Rant on Proposed N Kedzie Bus

[Tubezone]

Regarding the uproar of the closure of the

Kedzie Ave Brown Line station and demands for

a revival of the old North Side Kedzie bus:

(Sun-Times, Feb 28, Pg 9)

There's no reason to spend money to add another

line, rather, North Kedzie Ave could be served and

money could be saved simply by rearranging the

current hodgepodge of west side north-south

crosstown bus routes, many of which still follow

abandoned streetcar routes, and which is littered with

unnecessary gaps and route duplication.

Examples: California Ave, which is hardly a major

arterial street, has three (count 'em!) bus lines,

yet has a major gap between Roscoe & Foster.

Let's just have a single line from Marquette Park

to Evanston, and have it jog over to either Rockwell

or Western to connect to the Brown Line.

The 52 Kedzie bus jogs over to California then

abruptly terminates at Roscoe St, simply because

that's where the old trolley line went, then on the

south side it duplicates the 52A South Kedzie line

for 4 miles. (note: the CTA is going to eliminate the

duplication, but NOT the bus change)

It'd make more sense to have a single line

on Kedzie from 115th/Keeler to, say, Kedzie/Devon, then cut

it back during off hours.

The 82 Kimball/Homan bus, if it needs to be retained

at all, should run as much as practically possible,

on Central Park Ave (some of Central Park Ave is not

wide enough for buses), to serve NEIU, Garfield

Conservatory (and its L station), and fill in the

north-south service gap between Kedzie & Pulaski.

The south end should terminate at either 31st/Pulaski, 36th/Kedzie

or even the 35/Archer Orange Line (thus providing some service on

31st as well) instead of dumping passengers at

31st/Lawndale (not surprisingly, that was the end of the old

S Lawndale streetcar route!) , 1/2 mile away from the nearest

connecting bus. A North Kedzie bus could run over Kimball

from Lawrence north to cover part of the route during

off-hours.

Similar simplification could be done on other

north-south routes such as Western, Cicero and Pulaski,

all routes which are still chopped into multiple routes

for no good reason other than none of these routes have

been revised since the streetcar era. Each unnecessary

bus change wastes passengers' time and discourages ridership.

At one time the Western streetcar went from 111th to Howard,

no reason a bus couldn't do that too..

The CTA could raise a few extra bucks by peddling the valuable

land currently occupied by the old Berwyn and Roscoe streetcar

turnarounds, as well.

[RIPTA42]

Examples: California Ave, which is hardly a major

arterial street, has three (count 'em!) bus lines,

yet has a major gap between Roscoe & Foster.

Let's just have a single line from Marquette Park

to Evanston, and have it jog over to either Rockwell

or Western to connect to the Brown Line.

California doesn't exist between Sunnyside and Lawrence, so a continuous California bus isn't possible without some duplication of service.  Rockwell isn't wide enough for buses, and Western has enough of them (49, X49, 49B, 11, 210).  North of Addison, there isn't much service area along California, since the east side of the street is park and river, with no crossings for people from the east to get to the route.

The 82 Kimball/Homan bus, if it needs to be retained

at all, should run as much as practically possible,

on Central Park Ave (some of Central Park Ave is not

wide enough for buses), to serve NEIU, Garfield

Conservatory (and its L station), and fill in the

north-south service gap between Kedzie & Pulaski.

At least through Albany Park, Central Park isn't wide enough for buses.  The area between Kimball and Pulaski - less than a mile, and low-density - isn't significant enough to call a "gap" if the Kimball bus stays on Kimball.

[Busjack]

I agree with some of the things both Tubezone and RIPTA have to say.

With regard to Kedzie, Tubezone is correct that the only reason one has the Kedzie-California bus is that the streetcar couldn't run on Kedzie Blvd. in the Humboldt Park area, and this is an anachronism. There used to be a 17 Kedzie streetcar that followed the current route to Elston or Milwaukee, and then Kedzie up to Bryn Mawr. This was cancelled in favor of the current route 52. However, if Ashland were treated like Kedzie, there would still be a detour on Paulina around Ashland Blvd. between Roosevelt and Lake.

After the 17 streetcar ended, there were such bus routes as the 82A Kedzie-Homan, and 94A N. California-Kedzie. Since I wasn't around at the time, does anyone know why the Kedzie portion of the N. California route was cancelled?

CTA Tattler had two threads on this: Brown Line shuttle bus campaign and City Council slams CTA on Brown Line fiasco. While the activist group was trying (I believe incorrectly) to tie the bus issue to the station closings, Tubezone's post seems to reinforce the group's message that the bus does not properly serve some major traffic generators in the North Park area, such as the College Prep Academy and NEIU. (There was a previous discussion here about Pace offering service to NEIU on a proposed 211, but that fell thorough; however, I can't find the thread now).

