Busjack Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Since there were announcements before the snow hit about big waves and other problems being predicted for LSD, does/did CTA have a plan to use something other than LSD (i.e. Inner Drive or Clark/Broadway) in such eventuality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Since there were announcements before the snow hit about big waves and other problems being predicted for LSD, does/did CTA have a plan to use something other than LSD (i.e. Inner Drive or Clark/Broadway) in such eventuality? If last night's debacle with the #146 bus was any indication, then no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 If last night's debacle with the #146 bus was any indication, then no. No offense, but I was asking someone with inside connections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.cta85 Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 yesterday I gotta tell was quite and experience both driving a bus and riding one. Im currently a school bus driver and yesterday coming from Diversey on 94 all the way to 95th took me about 3hrs. Then once I began to travel home I took 2buses and a train just to make it. The bus rides actually wasn't that bad and the Red Line was honestly quite a smooth ride home I sat in the last car and I gotta tell you I could not see anything out the windows it was that bad. But like I said the train blew the storm like there was none. So as far as cta did in my perspective I give them 2 thumbs up for the way they ran yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Lots of fun stuff between Randolph and South Chicago this morning. We were able to see (in the distance around 31st or so) at least 4 or 5 artics abandoned on the Drive...all in a row. They were obviously there overnight, since they were dark and quite snow covered. At 71st and Jeffrey, and artic on route 15 was stuck at the bus shelter north of 71st..was there for the entire 3+ hours we went by...and is probably still there. At Yates, there was about a 7+ foot drift in the intersection of Yates and South Shore. A Police Cruiser was stuck on the Metra tracks and a city salt truck got stuck in the drifts trying to plow out the area. On the last trip south, there were 2 Novas stopped short of Yates headed south...not trapped, but not moving either. Lots of shovel activity in the entire intersection. A Flyer from 103 was trapped about 73rd street, and at 75th the Currency Exchange lot was plowed out and being used as a bus terminal (turnaround) for the 75th street route. On the way back north, a Nova was stuck in the Yates-71st intersection after crossing the tracks and was being shoveled out. The line southbound was up to 3 buses back to back to back not moving. Did see a little movement along Lake Park on the 14, but only 2 buses the entire morning. On my way back the hotel, did not see a single bus along Michigan ave, although did see a 29 on Illinois and a 65 on Grand. All in all a real mess on the city streets...but then what did you expect !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 This morning heading to the firehouse, I cant believe how many CTA buses I saw stuck in the snow. Coming down Cicero ave. near Lake st. One New Flyer was attempting to remove an abandoned New Flyer bus. Along 16th st there was a stuck 16/18 bus at Central Pk. and on Homan ave. between 16th and Ogden ave. there are five SB #82 buses stuck, as of this writing they are still there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Last night about 1 AM there were quite a few buses missing on Bustracker. Spotted 4 in service on Western all north of Chicago Avenue, 3 on Belmont two at the east end and 1 at the west, 7 on Ashland, 5 on which were on 95th coming to/from 95th/red line, 1 north of Marquette. 4 on the 79th, 3 at the east end, 5 on the #62 all west of Pulaski. Bottom line, if you were out there last night you had a long wait. This morning service was better, there were a few routes missing buses, the #86 had 1 bus, the #90 had 3, but on the main routes things were good considering the weather. Pace seemed to really have a hard time this morning about 8 AM, the only bus I could spot on Webwatch was one bus on the #290. Nothing on the #270 or any of the major routes. I think that was kind of smart however to enforce a Sunday only schedule today. I wonder why CTA didn't follow suit. This could be one of the lowest ridership days ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 As of this writing (3pm), CLTV reported 348 cars and at least 10 CTA buses, at least 3 or 4 of them artics including the jack-knifed 146, still stuck on Lake Shore Drive in the NB lanes between North Avenue and Belmont per the count made by WGN traffic reporter Erin Mendez up in Skycam 9. That's not counting the 60 plus cars and one CTA bus removed this morning from the Drive at Schiller. Looking at the how the snow drifts around even those trapped buses are roof high, it doesn't look like those lanes will be cleared of cars for quite a well before they can get the plows in the to clear out the snow from the roadway where those vehicles are and the pavement salted. Plus taking in account tonight's overnight air temps will be minus single digits to minus teens with -20 to -40 wind chill factors, it definitely sounds like the Drive, especially where the abandoned cars and buses are, will be out of commission for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cta_44499_FG Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Last night about 1 AM there were quite a few buses missing on Bustracker. Spotted 4 in service on Western all north of Chicago Avenue, 3 on Belmont two at the east end and 1 at the west, 7 on Ashland, 5 on which were on 95th coming to/from 95th/red line, 1 north of Marquette. 