CTA Bus Rapid Transit (take two)

[sw4400]

  On 12/14/2015 at 4:43 PM, Kevin said:

Word just went out that Loop Link service begins December 20th.

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Might get off to a noisy, maybe even interrupted start if Rahm Emanuel is there for it's introduction #TooManyProtestsInChicago . Might be best if he stays away rather than attend the opening and leave any appearances or speeches to the CTA President(I almost said Forrest Claypool).

[jajuan]

  On 12/15/2015 at 1:35 AM, ChicagoNova said:

Up to now I've been imagining it would be L124 Loop Link.

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Andre confirms here that 124 returns to Washington when Loop Link opens next week. Your imaginings for Loop Link referring to 124 will have to remain just that though since the name refers to the corridor enhancements and not a specific route.   I do wonder though if the game developers who modeled this route for OMSI 2 along with the 130 might consider an update down the road to reflect the change of the route structure back to its original configuration after Loop Link opens. OMSI game maps tend to get updates especially those that are based on real bus routes and/or real cities.

[jajuan]

  On 12/15/2015 at 2:13 AM, sw4400 said:

Might get off to a noisy, maybe even interrupted start if Rahm Emanuel is there for it's introduction #TooManyProtestsInChicago . Might be best if he stays away rather than attend the opening and leave any appearances or speeches to the CTA President(I almost said Forrest Claypool).

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Even though I don't particularly agree with his style of governing, he can't be an effective mayor if he's going to go into hiding because of protesters. Being the target of protesters at some point in your term comes with the job when you become an elected official in any level of government. So you can't go into hiding whenever it happens with the exception of when your personal safety may be shown to be at risk.

[Busjack]

  On 12/15/2015 at 2:13 AM, sw4400 said:

Might get off to a noisy, maybe even interrupted start if Rahm Emanuel is there for it's introduction #TooManyProtestsInChicago . Might be best if he stays away rather than attend the opening and leave any appearances or speeches to the CTA President(I almost said Forrest Claypool).

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The one thing I noted in all the TV about protests near the Daley Center was the bus canopy in the background. But I agree with jajuan that he can't play chicken, especially if he is going to take credit for everything.

[sw4400]

Loop Link is not a new route number, just a bunch of routes that are using the service that operate in the area(s) downtown:

• J14 Jeffrey Jump
• 20 Madison
• 56 Milwaukee
• 60 Blue Island/26th
• 124 Navy Pier
• 157 Streeterville/Taylor

These routes will service the Loop Link stations. So you'll see a bunch of equipment from the various garages that run these routes regularly, including the 6400-Series Novas(56 Milwaukee).

[Busjack]

  On 12/15/2015 at 12:25 AM, jajuan said:

The advanced timetable links are now working by the way. I don't see one for 124 now though. 

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There isn't even a link for it on the Advance Timetable page.

[jajuan]

  On 12/15/2015 at 8:34 AM, sw4400 said:

Loop Link is not a new route number, just a bunch of routes that are using the service that operate in the area(s) downtown:

• J14 Jeffrey Jump
• 20 Madison
• 56 Milwaukee
• 60 Blue Island/26th
• 124 Navy Pier
• 157 Streeterville/Taylor

These routes will service the Loop Link stations. So you'll see a bunch of equipment from the various garages that run these routes regularly, including the 6400-Series Novas(56 Milwaukee).

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Ummm I kind of said that already.

[Kevin]

Video of the queue jump signals in action at Washington/Dearborn:

Buses get a 5-second head start. Pedestrians are also allowed to begin crossing during this phase.

[jajuan]

  On 12/15/2015 at 3:50 PM, Kevin said:

Video of the queue jump signals in action at Washington/Dearborn:

Buses get a 5-second head start. Pedestrians are also allowed to begin crossing during this phase.

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That makes sense as if it's an intersection with an allowed right turn, they want the intersection clear of pedestrians sooner for turning vehicles to move with no obstructions.

[Busjack]

  On 12/15/2015 at 4:53 PM, jajuan said:

That makes sense as if it's an intersection with an allowed right turn...