Western has been revised since the streetcar era, and I doubt that CTA could keep a schedule on a route from Howard to 135th. Anyway, CTA has abandoned Western south of 79th to Pace, except for supplemental rush hour runs, which are part of the 349 schedule (and X49 going to Evergreen Plaza).

RIPTA is correct that one can't have a continuous California route; the railroads at Fulton and the North Branch of the Chicago River interfere.

82 Kimball Homan seems to be a heavy route, and I doubt that there would be those in favor of moving it to Kedzie or Central Park. There might be some sense in having it feed the Conservatory Green Line station (i.e. CTA doesn't hesitate to reroute buses on the south side 4 blocks to feed the Red Line, even though 15 and 43 also go to Green Line stations).

Finally, while some here seem to advocate straight routes, even if the grid line streets don't support it, this may be inconsistent with serving the most riders. Current planning theory seems to support "line haul routes" and "community circulators."

Maybe Albany Park needs a restructuring survey?:(

[Buslover88]

Ok, ok...first of all, there SHOULD be a Kedzie Bus running from Kimball/Lawrence at least to Logan Blvd/Mliwaukee/Logan Sq. Station or it should go to Chicago Avenue. As for Central Park Avenue, we need a Bus on that Street from Foster, turn onto Irving Park to Kimball, go on Kimball all the way to Belmont (serving that Ternimal there), then Belmont to Central Park, then continue it to Potomac to Hamin, then Hamiln to Grand, making go all the way to Central Park, then Continue it to Garfield Park. I also think they should restore the #134 Logan Blvd...and have two Bus run on Wrightwood, too...there be Wrightwood West from Kedzie to Brickyard Mall...then Wrightwood East go from Clybourn to (by the way, it would serve Fullerton Station) Diversey/Sherdian. I think it should be like that.

[MetroShadow]

Well, I'm going to agree and disagree on some items here.

I'm suprised that Pace didn't pull off a 211, but again, that's within their own boundaries to make that decision or not, I won't complain about that.

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82-Kimball/Homan is a large enough route that it doesn't need to be rerouted anywhere except maybe the southern end, towards Lawndale and Central Park. Albeit that I see that end not work and is just there to drop off people at 31st and turn around, the route should at all times reach Pulaski/Komisky. The north end, I don't see a problem to it, and no need to adjust the route as such. Everyone in between Kedzie on the east and Central Park on the west can just hop on the bus by walking 2 blocks, and then getting to the destinations

Central Park is too narrow north of at least Belmont, and a bus anywhere north of there will have to go on Lawndale or even Kimball since its a one way. Anywhere south of Belmont, I could see possible, but I don't think that'll happen.

Now, if you detour the 82 along Lake and Fulton to serve the Green Line may be a good idea, since there is a high school right off of Fulton, and you have the Green Line right there by the conservatory. Just hopefully a detour like that doesn't take away from the whole route since its quite long.

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Now there was an 89-Kedzie bus back in the late 1980's, and I suppose it was cancelled for reasons to pertain to ridership. It was based off the streetcar routes for the most part, if I am not mistaken.

I'm in support of a Kedzie bus and the route would be a decent addition to the Albany Park area. I just see two things wrong with this, and correct me again if I am wrong:

(1) Problem is, on the north end, by Northside College Prep, all buses are not allowed north of Bryn Mawr (Jersey may or may not have that rule), and the only way you can move the route is either to Kimball or California and have the route duplicate there.

(2) I can see why Kedzie works, but also, how does this pertain to the Brown Line incident?

Overall, if a route like that would start from Logan Square Blue Line, Western Av. Metra (via Kedzie, Grand and Artesian), or even somewhere along Logan Blvd., take it to Kedzie/Bryn Mawr (since that bus restriction is there), then take it to NEIU. It would make sense since it would cover Northside, Roosevelt, Von Steuben high schools, and NEIU. Additionally, if you want to take it further north, then you have to manipulate the way around Albany Park and East Sauganash (there is a school, condo plex, and a cemetery along Bryn Mawr)

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Now with the California Corridor, there is a reason (or two) why the routes are like they are. Its a non-continuous route to even begin with (by Albany Park and by the rail yard at Grand Avenue), but there has to be a level of continuity somewhere. I mean, for example: if you were to start by Evanston and needing to go to Humboldt Park, for example, you'd have to take the 93 to the Brown Line, and transfer to the 82 to continue the trip (I have done that on many occasions). Where there should be a cutoff, not at Roscoe like the 52 currently stands, but further north (if you want to risk duplicating either way).

I think the whole corridor, in addition to making up service for the lost service on the brown line, needs to be looked at. I know we have the west side corridor 3 months away from implementation, but there has to be some levels of adjustment in that whole 2-mile wide stretch (Western to Pulaski), without duplicating or affecting service which already exists on Western, Pulaski, and Kimball.