4 on the 79th, 3 at the east end, 5 on the #62 all west of Pulaski. Bottom line, if you were out there last night you had a long wait. This morning service was better, there were a few routes missing buses, the #86 had 1 bus, the #90 had 3, but on the main routes things were good considering the weather. Pace seemed to really have a hard time this morning about 8 AM, the only bus I could spot on Webwatch was one bus on the #290. Nothing on the #270 or any of the major routes. I think that was kind of smart however to enforce a Sunday only schedule today. I wonder why CTA didn't follow suit. This could be one of the lowest ridership days ever. You would be surprised how many people would still be out there complaining up a storm how long they have waited for a bus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.cta85 Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 After riding the Red Line(which by the way was a very smooth ride) last night during the blizzard I couldn't help but think of the blizzard of 99. Espically since that blizzard pretty much knocked out the whole 2600 fleet to the point they all had to get rehabbed. It looks like it was round 2 for the 2600's and looks like they did pretty good this time around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann Posted February 3, 2011 Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 Attached photo from ChicagoTribune.com this morning. If this is representative of all the buses abandoned on The Drive, we can expect some big-time bus shuffling in the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 From Youtube... the CTA Bus that couldn't... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 3, 2011 Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 If this is representative of all the buses abandoned on The Drive, we can expect some big-time bus shuffling in the next few days. Doubtful since the tally of buses that were stuck and now cleared from the Drive, given the Drive is completely open today, was only ten total between both Kedzie and North Park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DevalDragon Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 I doubt it. The interior of CTA's buses are mostly plastic - all it needs is a good brushing and a bit of time to dry. It'll be back on the road in no time. If this is representative of all the buses abandoned on The Drive, we can expect some big-time bus shuffling in the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRCTA Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Channel 9 5pm news showed some more pics of 1967, they showed CTA buses all piled up one behind the other and another shot of two propane Flxibles being towed out by a wrecker on Michigan Ave. Pics are posted on WGN-TV website. I saw clips or old pics of those old Flxible propanes and diesels from that 1967 blizzard? Were there also Macks and GM old-looks in the snow, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Found an article on ABC7Chicago(Link) about the Chicago Blizzard of 1967. They say the CTA lost contact with 700 buses during that storm. That's an amazing number(gotta be around 70-80% of the fleet at that time). But couldn't the operators just phoned in their respective garages and just told them that they are stranded and where they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Found an article on ABC7Chicago(Link) about the Chicago Blizzard of 1967. They say the CTA lost contact with 700 buses during that storm. That's an amazing number(gotta be around 70-80% of the fleet at that time). But couldn't the operators just phoned in their respective garages and just told them that they are stranded and where they are. 1. The fleet was about 2500-2800 at that time. So, it would have been about 25-30%. CTA's bus fleet has continually shrunk, not grown. 2. That snow was worse (but apparently not that much worse) than the 2011 storm. So, in that people were not willing to abandon the buses on LSD in 2011, and at least had the emergency radio system, you can imagine how it would be if a bus was stuck in Lincoln Park or on LSD in 1967 (where many are depicted as begin stuck), and didn't have a radio. I was around but not in the city at that time. In addition, areas around here didn't take snow removal real seriously until the Bilandic 1979 fiasco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 It's early, but looking at some weather maps put out by Tom Skilling, we could be dealing with... Snowmaggedon II: Return Of The Storm Early maps show Chicago could get 12-18" of snow by next weekend. Wonder how things will run during this, and will the CTA implement