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You missed the One Way sign.

If nothing else, this intersection is more messed up because of the intersecting bike lane on Dearborn.

At least the video illustrates what the overhead signals do, but no indication that they are bike signals.

[jajuan]

  On 12/15/2015 at 5:05 PM, Busjack said:

You missed the One Way sign.

If nothing else, this intersection is more messed up because of the intersecting bike lane on Dearborn.

At least the video illustrates what the overhead signals do, but no indication that they are bike signals.

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No I didn't. I said for intersections where right turns are allowed, meaning one of those with traffic crossing south instead of north as Dearborn does. In other words I was not referring to this exact intersection sir. 

[Kevin]

  On 12/15/2015 at 4:53 PM, jajuan said:

That makes sense as if it's an intersection with an allowed right turn, they want the intersection clear of pedestrians sooner for turning vehicles to move with no obstructions.

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That's essentially the goal of lagging turn signals, which you see at intersections like Washington & Clark, for example. The goal is to allow the crowd of waiting pedestrians to cross and clear the intersection first, thus reducing conflicts for turning vehicles.

You see the opposite of this on Mag Mile, for example, where a large crowd of waiting pedestrians have to wait for a few drivers to make left turns. The crowds often get impatient and start crossing anyways, thus resulting in conflicts. You could significantly reduce those conflicts by placing the left turn signal at the end of the cycle, after the crowd of pedestrians have cleared the intersection.

  On 12/15/2015 at 5:05 PM, Busjack said:

If nothing else, this intersection is more messed up because of the intersecting bike lane on Dearborn.

At least the video illustrates what the overhead signals do, but no indication that they are bike signals.

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Bike signals are not necessary at this intersection as there are no conflicting movements with right-turning vehicles. Bike signals could be used to give cyclists a leading signal along with pedestrians and buses, but most will likely proceed anyways once pedestrians get a walk signal.

[Busjack]

  On 12/15/2015 at 5:13 PM, jajuan said:

No I didn't. I said for intersections where right turns are allowed, meaning one of those with traffic crossing south instead of north as Dearborn does. In other words I was not referring to this exact intersection sir. 

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At best you said "if."

[BusHunter]

  On 12/15/2015 at 5:18 PM, Kevin said:

That's essentially the goal of lagging turn signals, which you see at intersections like Washington & Clark, for example. The goal is to allow the crowd of waiting pedestrians to cross and clear the intersection first, thus reducing conflicts for turning vehicles.

You see the opposite of this on Mag Mile, for example, where a large crowd of waiting pedestrians have to wait for a few drivers to make left turns. The crowds often get impatient and start crossing anyways, thus resulting in conflicts. You could significantly reduce those conflicts by placing the left turn signal at the end of the cycle, after the crowd of pedestrians have cleared the intersection.

Bike signals are not necessary at this intersection as there are no conflicting movements with right-turning vehicles. Bike signals could be used to give cyclists a leading signal along with pedestrians and buses, but most will likely proceed anyways once pedestrians get a walk signal.

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Every intersection is different. At State/Washington what they are doing there is giving the left turn the staggered signal, but the green (straight) still remains green.  At that intersection their is no right hand turn signal. I don't know what they plan to do with the Atwood restaurant on the corner. It has valet parking in the middle of the right turn lane and bicycle path. They probably should have moved the lanes over slightly if they plan on having valet parking there.

I was noticing the Madison/Wells left turn lane is a shared lane left turn and straight so they would have to have a green and green arrow or that wouldn't work. Lights seemed to be timed on Madison yesterday 10 seconds behind each other. (so when Dearborn has 3 seconds left on the ped crossing, clark has 13.

Lasalle/Madison has a digital sign on the right that has not been turned on yet. Maybe that's no turn light or something.

[Kevin]

  On 12/15/2015 at 6:32 PM, BusHunter said:

At State/Washington what they are doing there is giving the left turn the staggered signal, but the green (straight) still remains green. 

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That sounds similar to Washington and LaSalle, where there's also a dedicated green arrow for left-turning vehicles after the pedestrian phase (through traffic continues to get a green, as do pedestrians on the south end of the intersection).

