CTA Bus Rapid Transit (take two)

[mkohut]

What does everyone think about the branding of the J14 & does anyone have any expectations about the new service?

i predict its going to bomb.There is no control over traffic on Lake Shore Drive.Plus,who is going to make sure no cars are park in the lane. Plus,they might get cut off by somebody turning right.

[Sam92]

i predict its going to bomb.There is no control over traffic on Lake Shore Drive.Plus,who is going to make sure no cars are park in the lane. Plus,they might get cut off by somebody turning right.

Those are minor issues... people rarely park there in those hours and south lake shore isn't as bad as the north LSD routes as far as traffic

[Sam92]

What does everyone think about the branding of the J14 & does anyone have any expectations about the new service?

I'd admit I kinda prefer a different name for it but I believe it has potential in the rush hour. Main test will come next year with the Dan Ryan shutdown

[jajuan]

They would probably use them. Just the features wouldn't be used unless they were on the 14. Artics are also known to be on the 26 and recently have been on the X28 daily along with the 192 interline.

Yeah perhaps but they are still outnumbered by 1000s on those two routes. And I didn't run through a whole rehash of where arctics are assigned from 103rd because (1) it doesn't change the gist of the question, (2) I know where 103rd assigns artics among its list of route, and (3) 192 and 169 for that matter are on the December 16th chop list and therefore don't matter much in the question.

[jajuan]

i predict its going to bomb.There is no control over traffic on Lake Shore Drive.Plus,who is going to make sure no cars are park in the lane. Plus,they might get cut off by somebody turning right.

They won't have to worry about the parking issue because cars don't park on Jeffery Blvd in those areas during rush hour now per current parking restrictions which is why the 14 was always on the list for the change from the start even when they were referring to it as BRT. As Sam points out South Lake Shore has nowhere near the traffic issue as the north end of the Drive does.The current form of the 14 already has the ridership so it's very doubtful that the redesignation to J14 Jeffery Jump will have folks leaving the route when they still need to reach downtown from Jeffery just as they do now, otherwise the removal of the 6 from Jeffery would have seen people not using the 14 and the 6 also would have seen a dropoff because south of 67th it was no longer the same route people had been using. Outside of the bus lanes, doubling the stop spacing from two blocks to four, and the traffic signal change its the same route that's there now. You're pointing to the wrong possible stumbling blocks. The main issue would probably be whether these buses get slowed by #15 buses which still handle the local stops that potentially would be in the bus lanes also and have no traffic signal equipment as the J14s would have. Even that to me sounds minor.

[Busjack]

The question now is if the buses will have these wraps on them for their use on what will be J14 Jeffery Jump, does this mean this will exclude their being used on the 6 Jackson Park Express since 103rd also has that route heavily covered by artics? And what of the 1000s that show up in the weekday offpeak on the current 14 Jeffery Express because the current route doesn't have as high a passenger load in those hours? The original Jeffery BRT presentation said the sum total of 103rd's artics would be revamped for the upcoming upgrade of the 14 for actual usage and as spares. If the artics there are getting retooled in prep for this service, how would that effect coverage of the 6 since if they hold true to retooling all of 103rd's artics it would mean blue buses would be seen on the 6.

They would probably use them. Just the features wouldn't be used unless they were on the 14. Artics are also known to be on the 26 and recently have been on the X28 daily along with the 192 interline.

This was foreseen by the requirement of the grant that the bus have distinctive "branding." While I said before that someone waiting for a 14 isn't going to refuse to board because it doesn't have a wrap (unless they think there is a difference between a 14 and a 14 JUMP), so long as it has a destination sign of 14 to 103rd, this raises the converse question of brand dilution or confusion if a wrapped bus shows up on 6 or 26.

It is one thing if a "Soldier Field Express" wrapped Pace bus shows up on 208 during the week, but certainly another if a Jeffery Jump shows up where a 6 is expected, even though there isn't much overlap between the routes.

