Long-ago CTA express bus lines

[Busjack]

The only reason why the 14 didn't get killed was to make way for BRT's Jeffery Jump. I didn't even know there was a predecessor to the X3 before I saw a bus sign of it on Google. The only "X" route that still exists is the X98 Avon Express (which is surprisingly on Bus Tracker), and that route BARELY even runs. I <3 the X routes growing up, and I have always wanted to ride one of the routes. Unfortunately, thanks to the 2010 budget cuts, THAT dream got shut down.

Mostly perversions of the numbering system. X98, as a result of the Crowd Reduction Initiative, is clearly a contract route.

Also, the 2010 cutbacks of the X routes seem to have been before talk of the J14.

A long time ago there was a South Park Express or Limited (South Park Blvd. being the former name of King Dr.), but I don't think any time within my memory.

The X3, X4 (and X28, which still lives on as a rush hour 28) were the result of the 2003 or so South Lake Shore restructuring, which also created the 6 Jackson Park Express and 26 South Shore Express. The theory then was that everyone was going crosstown to connect with the two Jeffery routes (6 Jeffery Express and 14 South LSD Express) to go downtown. The restructuring spread out the capacity,sort of from west (King Dr.) to east (South Shore Dr./Commercial Ave.).

[MetroShadow]

The X3, X4 (and X28, which still lives on as a rush hour 28) were the result of the 2003 or so South Lake Shore restructuring, which also created the 6 Jackson Park Express and 26 South Shore Express. The theory then was that everyone was going crosstown to connect with the two Jeffery routes (6 Jeffery Express and 14 South LSD Express) to go downtown. The restructuring spread out the capacity,sort of from west (King Dr.) to east (South Shore Dr./Commercial Ave.).

Not to mention a better distribution on the far Southeast side where service you either had a choice of the Gray Line Electric District or the 14. If nothing else, South LSD ended with a better distribution of service (especially if you started from Hegewisch or South Deering)

As far as the X9 (X20 and X54 included), that was the result of the 2006 West Side restructuring that made crosstown travel easier. While the X54 wasn't that much faster (except when you needed to start from the Jeff), the X20 was somewhat valuable (and sorta) brought back the 131 service dissolved from Booz-Allen.

[Busjack]

... While the X54 wasn't that much faster (except when you needed to start from the Jeff), the X20 was somewhat valuable (and sorta) brought back the 131 service dissolved from Booz-Allen.

X54 had the benefit of a 1 seat ride between Jefferson Park and Midway, as opposed to having to transfer at 24th, regardless of whether it was significantly faster.

The thing I couldn't figure out on X20 is why they changed it west of Garfield Park from limited stops to all stops.*

_________

*Although now only of historical interest.

[jajuan]

Mostly perversions of the numbering system. X98, as a result of the Crowd Reduction Initiative, is clearly a contract route.

Also, the 2010 cutbacks of the X routes seem to have been before talk of the J14.

A long time ago there was a South Park Express or Limited (South Park Blvd. being the former name of King Dr.), but I don't think any time within my memory.

The X3, X4 (and X28, which still lives on as a rush hour 28) were the result of the 2003 or so South Lake Shore restructuring, which also created the 6 Jackson Park Express and 26 South Shore Express. The theory then was that everyone was going crosstown to connect with the two Jeffery routes (6 Jeffery Express and 14 South LSD Express) to go downtown. The restructuring spread out the capacity,sort of from west (King Dr.) to east (South Shore Dr./Commercial Ave.).

The 14's survival had nothing to do with the route becoming the J14. It survived because as it was the successor to the 6 after the 6 was changed from the 'Jeffery Express' route to 'Jackson Park Express' and pulled off Jeffery Boulevard to instead operate on South Shore Drive in the 2003 Lake Shore express route restructurings that Busjack and a few others mentioned.

The only reason why the 14 didn't get killed was to make way for BRT's Jeffery Jump. I didn't even know there was a predecessor to the X3 before I saw a bus sign of it on Google. The only "X" route that still exists is the X98 Avon Express (which is surprisingly on Bus Tracker), and that route BARELY even runs. I <3 the X routes growing up, and I have always wanted to ride one of the routes. Unfortunately, thanks to the 2010 budget cuts, THAT dream got shut down.