  On 12/15/2015 at 6:32 PM, BusHunter said:

I don't know what they plan to do with the Atwood restaurant on the corner. It has valet parking in the middle of the right turn lane and bicycle path.

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A loading zone was added on State Street in front of the restaurant/hotel last fall. Note that the bike lane gives way to a shared right turn lane just ahead of this intersection. That shared lane is just wide enough where cars should be able to squeeze by even if a vehicle is parked curbside. Not an ideal circumstance.

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First Bus Tracker sign is working at Washingon/LaSalle. These are full color LCD signs just like the ones on the 'L'. They show arrivals along with service alerts and date/time/weather information.

Also, more signage pillars getting installed currently:

[BusHunter]

I see they are installing the big CTA logo signs here. I wonder are they backlit? All this puts the other stations even more behind. I wonder why they went with colored tracker signs? By right wouldn't #J14 be blue, cause that is it's colors. I wonder if something were express like a #147 would it display in Red? Also you know how the #151 turns at Washington/Dearborn and goes east. Will it use the State/Washington Loop Link stop?   If the stop were further away I'd say #147 might have a chance to stop there also, but technically if the Wabash/Washington stop goes bye bye and it should, the #147 will not stop State/Madison to Randolph/Michigan?

[Kevin]

  On 12/15/2015 at 7:32 PM, BusHunter said:

I wonder why they went with colored tracker signs?

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It's not so much about color than it is LCD vs. LED.

[BusHunter]

  On 12/15/2015 at 7:45 PM, Kevin said:

It's not so much about color than it is LCD vs. LED.

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You lost me there.

[Busjack]

  On 12/15/2015 at 7:55 PM, BusHunter said:

You lost me there.

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LEDs glow. (Light Emitting Diode)

LCDs are like in watches and some HDTVs. They either go clear or opaque, but there has to be a light behind them. If you look at the back of some flat screen TVs, there is a fluorescent tube.

There is an explanation of LCD flat panel displays here.Only ambiguity, though, is if whether Kevin is implying that this display only has blue pixels, or is similar to an HDTV and has 3 colors in subpixels.

[Kevin]

  On 12/15/2015 at 7:55 PM, BusHunter said:

You lost me there.

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The Bus Tracker displays on normal bus shelters are LED displays. They have limited resolution and can't really handle things like varying font sizes and weight or high resolution iconography.

The Train Tracker (and Loop Link) signs are LCDs, the same display technology likely used by your phone, computer, and TV¹. With these displays, you have virtually unlimited possibilities on how to display information.

  On 12/15/2015 at 8:06 PM, Busjack said:

Only ambiguity, though, is if whether Kevin is implying that this display only has blue pixels, or is similar to an HDTV and has 3 colors in subpixels.

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They're full color just like an HDTV. 

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¹ If you see TVs marketed as "LED", they're referring to the backlight technology (LEDs rather than florescent tubes) and not the actual display technology, which is still LCD.

[Kevin]

Ta da. Although the map in the pylon is for Madison/Wabash currently.

[Busjack]

  On 12/15/2015 at 8:20 PM, Kevin said:

They're full color just like an HDTV.

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Since BusHunter's comment was whether an express bus time display could be in red, then the J14 one could.

[jajuan]

  On 12/15/2015 at 5:26 PM, Busjack said:

At best you said "if."

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And either way it still should have been clear by the context that I was not talking specifically about Dearborn sir. So you were still too swift to try to correct. 

[Busjack]

  On 12/15/2015 at 10:56 PM, jajuan said:

And either way it still should have been clear by the context that I was not talking specifically about Dearborn sir. So you were still too swift to try to correct. 

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The context was a picture of Dearborn.

Go take a picture of the context you wish to describe.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

  On 12/15/2015 at 3:50 PM, Kevin said:

Video of the queue jump signals in action at Washington/Dearborn:

Buses get a 5-second head start. Pedestrians are also allowed to begin crossing during this phase.

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Kind of reminds me of the light rail crossing signals they have in Seattle.

Anyways, this is the Twitter post by the CTA...