CTA Bus Rapid Transit (take two)

[flossman]

How about Western Wave?

We could get clever and historical with "Fuller[ton] Folly," or "Fuller[ton] Flop."

[Sam92]

No you don't. At least I'll leave it to the imagination and not violate the terms of service.

Something tells me you're thinking "Full of **it Fullerton" :lol:

[Busjack]

Something tells me you're thinking "Full of **it Fullerton"

Actually, another bodily function. :blink:

[cta5658]

Actually, another bodily function.

if sheridan had BRT it could be called the "Sheridan Skip"

[BusHunter]

I notice the jump service was running alot of buses below #4080 yesterday. Those are not wrapped buses. (I believe the cutoff is somewhere like #4080 or #4081 for the wrapped buses) Also #4102 and #4104 were on the #J14. Did they receive buses from NP lately?

[jajuan]

I notice the jump service was running alot of buses below #4080 yesterday. Those are not wrapped buses. (I believe the cutoff is somewhere like #4080 or #4081 for the wrapped buses) Also #4102 and #4104 were on the #J14. Did they receive buses from NP lately?

I noticed that too as far as 4102 and 4104 goes. It slipped my mind that those two had been at NP recently. The J14 also has still been seeing a stray 1000 or two doing runs on the route. 1484 on Monday and 1483 on yesterday or either Wednesday, can't remember which with 1483.

[pudgym29]

I was on the C.E.R.A. "L" charter trains on the 18th.

When we broke for lunch @ Madison & Wabash, I walked south to Jackson & Wabash to have an italian beef from Al's. As I strolled, a wrapped route J14 Jeffery bus rolled through the intersection. The second photo seems to show its number as 4094.

{My photos of the C.E.R.A. charter are not that spectacular, so they may or may not be referred into the forum. }

[Sam92]

I noticed that too as far as 4102 and 4104 goes. It slipped my mind that those two had been at NP recently. The J14 also has still been seeing a stray 1000 or two doing runs on the route. 1484 on Monday and 1483 on yesterday or either Wednesday, can't remember which with 1483.

I've been seeing Jump buses covering other routes lately. A week ago I saw one running down 93rd on the 95E and last night on the 169.

[ChicagoNova]

This morning I rode NF #4089 going downtown, and it had an onboard tracker installed in it. It was not in service as of yet.

[MetroShadow]

This morning I rode NF #4089 going downtown, and it had an onboard tracker installed in it. It was not in service as of yet.

So I wasn't seeing things. I saw a screen on a Jump when travelling from Hegewisch a couple of weeks back -- I didn't know if it existed. Good call.

[artthouwill]

What is the stopping pattern again for this route? I thought it was 1/2 mile between 67th and 83rd, and 1/4 mile south of there. I rode the J14, and there is a Jeffery Jump stop at 77th, but not one at 85th (I rode only to 87th today).

[Busjack]

What is the stopping pattern again for this route? I thought it was 1/2 mile between 67th and 83rd, and 1/4 mile south of there. I rode the J14, and there is a Jeffery Jump stop at 77th, but not one at 85th (I rode only to 87th today).

The pattern is on the schedule page and pamphlet. Apparently not that regular.

[jajuan]

What is the stopping pattern again for this route? I thought it was 1/2 mile between 67th and 83rd, and 1/4 mile south of there. I rode the J14, and there is a Jeffery Jump stop at 77th, but not one at 85th (I rode only to 87th today).

It's pretty much every half mile for most of the 67th to 103rd stretch Art, with exception of 77th, 89th, 93rd and a couple extra stops along 100th Street.

[Busjack]

This seems the correct thread:

I'm jumping ahead of the game a bit - but I understand that "Bus Rapid Transit" is planned for Western and Ashland Avenues and several other routes.

...

How on Earth anyone in their right mind thinks they are going to be able to offer a true "bus rapid transit" service along Western Avenue (without providing an enforced bus-only lane in each direction along with REAL traffic-signal priority to buses) has to be crazy.

...

So, why bother?

The answer is that they can't. Go back to about here in this thread where we discuss whether anything proposed for Western and Ashland would comply with the new restrictive definition of BRT in section 5309 of the federal legislation.

With regard to the enforced bus only lane, also note the discussion around there that there is no way they could enforce no left turn over a center bus lane that was one of the proposals.

This is simply a ruse to get somewhere between $1.6 and $2.0 million of federal money to consultants. If CTA wanted to do something, it could have reinstituted X9 and X49, cutting back the locals, but the feds will not pay consultants to do that.

That's the bottom line, because Stone Cold says so.

[ChicagoNova]

Looks like Ashland Avenue is getting it. http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130419/chicago/ashland-express-bus-route-gets-greenlight-from-cta

[Busjack]

Looks like Ashland Avenue is getting it. http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130419/chicago/ashland-express-bus-route-gets-greenlight-from-cta

This gets my usual reaction--the only thing this proves is that some consultant said that Ashland is the preferred alternative after some alternatives analysis. It didn't say where the city would get the $160 million (or even the millions needed to do the central portion, according to the more detailed Tribune article) or how many decades of environmental analysis would be needed.

Let's not forget that 5 years ago, 4 BRT projects were announced for $180 or so million, and a funding source was identified, but that slipped through the city's hands, resulting in only the $10 million Jeffery Jump.

[jajuan]

This gets my usual reaction--the only thing this proves is that some consultant said that Ashland is the preferred alternative after some alternatives analysis. It didn't say where the city would get the $160 million (or even the millions needed to do the central portion, according to the more detailed Tribune article) or how many decades of environmental analysis would be needed.