BTW, Logan Blvd and Wrightwood could work, but only as a feeder from Western and Elston (by the mall) to about Pulaski. Regular E-W service may be affecting Diversey and Fullerton.

[Busjack]

(2) I can see why Kedzie works, but also, how does this pertain to the Brown Line incident?

I believe that an activist group using the station closing to push its own agenda, but the Sun Times article had the rationale that since the construction workers are parking in the area, the owner of the Persian Restaurant says that there is no way to get to it. Apparently, though, people in Albany Park can't walk 2 blocks, if you believe all the news stories.

P.S. The Kimball bus goes to the front door of Roosevelt and Von Stuben High Schools. Kedzie to Bryn Mawr to NEIU might have potential.

[RIPTA42]

After the 17 streetcar ended, there were such bus routes as the 82A Kedzie-Homan, and 94A N. California-Kedzie. Since I wasn't around at the time, does anyone know why the Kedzie portion of the N. California route was cancelled?

Sometime in the late '50s, the 82A was rerouted to California north of Foster to absorb the 94A route to Howard & Kedzie; some rush-hour 82A trips covered the old northern portion of the route and then some, operating via Kedzie-Jersey-Peterson-Lincoln-Kedzie-Devon-McCormick-Touhy-California-Howard. I don't know exactly why the portion on Kedzie north of Foster was eliminated completely. It could have been ridership - Kedzie is only two blocks from both Kimball and California, and, like California between Addison and Montrose, has water on the east side of the street. More likely, judging by the prominent NO BUSES signs on Kedzie and Jersey, residents were opposed to having a bus in front of their houses and petitioned to have it eliminated.

While the activist group was trying (I believe incorrectly) to tie the bus issue to the station closings, Tubezone's post seems to reinforce the group's message that the bus does not properly serve some major traffic generators in the North Park area, such as the College Prep Academy and NEIU. (There was a previous discussion here about Pace offering service to NEIU on a proposed 211, but that fell thorough; however, I can't find the thread now).

My wife has said that certain runs of the 82 do serve Northside Prep. NEIU's main building fronts on St. Louis; it's probably a shorter walk from Kimball & Balmoral than it is from the school's own parking garage.

The 211 was discussed in A Sign of the Times

Maybe Albany Park needs a restructuring survey?

Not in my opinion...

[MetroShadow]

yeah, I should've corrected myself on those special runs on 82 to serve those three high schools when they get out...

I went to Payton, so we didn't have any special treatment =p

[Buslover88]

What is NEIU? Anyways, the Central Park Bus could run from South of Belmont to Garfield Park and the Wrightwood/Logan Sq. Bus could be extended to Konster (to serve KPHS) and have a Sarapate Route go from Damen to Diversey, Cannon and Sheridan.

[trainman8119]

After the 17 streetcar ended, there were such bus routes as the 82A Kedzie-Homan, and 94A N. California-Kedzie. Since I wasn't around at the time, does anyone know why the Kedzie portion of the N. California route was cancelled?

Simply....lack of ridership. The old 82A Kedzie-Homan was combined into the new 82 Kimball-Homan when the Milwaukee Branch of what is now the Blue Line was extended to Jefferson Park. Before the extension, both the 82 Kimball (from Devon and Kedzie) and 82A Kedzie-Homan (from Lawndale-31) ended at Logan Square. The Kedzie part of the route was made into a new route, 93 North California. After a few years, the route was cut due to lack of ridership and budget. The route was somewhat revived as 89 North Kedzie for a time, but again, due to budget and lack of consistent ridership, it was again cut. The 93 came back much shorter on the far north end, but I think it has died again (correct me if I am wrong on the current status of the 93). Kedzie north of Logan Square has not been to kind to bus routes, probably because the ridership is 2 blocks west on Kimball.

[trainman8119]

What is NEIU? Anyways

Northeastern Illinois University.

[Busjack]

The 93 came back much shorter on the far north end, but I think it has died again (correct me if I am wrong on the current status of the 93.

93 was connected with Dodge in Evanston and now runs M-S from Kimball to Davis via California-Dodge serving ETHS.

[MetroShadow]

For some odd reason, I would agrue for support of a "supplemental" express route (other than the 145 for some who'll argue that) for the brown line as an alternative or in addition to pick up another Kedzie bus. I mean, pretty much, if you need a route to supplement the losses of the riders on the Brown Line then feed it downtown (or the Red Line), then have the route serve NEIU, Northside, and Von Steuben (Roosevelt, maybe?), would accomdate those needing the brown line to get to those places.

Like I mentioned before, Kedzie can work, if done right and the ridership amounts have changed since the cut of the North Kedzie. An alternative would be the brown line/albany park feeder/shuttle/express