

Of course, the identification of routes on a transfer ended about in 1974, when the rule changed to as many rides as you could get in two hours, and then to the rule, now followed with transfer cards, of 2 transfers in two hours.

As far as interlining, most of the reports of garages sharing routes are that (i.e. some bus on the southside is not deadheading to the north). Even before the current cutbacks, there were reports of interlining, such as a bus from Clemente H.S. going to Division and Austin, then going on Austin to start a Madison run.

[artthouwill]

The rule, according to Lind, was that if the transfer didn't correspond to the route, the driver was supposed to punch E for Emergency.

Of course, the identification of routes on a transfer ended about in 1974, when the rule changed to as many rides as you could get in two hours, and then to the rule, now followed with transfer cards, of 2 transfers in two hours.

As far as interlining, most of the reports of garages sharing routes are that (i.e. some bus on the southside is not deadheading to the north). Even before the current cutbacks, there were reports of interlining, such as a bus from Clemente H.S. going to Division and Austin, then going on Austin to start a Madison run.

Not quite true. During the 70s, you could ride any route anywhere but the transfer was only good for one hour. However in the early 1980s, the rule was changed to two hours, but you were only allowed two transfers and you could no longer "reverse' ride on the same route. I remember because I would take the 6 Jeffery Express one way and purposely take the 14 in the opposite direction to skirt around that rule. You could do that if you lived near a street that had at least two different routes running on it. The older transfers had a scant map on it, then the transfers changed to identify the bus route by punching the corresponding numbers or rail route. At that ttime, the rail route transfers were separated by DR (Dan Ryan), L (Lake), CO (Congress), DO (Douglas), EG (Englewood) JP (Jackson Pk, (SSM)between Garfield and Roosevelt), NSM (North Side Main). I forgot how the O'Hare branch was named, but I believe each subway had its own marking, as well as Evanston and Skokie. This practice continued when the transit cards came out but they eventually did away with the no reverse ride rule.

[Busjack]

Thanks for refreshing my recollection on the one hour rule. I do remember riding a Hyde Park bus downtown (probably 1 Drexel-Hyde Park), and just barely having enough time to get a free ride on the transfer back.

I also remember that there was the old rule that you had 15 minutes to get across a square on the map on the transfer with the route indications, and that when the 1 hour rule was instituted, I called CTA to see if that would invalidate a transfer if one was going from the South Side to say Evanston. The answer was that the squares were bigger, and that if it looked like the passenger took less than a half hour to ride through a square, the transfer was still valid.

At that time, the NW branch would have been Milwaukee, not O'Hare, since it didn't go there, but I don't have a transfer from it. That was also the time when if you put the extra coin into the new turnstiles, they would print a transfer. I remember one time I did that at Cermak-Chinatown, but the turnstile wouldn't unlock, so I just showed the agent the transfer.

Of course, at that time, the marking on an L transfer didn't mean much, as you had to have it stamped before departing the station for it to be valid on the bus. I don't remember exactly when that ended, but it probably was with the introduction of the 1 hour transfer.

Also, again if I remember correctly, if there were more than one route on the transfer (I rode 55 which also had 31) punching only the red line on the map was sufficient, but the driver would actually have to punch a box next to the route number if the routes overlapped, such as 9 Ashland and 45 Ashland Downtown. Again, the number of those such routes has radically been reduced.

[BusHunter]

I remember in the early 70's getting on the bus with my mom at Central and North ave going northbound on Central ave. We paid our fare and received two transfers. I remember distinctly the transfers had 66 Chicago printed. I went to the driver and asked' is this a Central ave bus and, he replied Yes. And then I asked why the 66- Chicago ave transfers, He replied, I started on Chicago ave and then I am finishing on Central. this occured a few other occasions during rush hour. Neddless to say, when we did transfer to another route, the other driver asked how did we get these transfer(s) and related to him that in fact the bus we got off on Central ave was actually a Chicago Ave bus covering 85 Central. It took a while to convince him. Looking back on this, I think it could apply today. Start on one route and finish on another. It could be a good rush hour tactic considering service cuts.

Yeah, some of those #74's from FG interline with the #77. Most drivers continue driving past Harlem to Cumberland/Thatcher on Grand and up North from there. So a CTA sighting deep within Elmwood Park is a possibility now.