Let's not forget that 5 years ago, 4 BRT projects were announced for $180 or so million, and a funding source was identified, but that slipped through the city's hands, resulting in only the $10 million Jeffery Jump.

I agreee with with your assessment that it'll be believable when they actually point to how it will be paid for.

[mkohut]

The only thing they found money for to make another consultant richer.

[Busjack]

The only thing they found money for to make another consultant richer.

Apparently also some from the Rockefeller Foundation for a design competition for a Pilsen station. See the CTA Tattler.

Only about $1.197 million of that money to account for (although it doesn't appear that the CTA got all of it), but since that is private money, I don't care.

[mkohut]

I think you know how i feel about consultants.

That being said .It cost less to bring back X9 for less then the 10 million per mile.

[BusHunter]

I agreee with with your assessment that it'll be believable when they actually point to how it will be paid for.

Well at least their smart enough to tackle the project in segments. Although I believe a cicero corridor would have been smarter. Ashland is too close to the Red line as an alternate, also the Pink line runs a block away from Lake to 18th, Also the "L" lines on Ashland are too centric. Cicero serves Midway airport, Ford City, as well as the West and NW sides, and in most instances has wide gaps between "L" lines, and has really heavy traffic from the Stevenson to Midway. Where is the heavy traffic on Ashland? An X9 could easily save 8 minutes. BTW, probably one of the reasons they didn't pick Western between them and Ashland is because they didn't want to pay for the Berwyn to Howard segment they would have probably got stuck building. (and it's 20 blocks longer than an Ashland proposal.)

[MetroShadow]

I think you know how i feel about consultants.

That being said .It cost less to bring back X9 for less then the 10 million per mile.

Agreed. In fact, it would be a viable stage one project than to wait years for groundbreaking and construction.

Nonetheless, I'll believe it when I see it.

[Busjack]

Well at least their smart enough to tackle the project in segments. Although I believe a cicero corridor would have been smarter. Ashland is too close to the Red line as an alternate, also the Pink line runs a block away from Lake to 18th, Also the "L" lines on Ashland are too centric. Cicero serves Midway airport, Ford City, as well as the West and NW sides, and in most instances has wide gaps between "L" lines, and has really heavy traffic from the Stevenson to Midway. Where is the heavy traffic on Ashland? An X9 could easily save 8 minutes. BTW, probably one of the reasons they didn't pick Western between them and Ashland is because they didn't want to pay for the Berwyn to Howard segment they would have probably got stuck building. (and it's 20 blocks longer than an Ashland proposal.)

I suppose that the consultant's report will sift through the alternatives, since it is an alternatives analysis. There are indications on the CTA's factsheet about such things as serving the Illinois Medical District, being by the United Center, UIC and Malcom X, and the initial part (Courtland to 31st) wouldn't be near north-south rapid transit, except to the extent one could believe that the Pink Line served that corridor (which I doubt).

But if this gets serious, I still contend that "no left turns" for 16 miles is not going to fly when they get around to holding the environmental review hearings. Also, the plan there says it leaves street parking undisturbed, but doesn't really deal with losing one lane each way, reducing Ashland to essentially a two lane street.

[dann]

BusHunter, I agree. A BRT on Cicero would be convenient for those on the NW Side to go to Midway without going through downtown and it might be cheaper to build than an Ashland BRT. And instead of a BRT on Ashland, it would be cheaper to bring back the X9.

[artthouwill]

Well at least their smart enough to tackle the project in segments. Although I believe a cicero corridor would have been smarter. Ashland is too close to the Red line as an alternate, also the Pink line runs a block away from Lake to 18th, Also the "L" lines on Ashland are too centric. Cicero serves Midway airport, Ford City, as well as the West and NW sides, and in most instances has wide gaps between "L" lines, and has really heavy traffic from the Stevenson to Midway. Where is the heavy traffic on Ashland? An X9 could easily save 8 minutes. BTW, probably one of the reasons they didn't pick Western between them and Ashland is because they didn't want to pay for the Berwyn to Howard segment they would have probably got stuck building. (and it's 20 blocks longer than an Ashland proposal.)

Part of the problem with Cicero is that it runs through two suburbs, Stickney and Cicero (between the Steverson Expy and Roosevelt), and borders a third suburb on the south end (Bedford Park). I agree with Dann that bringing back the X routes would be cheaper and achieve similar results, since all of the X routes were popular, bur especially the X9 and X49. I believe bringing those two routes back using artics would work very well.

Ashland is a very heavily traveled street during rush hour,as it is an alternate for the Dan Ryan when traffic is heavy. It gets extremely congested around the United Center when there are events there as well.

I think Western wasn't chosen, in part due to the stretch between Garfield and 33rd, where you have Western Blvd and Western Ave, with an island separating the two. Western Blvd is two lanes in each direction with no parking, and so is Western Ave (though I've seen parking on the west side of that street, but that creates bottlenecks and the potential for accidents). Trucks (semis) use Western Ave, and to try and build BRT stations in that stretch would cause gridlock on the Ave side. You'd probably have to make Western Blvd one way northbound and Western Ave one way south bound and lose, if not eliminate, the island between the two. But then the problem of the Western Orange Line station (which sits in that very island) becomes an issue. Western logistically presents too many challenges to consider a BRT along the entire stretch of Western between 79th and Berwyn.