The 2003 express restructurings affected more than the south side routes. It also changed the north side expresses too. On the south side, the 3L King Drive Limited became the X3 King Drive Express, the X4 was created, the 6 pulled off Jeffery and routed on South Shore Drive south of 67th with the resulting name change I mentioned, the 14 was made bidirectional got midday and weekend service and renamed 14 Jeffery Express since it was the one remaining express route on Jeffery, the 15 was created to back up the 14 (now J14) and also took over service on 51st from the 1 east of Drexel where 1 got cut back to, 26 created and the 28 when through the changes Andre mentioned.

On the north side, the 134 was created, 135 cut back original to Clarendon/Montrose (north terminus now Clarendon/Wison) and renamed 135 Clarendon/LaSalle Express, all three LaSalle expresses turn off LaSalle at Wacker to go to Lake Shore Drive, 143 and 144 created (144 eliminated in December of 2012), 146 renamed 146 inner Drive/Michigan Express because the Marine/Michigan Express name given to 144, 145 routed to operate on Michigan Avenue in both directions south of Lake and operate express between Delaware/Michigan and Irving Park, 144 and 146 routed on Clarendon between Montrose and Lawrence for a brief time, 145 routed back to its pre-August routing the following April because of folks' impression that 146 couldn't cut it alone on the Inner Drive even though it had beefed up service, 148 created in place of that 145 experimental routing during rush hour only in peak direction with the difference being NB 148 also operated on State south of Lake as 145 resumed doing. 145 also eliminated in December 2012 and 148 pulled from Wilson to operate up to Foster/Marine (actually Winona because CTA couldn't hold on to the bus stops in front of the high rise at Foster) with elements of 144 absorbed into the route.

[andrethebusman]

A long time ago there was a South Park Express or Limited (South Park Blvd. being the former name of King Dr.), but I don't think any time within my memory.

The 3-South Park Express originated with Motor Coach. Express 35th to Garfield, stops at Pershing, 43rd, 47th, 51st, Mon-Fri rush, AM NB, PM SB, Died circa 1976 along with 63rd Limited, Addison Limited. The thinking at the time was that these limited-stops services were only minimally faster than the locals (and they in fact were) and thus not worth keeping around.

[MetroShadow]

Re: The 14 and the 15.

There was a Jeffery Local (5, later changed to 6) in the 90's that was supposed to supplant 27 service on the Southeast Side and got axed. The '03 restructuring brought it back.

Although, wasn't the purpose of the 2010 doom cuts was to slim down service to just feeders and crosstown routes (meaning that the 14 would be cut but the 15 would be used to get to the Red Line?)

[Busjack]

Re: The 14 and the 15.

There was a Jeffery Local (5, later changed to 6) in the 90's that was supposed to supplant 27 service on the Southeast Side and got axed. The '03 restructuring brought it back.

Although, wasn't the purpose of the 2010 doom cuts was to slim down service to just feeders and crosstown routes (meaning that the 14 would be cut but the 15 would be used to get to the Red Line?)

At one time 5 Jeffery was local (first to downtown via Drexel, 43rd and Indiana/Michigan, and in 1973 or so cut back to 63rd and Stony Island).

Jeffery Express was 5A and then later 6 (with the renumberings and new signs in 1976), but initially mostly a rush hour route.

I'm not aware of any effort to reinstate 5 in the 90s, although there is the N5 South Shore Night Bus.

Then, at some point, 6 became all day, and then 14 was instituted as the rush hour skip stop service. In 2003, we got the current configuration.

The only rationale of the 2010 Doomsday cuts was to cut bus service 20%. Where there was essentially overlapping service, the X got cut and "the resources were put back into the underlying routes on the street." However, I previously noted that there appeared to be a distinction between X routes (mostly on the grid) and traditional express routes (mostly on LSD), and the only hit the latter took was the 20% cut. There was never any expressed intent to force everyone on Jeffery to transfer to the Red or Green Lines, nor people on north LSD to take the L. Maybe you were thinking about the threatened Kruesi doomsday, under which CTA would run only a Sunday bus schedule, but even that would not have affected 14.

[andrethebusman]

X54 had the benefit of a 1 seat ride between Jefferson Park and Midway, as opposed to having to transfer at 24th, regardless of whether it was significantly faster.

The thing I couldn't figure out on X20 is why they changed it west of Garfield Park from limited stops to all stops.*

_________

*Although now only of historical interest.

My understanding was that with the huge number of traffic lights on Madison, the buses ended up stopping at least once between each passenger stop, and after a while somebody complained that they did not like being passed up by almost half the buses even though they had stopped at the red light right in front of them.

