Busjack Posted September 16, 2016 Report Share Posted September 16, 2016 4 hours ago, Juniorz said: To clear up some of these preconceived notions, here's the grandfather of all documents related to the USTC. G22-16--Union Station Transit Center Bulletin.pdf Confirms (despite what BH was implying, at least explicitly with respect to Rosemont) is that buses are to move up when the preceding bus leaves. Also confirms that buses are supposed to stop 10' behind a standard bus to allow for passing, so passing is allowed. 7 and 126 aren't mentioned, and the bus stop lists for those indicate that the stop is before the River. Again, it seems kind of strange that the TC is underinclusive of what stops around Union Station. It seems bad planning on CDOT's part that the bike lane is on the east side of Clinton and crosses the bus entrance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted September 16, 2016 Report Share Posted September 16, 2016 1 hour ago, Busjack said: Confirms (despite what BH was implying, at least explicitly with respect to Rosemont) is that buses are to move up when the preceding bus leaves. Also confirms that buses are supposed to stop 10' behind a standard bus to allow for passing, so passing is allowed. 7 and 126 aren't mentioned, and the bus stop lists for those indicate that the stop is before the River. Again, it seems kind of strange that the TC is underinclusive of what stops around Union Station. It seems bad planning on CDOT's part that the bike lane is on the east side of Clinton and crosses the bus entrance. On the 7 and 126 point, it seems to confirm that the terminal was meant more for buses terminating at Union Station than those passing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted September 16, 2016 Report Share Posted September 16, 2016 28 minutes ago, jajuan said: On the 7 and 126 point, it seems to confirm that the terminal was meant more for buses terminating at Union Station than those passing it. True, but if a passenger is trying to get to Michigan and Jackson, you have to take the crapshoot that 1 or 28 shows up, or have to know to walk a block to get 7 or 126. No 1 or 28 outside rush hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted September 16, 2016 Report Share Posted September 16, 2016 1 hour ago, Busjack said: True, but if a passenger is trying to get to Michigan and Jackson, you have to take the crapshoot that 1 or 28 shows up, or have to know to walk a block to get 7 or 126. No 1 or 28 outside rush hour. Yeah that's a good point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTRSP1900-CTA3200 Posted September 17, 2016 Report Share Posted September 17, 2016 Smart idea to have a transfer tunnel directly to Union Station. I wonder where you pop out in the station once you exit the tunnel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pace831 Posted September 17, 2016 Report Share Posted September 17, 2016 23 minutes ago, MTRSP1900-CTA3200 said: Smart idea to have a transfer tunnel directly to Union Station. I wonder where you pop out in the station once you exit the tunnel... Probably the passageway next to Track 2 that goes to the parking garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juniorz Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 The LoopLink Pilot Begins! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 34 minutes ago, Juniorz said: Were there any visible means of enforcement, or were you there outside those hours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 9 hours ago, Juniorz said: The LoopLink Pilot Begins! In addition to Busjack's question, where is the Ventra card reading equipment situated? Or better yet are they using something portable given the prepaid area is only in effect PM rush? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 15 minutes ago, jajuan said: In addition to Busjack's question, where is the Ventra card reading equipment situated? Or better yet are they using something portable given the prepaid area is only in effect PM rush? That one was excluded by the alert, which pointed out to go to a subway station or Walgreens. Quote You can reload your Ventra Card anytime at ventrachicago.com, using the free Ventra App (available for download and use on Apple and Android smartphone and tablet devices via ventrachicago.com, the App Store and Google Play), at a Ventra vending machine, or at hundreds of Ventra retail locations. Ventra vending machines are located at all CTA rail stations – the Washington Blue Line, Monroe Blue Line, and Monroe Red Line stations are closest, all located within one block. You can also reload or purchase Ventra cards at retail locations throughout the city – a Walgreens is located next to the station, on the northwest corner of Madison and State, which sells Ventra cards and where fare value or passes can be purchased and loaded onto your card. Other Ventra retailers can be found at ventrachicago.com/retailers/locations/. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 18 minutes ago, Busjack said: That one was excluded by the alert, which pointed out to go to a subway station or Walgreens. Thanks for the link. But the notice says you go to a subway station or Walgreen's to reload your Ventra card, not to pay your fare. The actual setup itself according to the notice will be similar to at an L station in that they're saying you tap your card to pay right there before being allowed on to the bus stop platform and that there will be CTA personnel to assist. So it sounds like they have portable Ventra reading equipment in play during the prepay hours. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 45 minutes ago, jajuan said: In addition to Busjack's question, where is the Ventra card reading equipment situated? Or better yet are they using something portable given the prepaid area is only in effect PM rush? On further review, I misread that post. The alert says to tap on the yellow dot, but didn't say where the yellow dot was. So I leave it to someone else to answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 1 minute ago, Busjack said: On further review, I misread that post. The alert says to tap on the yellow dot, but didn't say where the yellow dot was. So I leave it to someone else to answer. I went back and checked the #77 Belmont/Blue Line stop prepaid boarding thread and saw that BH reported in that thread that they have a street level Ventra machine in place for that prepaid pilot. So perhaps something similar is being done for the Dearborn-State/Madison Loop Link stop during its prepaid hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pace831 Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 15 hours ago, Busjack said: Were there any visible means of enforcement, or were you there outside those hours? 6 hours ago, jajuan said: In addition to Busjack's question, where is the Ventra card reading equipment situated? Or better yet are they using something portable given the prepaid area is only in effect PM rush? This article shows a picture of the setup of the portable Ventra reader with CTA employee standing nearby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 8 hours ago, Pace831 said: This article shows a picture of the setup of the portable Ventra reader with CTA employee standing nearby. Thanks. However, I wonder if there is any security personnel presence, say, near the back of the 56 bus, given the warning about fine and/or arrest. Someone could be at Madison and Western before the police arrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted November 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2016 Why does the Madison Dearborn state station on the loop link have prepaid boarding? I thought that was only at the Washington Clark stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busfan2847 Posted November 13, 2016 Report Share Posted November 13, 2016 3 hours ago, BusHunter said: Why does the Madison Dearborn state station on the loop link have prepaid boarding? I thought that was only at the Washington Clark stop. It is only at Madison Dearborn not on Washington. Washington Loop link stops have more people getting off than on. Most routes are within a few stops of the end of their run. Any stops on Madison will have a higher number of boarding passengers in the afternoon. The pilot will run during fall 2016. The CTA then will determine whether to conclude the pilot, extend it or make it permanent based on analysis and customer feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TransitXan17 Posted June 23, 2017 Report Share Posted June 23, 2017 I found this link of a possible Chicago Ave BRT replacing bike lanes. I think this is a good idea, tell me what you think! Chicago Ave BRT (Also I was wondering how to create a new thread if you could help me out that'll be great!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 23, 2017 Report Share Posted June 23, 2017 59 minutes ago, TransitXan17 said: I found this link of a possible Chicago Ave BRT replacing bike lanes. I think this is a good idea, tell me what you think! Chicago Ave BRT (Also I was wondering how to create a new thread if you could help me out that'll be great!) It's only one writer's idea. It was part of a $183 million BRT proposal, but that went down in flames exactly 8 years ago (city missed the deadline on raising the parking tax to get a grant). On creating a topic, a restriction was placed on newbies doing so, although you can contact the administrator. Personally (and I think many members) don't think Streetsblog is worth doing it, but that's up to the administrators. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TransitXan17 Posted June 23, 2017 Report Share Posted June 23, 2017 1 hour ago, Busjack said: It's only one writer's idea. It was part of a $183 million BRT proposal, but that went down in flames exactly 8 years ago (city missed the deadline on raising the parking tax to get a grant). On creating a topic, a restriction was placed on newbies doing so, although you can contact the administrator. Personally (and I think many members) don't think Streetsblog is worth doing it, but that's up to the administrators. Thanks for the help! I'll keep that in mind for the future! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garmon757 Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 13 hours ago, TransitXan17 said: I found this link of a possible Chicago Ave BRT replacing bike lanes. I think this is a good idea, tell me what you think! Chicago Ave BRT (Also I was wondering how to create a new thread if you could help me out that'll be great!) 12 hours ago, Busjack said: It's only one writer's idea. It was part of a $183 million BRT proposal, but that went down in flames exactly 8 years ago (city missed the deadline on raising the parking tax to get a grant). On creating a topic, a restriction was placed on newbies doing so, although you can contact the administrator. Personally (and I think many members) don't think Streetsblog is worth doing it, but that's up to the administrators. Yeah, that article is 100% based on opinion instead of news but I'll allow it for other members can state their opinions about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 5 hours ago, garmon757 said: Yeah, that article is 100% based on opinion instead of news but I'll allow it for other members can state their opinions about it. With regard to the administrator, I was only referring to whether this deserved a new topic, which a new poster is not allowed to create, not whether it was worth it to comment on opinion (if I wasn't clear on that). A big chunk of what we do is comment on opinion. Back to the substantive point, besides the city having blown the grant, running artics also failed. Maybe some combination of a bus lane and artics might work, but this gets down to what is the scope of the West Towns area, as opposed to perhaps most of the passenger and vehicular traffic being east of the River. Personally, I don't see how choking River North and Streeterville more helps anything.However, since the shortest short terminal is Sacremento, maybe adding a bus lane in West Town does accomplish something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcmetro Posted June 25, 2017 Report Share Posted June 25, 2017 The CTA just started their "Bus Slow Zone" study, which will analyze changes to the Chicago and 79th corridors. Hopefully it amounts to something more than what happened on Jeffery, Western, and Ashland. http://www.rtams.org/rtams/planningStudy.jsp?id=3164 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted June 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2017 7 hours ago, Tcmetro said: The CTA just started their "Bus Slow Zone" study, which will analyze changes to the Chicago and 79th corridors. Hopefully it amounts to something more than what happened on Jeffery, Western, and Ashland. http://www.rtams.org/rtams/planningStudy.jsp?id=3164 Probably it will. They need to find a better way to move the customers faster and an X route is it. I don't know if that translates into less buses. (I think we had that discussion before) but it makes the service more efficient. That's the problem with most of the longer routes like the #3. You start out not bunched but you get down to garfield and you are bunched. Same happens nb. They have some big packs coming north and end up short turning buses. That doesnt help the affected commuter and when you do that to downtown that's alot of potential customers but the same thing happens on #77. The cumberland and sometimes east of halsted customer gets affected. With some X routes maybe they could speed up service and not do so much cutting. The service would at least be more efficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted June 25, 2017 Report Share Posted June 25, 2017 4 minutes ago, BusHunter said: Probably it will. They need to find a better way to move the customers faster and an X route is it. I don't know if that translates into less buses. (I think we had that discussion before) but it makes the service more efficient. That's the problem with most of the longer routes like the #3. You start out not bunched but you get down to garfield and you are bunched. Same happens nb. They have some big packs coming north and end up short turning buses. That doesnt help the affected commuter and when you do that to downtown that's alot of potential customers but the same thing happens on #77. The cumberland and sometimes east of halsted customer gets affected. With some X routes maybe they could speed up service and not do so much cutting. The service would at least be more efficient. I'm not on the X route bandwagon for either route. As one who has traveled 79th, there is a glutton of stop signs, especially between King Drive and Western. No bus on any route can overcome the vehicular traffic that it shares roadway with. At least 79th short turns buses at Western. I believe a similar short turn at Sacramento or Pulaski could help some on Chicago as well as short turns at Fairbanks and Ontario (the original terminal for the 66). Perhaps using some peak direction expresses from NP, K, and 103rd to run short trips from Chicago/Western to Fairbanks and Ontario help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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