[jajuan]

This was foreseen by the requirement of the grant that the bus have distinctive "branding." While I said before that someone waiting for a 14 isn't going to refuse to board because it doesn't have a wrap (unless they think there is a difference between a 14 and a 14 JUMP), so long as it has a destination sign of 14 to 103rd, this raises the converse question of brand dilution or confusion if a wrapped bus shows up on 6 or 26.

It is one thing if a "Soldier Field Express" wrapped Pace bus shows up on 208 during the week, but certainly another if a Jeffery Jump shows up where a 6 is expected, even though there isn't much overlap between the routes.

Well from the latest presentation on the website the 14 is being totally converted and replaced by J14 Jeffery Jump, so my question was more from the converse side of a wrapped bus showing up on the 6 for example when through most of CTA's talk on the conversion all of 103rd's artics going into the time of the route conversion would be getting wrapped and equipped with the traffic signal priority equipment. We know all 53 or however many artics 103rd has aren't going to be on the Jump at once but instead have the extras as spares. We also know the 6 especially will still need artics so that's where I'm coming from with this.

[Busjack]

Well from the latest presentation on the website the 14 is being totally converted and replaced by J14 Jeffery Jump, so my question was more from the converse side of a wrapped bus showing up on the 6 for example when through most of CTA's talk on the conversion all of 103rd's artics going into the time of the route conversion would be getting wrapped and equipped with the traffic signal priority equipment. We know all 53 or however many artics 103rd has aren't going to be on the Jump at once but instead have the extras as spares. We also know the 6 especially will still need artics so that's where I'm coming from with this.

That goes back to the prior discussion that CTA said something like "53 existing buses" but we determined that the schedule called for 33. They are going to have to cover 6 and 26 with something. Maybe the 50+ was overshooting.

[jajuan]

That goes back to the prior discussion that CTA said something like "53 existing buses" but we determined that the schedule called for 33. They are going to have to cover 6 and 26 with something. Maybe the 50+ was overshooting.

Makes more sense. And the 6 would be the larger concern since it's more heavily covered by artics than the 26.

[MetroShadow]

Whatever buses we'll be receiving, I'm sure, will negate any shortages of buses (unless they are specifically designated for Dan Ryan Service).

This project will succeed, but it'll take some time to get used to, never mind that drivers will learn when to use the lanes and when not to.

[CURRENTZ_09]

Also under the De-crowding Reduction Plan that the 14 (Jeffery Express) was due to get increased service levels anyway, so does that mean that the J14 (Jeffery Jump) BRT will recieve the additional service levels instead?

[jajuan]

The fact that they have to get at least 30 or so buses wrapped for the J14 would probably explain why the 6 has been going from being assigned two 1000s at best on some days to being assigned at least half 1000s. As I remember it being reported on Connections once, when a bus is set to be wrapped in a full body wrap that bus is out of service for at least a month.

[CURRENTZ_09]

The fact that they have to get at least 30 or so buses wrapped for the J14 would probably explain why the 6 has been going from being assigned two 1000s at best on some days to being assigned at least half 1000s. As I remember it being reported on Connections once, when a bus is set to be wrapped in a full body wrap that bus is out of service for at least a month.

Do you know which episode was that?

[jajuan]

Do you know which episode was that?

This was a couple years ago when I saw that episode. Maybe they've found ways for the wraps to set and dry faster since then but I can't be sure since there have been buses this year that I may not have seen in service for a few weeks and it pops up later with a new full body wrap after its apparent absence on the street.

[CURRENTZ_09]

This was a couple years ago when I saw that episode. Maybe they've found ways for the wraps to set and dry faster since then but I can't be sure since there have been buses this year that I may not have seen in service for a few weeks and it pops up later with a new full body wrap after its apparent absence on the street.

Exactly, but wrapping a bus takes a couple days depending how many people are working on that particular bus. Then they do regular maintenance and probably let the bus sit or preform on an low frequency route before hitting a high performing route during regular weekday service with the bus going in after the weekday rush hour period. Im assuming they do these to keep the bus from becoming unable to operate. But all this is what im assuming because MCTS does this practice on it's wrapped buses

[CURRENTZ_09]

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-local/36674-durbin-emanuel-announces-15-million-dot-investment-in-chicago-transit.html

BRT for Ashland & Western corridors move forward.