[jajuan]

My understanding was that with the huge number of traffic lights on Madison, the buses ended up stopping at least once between each passenger stop, and after a while somebody complained that they did not like being passed up by almost half the buses even though they had stopped at the red light right in front of them.

The further shaving down of what little limited stops remained east of there didn't exactly help the efficiency of that route either. My thought with that was folks needed to grow up and get with the program of what express meant which in that case was LIMITED stops. If the bus is making local passenger stops at each point of the route, it defeated the purpose of being called express.

[Busjack]

The further shaving down of what little limited stops remained east of there didn't exactly help the efficiency of that route either. My thought with that was folks needed to grow up and get with the program of what express meant which in that case was LIMITED stops. If the bus is making local passenger stops at each point of the route, it defeated the purpose of being called express.

Besides that, if they were in that big of a hurry, the Green and Blue lines were available, as opposed to most crosstown routes (such as Garfield or Irving Park) where rapid transit alternatives weren't.

[artthouwill]

My understanding was that with the huge number of traffic lights on Madison, the buses ended up stopping at least once between each passenger stop, and after a while somebody complained that they did not like being passed up by almost half the buses even though they had stopped at the red light right in front of them.

Madison has an unusually high number of stop lights compared to other streets. Between Austin and Damen, stop lights are at least 1/4 mile apart (and in some stretches 1/8 mile). While Garfield also had stop lights 1/4 mile apart between Ashland and the Ryan, at least Garfield's lights were synchronized so that you could theoretically run nonstop between Ashland and the Ryan in your car. Also figure that Garfield stops were all far side stops so that a stop light didn't indicate a bus stop. The majority of stops on Madison are near side stops. At least the portion of the X20 that ran on Washington/Warren felt more express or limited stop like.

I remember when the X4 started and people at 33rd /King Dr were upset because the X buses (at least the X4 didn't stop there and that stop was added to the X4).

Part of the reason that the 747 Pace route got the ax was because its PM rush hour routing eastbound ran straight down Roosevelt, which meant potential passengers got passed up to wait on the 301 when both routes were going to the same place. Add in the fact that 747 passengers were requesting stops along Roosevelt between Wolf and Desplaines. .

[jajuan]

Besides that, if they were in that big of a hurry, the Green and Blue lines were available, as opposed to most crosstown routes (such as Garfield or Irving Park) where rapid transit alternatives weren't.

Yes very true. I was going to point out the X54 as one of the 'X' express routes that had merit, but my post was starting to get long as it was. But you did point to what I had in mind that gave it merit, the lack of the nearby rapid transit access and the one ride access between Midway and Jefferson Park. Plus with Cicero being multilane along most of its stretch within city limits like Western and Ashland, it had the room for X54 express buses to bypass the #54 local buses if need be like the X49 and X9, respectively, could bypass their local counterparts.

[andrethebusman]

"Back in the day" when the first express buses were started, there were some anomalies. For instance, there are known early photos of North Limited buses (replacing the Humboldt Park L) with curtains reading "North Av Express". Also, Motor Coach used "limited" instead of "express" on all their LSD and other limited-stops routes, and the signs were white on black, but without a route number. The Addison express service in CMC days was called just "Addison Limited" and varied from the local only in getting on the Drive at Belmont instead of Fullerton. The limited-stops service was started by CMC very late in the game, around 1951, and was called "Addison Heights Express", even though it ran FROM there, not TO there! Bus stop signs carried this name, as did signs on the 600's, until 1970.

[andrethebusman]

Two very odd express routes that most forget were the Douglas Park Extension and Westchester buses. CTA always counted them as express in their route counts, even though neither had that name. Both were somewhat limited-stops, though. In addition, until the RTA in the 1970's, neither route was intended to do any local work, but was to act strictly as a feeder to the L, leaving the local work to West Towns. Douglas Park, being first, had explicit signs on the buses in the early days, stating that "this bus is for inter-urban passengers only". Westchester wasn't quite as explicit, but with a 75-cent fare (40 cents over the city fare!) when West Towns was charging 45, the message was quite obvious. Plus, drivers on both routes never changed the signs, buses ran all day with "Douglas Rapid Transit" or "Congress Rapid Transit" put up. What is odd is that when CTA was running the L's that these routes replaced, they always carried what local passengers there were with no problems. Skokie never had those kinds of issues either, even though it closely followed an American Coach, later Evanston Bus, route.

