CTA Bus Rapid Transit (take two)

[jajuan]

Thanks you guys. I was wondering about the current status of the terminal since it was very close to completion the last time I got to see it early last month. 

[Tcmetro]

Just went past. Routes that will use the station are 1, 28, 121, 124, 151, and 156.

[cta5658]

I wonder how those buses are gonna enter and exit?

[busfan2847]

7 minutes ago, cta5658 said:

I wonder how those buses are gonna enter and exit?

They are going to enter on Clinton and leave on Canal. I assume the terminus of the 156 is being moved from DesPlaines/Harrison.

Once Adams has reopened there is no problem at present I guess it would have to be Van Buren, Jefferson, Jackson to Clinton.

[jajuan]

23 hours ago, busfan2847 said:

They are going to enter on Clinton and leave on Canal. I assume the terminus of the 156 is being moved from DesPlaines/Harrison.

Once Adams has reopened there is no problem at present I guess it would have to be Van Buren, Jefferson, Jackson to Clinton.

Unless the 156 is only passing through and not terminating there. In that case a likely routing could be leave the Desplaines/Harrison terminal and go via Harrison, Jefferson, Jackson, Clinton, the transit center, Canal, Jackson. But if the 156 does change to terminating at the Union Station transit center, then the Desplaines/Harrison terminal drops to only being used weekday rush periods (for the 125) and late evenings (for the 36).

[Pace831]

They have signage installed now at the Union Station Transit Center. The digital signs on the platforms were displaying L system status and advertising, even though the terminal isn't open yet. It is definitely almost ready for service though.

[Juniorz]

39 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

They have signage installed now at the Union Station Transit Center. The digital signs on the platforms were displaying L system status and advertising, even though the terminal isn't open yet. It is definitely almost ready for service though.

As mentioned before, mid-August 

[Juniorz]

Can't wait to see this station at night! Some suggest that the new cta stations don't possess the character of yesterday, i say they possess the character of modern times and most of these stations look terrific under the flashing lights!

cta Tracker displays are just some of the modern amenities being featured along the center's platforms. Mid-August seems to be the completion date!

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, Juniorz said:

i say they possess the character of modern times and most of these stations look terrific under the flashing lights!

The two things that differentiate this are the LED lighting and the finned supports under the canopy. Compare to, say, the flat canopy at Jefferson Park, and, surprisingly, Chicago Heights. I wonder if something similar will be part of the Rosemont rebuild.

[artthouwill]

Don't Know if this was mentioned anywhere but it would be nice if theres was a pedway connecting Union Station,  the CTA Union Station Transit Center, and the Clinton Blue LLine. 

[Busjack]

13 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Don't Know if this was mentioned anywhere but it would be nice if theres was a pedway connecting Union Station,  the CTA Union Station Transit Center, and the Clinton Blue Line. 

Was mentioned. The whole point was to provide a connection Union Station with the bus terminal, but nothing was said by other than posters here about connecting to the Blue Line.

[Juniorz]

4 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Don't Know if this was mentioned anywhere but it would be nice if theres was a pedway connecting Union Station,  the CTA Union Station Transit Center, and the Clinton Blue LLine. 

Could be a future possibility now that there is interest in providing inter-connectivity between the cta and intercity transit agencies

[Pace831]

8 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Don't Know if this was mentioned anywhere but it would be nice if theres was a pedway connecting Union Station,  the CTA Union Station Transit Center, and the Clinton Blue LLine. 

It's a little hard to see in the pictures that I and Juniorz posted, but just to the right of the Union Station Transit Center lettering it says "to all trains". That is the entrance to the pedway.

[Busjack]

On 7/31/2016 at 8:28 PM, Pace831 said:

45 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

It's a little hard to see in the pictures that I and Juniorz posted, but just to the right of the Union Station Transit Center lettering it says "to all trains". That is the entrance to the pedway.

This one.

[Busjack]

Since @TaylorTank1229 brought up the upcoming alerts, the only one that seems relevant to the Union Station Transit Center is 121, The westbound stop at the southeast corner at Jackson/Canal will be relocated to the south side of Jackson west of Canal, in front of the new Union Station Transit Center.

I suppose that more will be upcoming.

[BusHunter]

Here are pictures of Union Station Transit Center a week before it opens. I made a few observations myself

Maybe we do have some intelligent designers after all. They put an island that cuts off the whole third lane on clinton, so clinton's 3rd lane will always turn left. A bus can now use lanes one and two on the turn and probably just go into the terminal on a 45 degree angle. Still they have to look out for bikes so it's not perfect.

These shots show they have the titan signs and the bus countdown signs working. It looks like the bus stop sign closest to Jackson depicts what will stop on Jackson. #121 is on it. Looks like #151 is on it too though but it's also on the middle sign so I don't know why its on two signs.

Their also going to have Ventra machines here.

The exit looks alot better than I thought it would be. The USTC is going to have it's own light, check out the traffic signals one points into the station. Car traffic is held back on Canal another intelligent move. I still wonder why that wasn't done at Belmont/Kimball. I guess it don't rate.