[jajuan]

I'm guessing CTA does it differently the reason they said in the last Connections episode on this it took up to a month. Like I said maybe they found ways to speed that up. But either way given this is mid-September and they want to launch the Jump route in November, it's still possible they need the time left till then to get those buses ready also taking into account they need to get the traffic signal priority equipment installed as well.

[CURRENTZ_09]

I'm guessing CTA does it differently the reason they said in the last Connections episode on this it took up to a month. Like I said maybe they found ways to speed that up. But either way given this is mid-September and they want to launch the Jump route in November, it's still possible they need the time left till then to get those buses ready also taking into account they need to get the traffic signal priority equipment installed as well.

CTA noted that the traffic signal priority equipment won't be available until early 2013, most likely mid-january, early-february. But i wonder will this service be an enhancement to the Dan Ryan Shutdown with extended service during the 5-months or will the federal guidelines restrict the service to extend beyond it's mandated purpose. I also wonder will the funds from the Decrowding service enhancements in December allow the CTA to allocate those funds along with the federal funds to extend service levels?

[i8itall4u]

The Jeffery Jump? Really? Paid, educated, professionals came up with this? I guess I just don't get how "imagination" works in inspiring people to ride transit. Don't get me wrong, I don't know what I would have come up with had I been asked, but as a transit fan/bus enthusiast, it sounds kind of....lame. Maybe after a while I will come to see the genious of the idea!?!

[Busjack]

The Jeffery Jump? Really? Paid, educated, professionals came up with this? I guess I just don't get how "imagination" works in inspiring people to ride transit. ...

Unless they are really going to expand service (doubt it), inspiring people to ride transit isn't the point; fulfilling a federal grant requirement to brand the service is. Other than getting to Jeffery Manor 5 minutes faster (possibly, although some here don't buy that) the riders don't care one way or the other.

At least they didn't come up with the Puce Line.

In fact, if anything would shock me is that they didn't sell the naming rights first. How about the Ju Ju Be Jeffery Jump?

[Busjack]

The Tribune replaced its picture with one showing a J14 Jeffery Jump headsign.

I still can't figure out where the fleet number is, though.

[CURRENTZ_09]

Unless they are really going to expand service (doubt it), inspiring people to ride transit isn't the point; fulfilling a federal grant requirement to brand the service is. Other than getting to Jeffery Manor 5 minutes faster (possibly, although some here don't buy that) the riders don't care one way or the other.

At least they didn't come up with the Puce Line.

In fact, if anything would shock me is that they didn't sell the naming rights first. How about the Ju Ju Be Jeffery Jump?

Or the Fast Line, I think the Jump name will catch on eventually, i mean a brand name was required when given the funds, just like any other transit service that is created with federal funding

EX. MCTS uses the MetroEXpress moniker to identify three new express routes BlueLine (route 523), GreenLine (route 515) & RedLine (Route 562)

[Busjack]

Or the Fast Line,

Nobody is going to buy that.

My thought about selling the naming rights was based on the Cleveland HealthLine, about which someone said that the Cleveland RTA sold the rights to the hospitals being served.

EX. MCTS uses the MetroEXpress moniker to identify three new express routes BlueLine (route 523), GreenLine (route 515) & RedLine (Route 562)

Hence my suggestion of the Puce Line,* although I was thinking about nomenclature elsewhere.

______

*Sorry if I changed my mind about what color pull down to use.

[Busjack]

http://www.enewspf.c...go-transit.html

BRT for Ashland & Western corridors move forward.

One should note that this is only planning money, which the feds seem more than willing to dole out (note reference to "engineering funds"). The real question is if this will result in construction money, since it now seems disqualified for 5309 funding under the MAP-21 definition of BRT.

[MetroShadow]

The Tribune replaced its picture with one showing a J14 Jeffery Jump headsign.

I still can't figure out where the fleet number is, though.

The other photo was 4090, from the press release...