[Busjack]

Two very odd express routes that most forget were the Douglas Park Extension and Westchester buses. CTA always counted them as express in their route counts, even though neither had that name. Both were somewhat limited-stops, though. In addition, until the RTA in the 1970's, neither route was intended to do any local work, but was to act strictly as a feeder to the L, leaving the local work to West Towns. Douglas Park, being first, had explicit signs on the buses in the early days, stating that "this bus is for inter-urban passengers only". Westchester wasn't quite as explicit, but with a 75-cent fare (40 cents over the city fare!) when West Towns was charging 45, the message was quite obvious. Plus, drivers on both routes never changed the signs, buses ran all day with "Douglas Rapid Transit" or "Congress Rapid Transit" put up. What is odd is that when CTA was running the L's that these routes replaced, they always carried what local passengers there were with no problems. Skokie never had those kinds of issues either, even though it closely followed an American Coach, later Evanston Bus, route.

There were Illinois Commerce Commission and local franchise requirements applicable to buses that weren't applicable to the L (other than I suppose any rights acquired by Yerkes and Insull). While CTA has the authority to determine service levels in its municipal boundaries, and had franchise rights from Chicago to run over CMC, I doubt that it had the authority to run over West Towns, although that doesn't seem to have been litigated.

What was litigated was the cutback of the Douglas line, with Cicero essentially saying they wanted it out of town and Berwyn fighting that. Obviously, that wouldn't work, so the court ruled that the CTA had the sole authority to cut it.

[andrethebusman]

There were Illinois Commerce Commission and local franchise requirements applicable to buses that weren't applicable to the L (other than I suppose any rights acquired by Yerkes and Insull). While CTA has the authority to determine service levels in its municipal boundaries, and had franchise rights from Chicago to run over CMC, I doubt that it had the authority to run over West Towns, although that doesn't seem to have been litigated.

What was litigated was the cutback of the Douglas line, with Cicero essentially saying they wanted it out of town and Berwyn fighting that. Obviously, that wouldn't work, so the court ruled that the CTA had the sole authority to cut it.

What happened with Douglas was that CTA wanted to close some grade crossings and automate the rest. Cicero was OK with automation if the crossings remained open, Berwyn wouldn't go along with anything. So in the end CTA cut back to Cicero. Apparently CTA refused to do local work on Cermak in Berwyn not so much because of West Towns, but because of Berwyn's intransigence. As I understand CTA had the authority to basically run anywhere within its assigned territory and it was not subject to IllCC authority, so if they wanted to run on top of West Towns, they could have with just the local municipalities' acquiescence. Remember, the first place CTA decided to run on top of CMC was on Austin, which southbound was operated under an Oak Park franchise to CMC.

[Busjack]

What happened with Douglas was that CTA wanted to close some grade crossings and automate the rest. Cicero was OK with automation if the crossings remained open, Berwyn wouldn't go along with anything. So in the end CTA cut back to Cicero. Apparently CTA refused to do local work on Cermak in Berwyn not so much because of West Towns, but because of Berwyn's intransigence. As I understand CTA had the authority to basically run anywhere within its assigned territory and it was not subject to IllCC authority, so if they wanted to run on top of West Towns, they could have with just the local municipalities' acquiescence. Remember, the first place CTA decided to run on top of CMC was on Austin, which southbound was operated under an Oak Park franchise to CMC.

In that light, I'm sure that municipal franchises were the determining thing, for instance Lind's book mentions that CSL had to get trackage rights for the south side of Roosevelt from Cicero.

However, it also depends on which municipality owned the right of way. I don't know the paperwork on Oak Park, but it sure appears (from the design of the street signs and traffic lights) that Chicago owns Howard St.

There was similar litigation that Safeway abandoned its franchise within the city of Chicago before the RTA authorized taking it over. Of course, that's all moot to the extent that the RTA took over the private bus companies, and apparently has the right (now through the service boards) to do what it wants.

[strictures]

However, it also depends on which municipality owned the right of way. I don't know the paperwork on Oak Park, but it sure appears (from the design of the street signs and traffic lights) that Chicago owns Howard St.

Evanston still has its own streetlights, street signs & fire hydrants on the North side of Howard. But it appears they've let Chicago take over the traffic lights & the street signage at Chicago [Clark St.], Custer [Damen], Asbury [Western] & Dodge [California]. I assume they're saving money.