the LSD contingency plan in this case(presuming this forecast stays as is and doesn't lessen in totals. If it increases, this might beat the Groundhog Blizzard of 2011 depending on snow totals). Tom Skilling's Facebook Map Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 14, 2013 Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 It's early, but looking at some weather maps put out by Tom Skilling, we could be dealing with... Snowmaggedon II: Return Of The Storm Early maps show Chicago could get 12-18" of snow by next weekend. Wonder how things will run during this, and will the CTA implement the LSD contingency plan in this case(presuming this forecast stays as is and doesn't lessen in totals. If it increases, this might beat the Groundhog Blizzard of 2011 depending on snow totals). Tom Skilling's Facebook Map All other reports (and the language in the Facebook post) indicate that it is too soon to predict a week out. Maybe we will have a better idea next Tuesday. By now, if CTA is a responsibly run business, it should be subscribing to Accuweather, Murray and Trettel, or some other private forecasting company, like most businesses (like the Sox) do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 All other reports (and the language in the Facebook post) indicate that it is too soon to predict a week out. Maybe we will have a better idea next Tuesday. By now, if CTA is a responsibly run business, it should be subscribing to Accuweather, Murray and Trettel, or some other private forecasting company, like most businesses (like the Sox) do. Believe me, Busjack... I hope this forecast is wrong... I had to walk home in the Groundhog Blizzard while it was still going at a good clip with lightning and thunder and 60-70 mph wind gusts, and had to stumble through 3-4' drifts to go to work the next day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
See Tea Eh Posted February 14, 2013 Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 I know CTA gets (or at least used to get) Murray and Trettel updates at their Control Center. I'd often get text pages from the control center with an M&T weather update whenever bad weather was forecasted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 Believe me, Busjack... I hope this forecast is wrong... I had to walk home in the Groundhog Blizzard while it was still going at a good clip with lightning and thunder and 60-70 mph wind gusts, and had to stumble through 3-4' drifts to go to work the next day. Accuweather as of right now is predicting no where near that dude. I checked it through my smart phone. The forecast for now as I write this post (9 PM) is about 3.2 inches during the daytime hours next Friday and 2.7 inches at night with wind speeds of 20-25 mph with the gusts at about 30 mph. Are you sure Skilling wasn't speaking of another part of the country in his forecast models? Because he does tend to show the weather map for the entire country as a way of explaining why Chicago weather is effected the way his models forecast. And even if his forecast models did say what you say, Skilling does caution you that when he's speaking on a week out that a lot can change in that time and at the point he's forecasting it's still a bit too early to say that a storm is a definite. It's more an early warning just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 And just as I thought, Skilling did say as Busjack pointed out that that was just ONE forecast model's take on next weekend and that it's still too early to say that's going to be the case. He even gave the caution that that forecast model was likely going to be adjusted in the coming days and adjusted SIGNIFICANTLY. He put that weather map up more as an interesting tidbit for amateur and student meteorologists from the further examining his caption to that weather map. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 And just as I thought, Skilling did say as Busjack pointed out that that was just ONE forecast model's take on next weekend and that it's still too early to say that's going to be the case. He even gave the caution that that forecast model was likely going to be adjusted in the coming days and adjusted SIGNIFICANTLY. He put that weather map up more as an interesting tidbit for amateur and student meteorologists from the further examining his caption to that weather map. Skilling always tends to forecast the worst. (what do you expect, the guy likes talking about Alaska) If we do get a major storm, I bet CTA will hold in the #4300's. No sense in having any early retirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 15, 2013 Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 Skilling always tends to forecast the worst. (what do you expect, the guy likes talking about Alaska) If we do get a major storm, I bet CTA will hold in the #4300's. No sense in having any early retirements. That was pretty much my point. The only thing relevant to transit operations is if M&T get information out to Streets and San to start clearing the roads, and CTA figures out that if the snow hits the fan, keep the artics off LSD. As you noted, CTA did before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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