 

[Busjack]

34 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

They put an island that cuts off the whole third lane on clinton, so clinton's 3rd lane will always turn left. A bus can now use lanes one and two on the turn and probably just go into the terminal on a 45 degree angle.

 

35 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

The USTC is going to have it's own light, check out the traffic signals one points into the station. Car traffic is held back on Canal another intelligent move. I still wonder why that wasn't done at Belmont/Kimball. I guess it don't rate.

Both indicate advantages to this being a CDOT project rather than a CTA one.

36 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

These shots show they have the titan signs and the bus countdown signs working. It looks like the bus stop sign closest to Jackson depicts what will stop on Jackson. #121 is on it. Looks like #151 is on it too though but it's also on the middle sign

I was going to ask if there was anything indicating which routes are at which berths, but it seems you did the best you could in explaining that.

 

Now one question: It appears that the passengers for the buses in the lane under the canopy are protected from the weather, but it doesn't appear that the passengers for the other lanes are, except for the cross roof. Is that the case?

[busfan2847]

11 hours ago, Busjack said:

 

Both indicate advantages to this being a CDOT project rather than a CTA one.

I was going to ask if there was anything indicating which routes are at which berths, but it seems you did the best you could in explaining that.

 

Stop layout from photos taken over the last month (above) is:

On Jackson 1, 121

Lane closest to Jackson 28 (Clinton end), 124

Middle Lane 151

Lane furthest from Jackson 156

[Busjack]

Query du jour (based on reviewing the upcoming alerts): Will the approach be via Van Buren, even after the Adams St. bridge reopens? That seems to eliminate the urge of passengers who want to exit on Clinton south of Adams, or on Canal at the Union Station entrance in the office building.

[jajuan]

2 hours ago, Busjack said:

Query du jour (based on reviewing the upcoming alerts): Will the approach be via Van Buren, even after the Adams St. bridge reopens? That seems to eliminate the urge of passengers who want to exit on Clinton south of Adams, or on Canal at the Union Station entrance in the office building.

They'll probably be returning the buses to Adams after the bridge reopens since operating on Adams and Clinton to the Transit Center is a cleaner and much simpler route than looping along Van Buren, Jefferson, Jackson and Clinton to do so. 

[busfan2847]

18 hours ago, Busjack said:

Query du jour (based on reviewing the upcoming alerts): Will the approach be via Van Buren, even after the Adams St. bridge reopens? That seems to eliminate the urge of passengers who want to exit on Clinton south of Adams, or on Canal at the Union Station entrance in the office building.

They will be returning to Adams. The Van Buren, Jefferson, Jackson routing is too time consuming. The stop on Adams at Canal will also be retained - in the afternoon passengers are keen to get to Union Station as fast as possible, but I doubt their will be another stop before the bus station as the buses will need to remain on the left side of Clinton to enter the bus station.

[Busjack]

41 minutes ago, busfan2847 said:

They will be returning to Adams. The Van Buren, Jefferson, Jackson routing is too time consuming. The stop on Adams at Canal will also be retained - in the afternoon passengers are keen to get to Union Station as fast as possible, but I doubt their will be another stop before the bus station as the buses will need to remain on the left side of Clinton to enter the bus station.

I also take it that since there aren't upcoming alerts (of this type) for 60 and 157, they aren't going into the transit center and the stops on Clinton and Canal stay the same.

[busfan2847]

3 hours ago, Busjack said:

I also take it that since there aren't upcoming alerts (of this type) for 60 and 157, they aren't going into the transit center and the stops on Clinton and Canal stay the same.

There is no easy way to route the 60/157 into the transit center. Stop at Jackson on Clinton is close, perhaps they will move the Van Buren stop closer to Jackson to allow easier transfers to the bus station as well?

[Busjack]

43 minutes ago, busfan2847 said:

There is no easy way to route the 60/157 into the transit center. Stop at Jackson on Clinton is close, perhaps they will move the Van Buren stop closer to Jackson to allow easier transfers to the bus station as well?

As I indicated, the main question was the bus stops in front of the office building on Canal and on Clinton south of Adams. Some riders to the Loop Link will have to use that set of stops, while 124 riders have to use the Transit Center. I wonder if that will become a source of confusion. Might not matter if someone is going to Washington St.; might matter if they are going to N. Michigan vs. Navy Pier.

[jajuan]

5 hours ago, busfan2847 said:

They will be returning to Adams. The Van Buren, Jefferson, Jackson routing is too time consuming. The stop on Adams at Canal will also be retained - in the afternoon passengers are keen to get to Union Station as fast as possible, but I doubt their will be another stop before the bus station as the buses will need to remain on the left side of Clinton to enter the bus station.

As Busjack brought up the stop at Clinton/Quincy in regards to 60 and 157, don't forget that the normal procedure buses turning on to Clinton from Adams before the bridge closed was to stop at that stop. Of course that was mainly for 7 and 126, but there's no reason that 1, 28, 121, 151 and 156 can't stop there for a more direct connection to 60 and 157 and one last connection with 7 and 126. Not all riders are going to Union Station after all. The 124 stops there and still manages to get on the left side of Clinton for its current turn on to Jackson to get over to Canal. The Tribune article on the transit center does mention a "pedestrian island" on the Canal side.