It's obvious Evanston owns the north half, because that idiot Berny Stone wasted $250,000 taxpayer dollars putting up that asinine guard rail down the middle of Howard from Just east of Francisco to just west of Albany. It was removed by Bell & Howell, which owns the shopping center on the Evanston side after some sort of agreement in court. B&H had bought & moved to the former Hibbard, Spencer Bartlett warehouse that ran for a quarter mile in Evanston when they sold off their Lincolnwood property for a mall & after the various tenants, including the US Air Force, moved out. HS&B was the original owner of the True Value hardware brand. If you come across hand tools at a garage sale marked "HS&B" & the letters "OVB" [Our Very Best] you have some very good quality American made tools from before the 1950s.

Normally, when a street is split, IDOT installs & runs the traffic lights or contracts it out to the county. IDOT runs the traffic lights at North & Harlem, which is the busiest intersection in the state & split between 4 cities [Chicago, Oak Park, Elmwood Park & River Forest].

[andrethebusman]

When Safeway cut back Western Av to Evergreen Plaza, and Halsted and
King Dr to 95th/Ryan, they kept one trip a day running to 63rd/Halsted
for Western and halsted, and one to King/26th only for King Dr because
of ILLCC franchises. Chicago did not care one iota. CSL had municipal
consents from Cicero for Roosevelt, Cicero, Ogden, 25th. Don't think
ILLCC regulated streetcars same as buses, and in any event these
streetcar lines predated ILLCC by decades so they would have been
grandfathered anyway. ILLCC would have been involved with things like
Western between 75th and 111th and 87th between Cottage Grove and Stony
Island and couple of other 1930's track extensions.

CRT was absolutely hamstrung by ILLCC. For instance, closing Willow on the
North Side because it stood where the north subway portal was to be was a
process that took years and even included building a temporary
headhouse as construction was underway and ILLCC permission to abandon
was not yet received. After CTA took over CRT, ILLCC no longer had
jurisdiction, but municipal consents were still involved, specifically
regarding grade crossings. Municipalities had very little control where
the L was on private right-of-way, but they had a say in what grade
crossings were closed and how grade crossings were protected.

[Busjack]

Evanston still has its own streetlights, street signs & fire hydrants on the North side of Howard. But it appears they've let Chicago take over the traffic lights & the street signage at Chicago [Clark St.], Custer [Damen], Asbury [Western] & Dodge [California]. I assume they're saving money.

....

Normally, when a street is split, IDOT installs & runs the traffic lights or contracts it out to the county. IDOT runs the traffic lights at North & Harlem, which is the busiest intersection in the state & split between 4 cities [Chicago, Oak Park, Elmwood Park & River Forest].

1. Doesn't prove that Evanston has control of the street, just down to the curb.

2. IDOT provides the signals because Harlem is Illinois 43. However, there are also plenty of places on Waukegan Rd (also Highway 43) where the county or village maintain the signals. For instance Lake Cook Road is posted Cook County A50, and the signals at Lake Cook and Waukegan Road were installed as part of the project with signs courtesy "Toni Peckwinkle."

So, unless you have the land records, you don't know.

[Busjack]

When Safeway cut back Western Av to Evergreen Plaza, and Halsted and

King Dr to 95th/Ryan, they kept one trip a day running to 63rd/Halsted

for Western and halsted, and one to King/26th only for King Dr because

of ILLCC franchises. Chicago did not care one iota. ...

The litigation between Safeway and the RTA said that Safeway had abandoned franchises to run in Chicago. EDIT: To clarify, Safeway abandoned its franchise after the RTA agreed to buy it, but before the RTA board had approved the ordinance, and hence the abandonment was before the sale was final. Citation.

Running one trip a day would seem to indicate that Safeway was trying to avoid abandonment until the RTA offer.

Lind's book cites all sorts of litigation about needing both city franchises and operating authority from the ICC, and they are different.

[strictures]

1. Doesn't prove that Evanston has control of the street, just down to the curb.

No, Chicago wouldn't have put up Berny Stone's "Wall" down the middle of Howard if Evanston only owned the land to the curb.

In fact, the "Wall" was just on the Chicago side of the painted line.

[Busjack]

No, Chicago wouldn't have put up Berny Stone's "Wall" down the middle of Howard if Evanston only owned the land to the curb.

In fact, the "Wall" was just on the Chicago side of the painted line.

What you say doesn't make any sense (unless somehow you think south curb, I meant north). Stone was trying to get traffic from turning into or out of the shopping center.

Do you have any land records to support your assertion?