CTA Service Adjustments

[Chicago13]

Odd since BusTracker shows '52 to Addison/Rockwell' which at other times with route changes updated destinations on Tracker suggested physical destinations on the buses were also updated.

I drove by Addison & Rockwell yesterday and there was a bus sitting on Rockwell with the ADDISON/ROCKWELL destination.

[Busjack]

Because now Tracy, when riding the #52 bus north from the Blue Line “L” station, has to walk two blocks from California and Belmont to get to Hot Doug's.

She could just ride the bus around the terminal loop. I'm sure they aren't kicking off anyone at Addison.

Anyway, since her job (according to her) is riding every route and publishing a tweet sized review of it, she could ride that one.

And if I want to engage in political protest, I could go down there and have a foie gras dog.

[Busjack]

I drove by Addison & Rockwell yesterday and there was a bus sitting on Rockwell with the ADDISON/ROCKWELL destination.

Any problem might have been resolved. Again it goes back to whether every bus was reprogrammed, and, according to Ms. Pace supervisor, what active date was put on the program.

[MetroShadow]

Between 6:30 and 7 maybe, but not between 7 and 9 a.m. And I've ridden the 49 at that time over the busiest portions of the northern half of the route between 6:30 and 7 during colder weather months, so I can tell you that's a pretty big if from what I've seen since the bus still isn't crammed to the gills at that time of morning.

The route between 6:30 and at least 8 is consistently busy. Doesn't matter which part of the route that you're on (I take it from my home in hipsterville to either Blue Line stations). And that's usually caused by the kids and commuters who'd rather not walk (or bother with Damen). You'd be surprised.

[BusHunter]

Any problem might have been resolved. Again it goes back to whether every bus was reprogrammed, and, according to Ms. Pace supervisor, what active date was put on the program.

Your probably right Busjack, the bus I saw with this was #1673, so maybe that particular bus wasn't reprogrammed yet. (but really those things should be checked in advance)

[jajuan]

The route between 6:30 and at least 8 is consistently busy. Doesn't matter which part of the route that you're on (I take it from my home in hipsterville to either Blue Line stations). And that's usually caused by the kids and commuters who'd rather not walk (or bother with Damen). You'd be surprised.

Maybe I've just been lucky when I ride since I haven't seen it jammed to the gills at 6:30 but I do see it get crowded in the morning on that stretch 7 and after in the morning rush. Now if we want to see even busier on a consistent basis, look a mile to the east o the #9 Ashland. Buses there start filling up near Irving Park and Ashland soon after the buses make the turn onto Ashland and are jammed pack starting at the stops between Addison and Belmont and only unload to a large degree between Harrison and Roosevelt. The 49 at least has the luxury of having shared coverage from a garage that houses articulated buses that can be used in the a.m. rush and is now seeing some artics get used based on reporting from the Tattler. The number 9 doesn't yet have that luxury. And I have a feeling that even when that route gets to see some use of artics, buses will still have crush loads due to the shear numbers of people who use that route from Irving Park to Roosevelt Road.

[jajuan]

Your probably right Busjack, the bus I saw with this was #1673, so maybe that particular bus wasn't reprogrammed yet. (but really those things should be checked in advance)

If this was the only bus that somehow missed the update, that's actually pretty good by CTA standards. You're right though that the operator should have been able to notice if he had an incorrect destination by looking at the inside display over the windshiel after logging into the bus. It's pretty likely whoever the operator was just said to themselves, 'Hey I got a NB display up and I gotta stay close to schedule so I'm not going to put up too much fuss right now that I got the old display up.'

[Busjack]

If this was the only bus that somehow missed the update, that's actually pretty good by CTA standards. You're right though that the operator should have been able to notice if he had an incorrect destination by looking at the inside display over the windshiel after logging into the bus. It's pretty likely whoever the operator was just said to themselves, 'Hey I got a NB display up and I gotta stay close to schedule so I'm not going to put up too much fuss right now that I got the old display up.'

That's assuming that an operator can do anything about a misprogrammed bus.

At least with my experience with Pace, the answer to that is no. That goes for both the signs (I've seen several drivers reaching up to the control and scrolling through the signs--including when Ms. Pace supervisor asked if I needed assistance, as noted above), and the IBS (where it took a lot of correspondence to get Pace to program it to put up the correct sign among those available).

[jajuan]

No I wasn't suggesting that the operator could do anything about an incorrect sign. I was just making a point that operators a lot of times probably look at it as the sign programmers problem that they won't worry about outside of mentioning it to someone in connection with whomever can fix the issue at some point when they don't have to get a bus on the street on time if they happen to be an operator conscientious enough to report any sign issues.

[Busjack]

.... I was just making a point that operators a lot of times probably look at it as the sign programmers problem that they won't worry about outside of mentioning it to someone in connection with whomever can fix the issue at some point when they don't have to get a bus on the street on time if they happen to be an operator conscientious enough to report any sign issues.

We wouldn't know if that driver wrote it up on the "trouble ticket" at the end of his shift.

[pudgym29]

She could just ride the bus around the terminal loop. I'm sure they aren't kicking off anyone at Addison.

Anyway, since her job (according to her) is riding every route and publishing a tweet sized review of it, she could ride that one.

And if I want to engage in political protest, I could go down there and have a foie gras dog.

She could ride around the terminal loop, but then she would have to add in the number of minutes the bus waited for its start time @ Addison and Rockwell.

So that still counts as a cutback.

I was actually on #52 Kedzie-California Sunday night, heading for the California Clipper tavern @ Augusta. The northbound buses I espied from my seat displayed "to Addison/Rockwell". {But should they actually show "to Rockwell/Addison"?}

Don't start me on the city taking Hot Doug's to court for the foie gras hot dog; rather than any of the four-or-five-star hotel restaurants doing so. The difference being Hot Doug's wouldn't put up a stiff defense; while those hotels have big money attorneys on retainer who probably would have gotten the entire ordinance tossed instantly.

[jajuan]

We wouldn't know if that driver wrote it up on the "trouble ticket" at the end of his shift.

True. At any rate it appears they got the issue fixed which is the important thing. They just have to work on the bus stop signs. On that note, what they need to do is stop doing those short cuts in bus stop maps that they sometimes have had a habit of doing on the bus stop maps ever since they instituted the policy of posting stop signs based on the direction and branch of route. For a southbound stop only showing Addison and California for the north end of the route would be accurate since the route begins at Addison and Rockwell. But for a northbound stop the need to stop being lazy and actually show that the route would be California, Belmont, Cambell, Melrose and Rockwell.

[jajuan]

She could ride around the terminal loop, but then she would have to add in the number of minutes the bus waited for its start time @ Addison and Rockwell.

So that still counts as a cutback.

I was actually on #52 Kedzie-California Sunday night, heading for the California Clipper tavern @ Augusta. The northbound buses I espied from my seat displayed "to Addison/Rockwell". {But should they actually show "to Rockwell/Addison"?}

Don't start me on the city taking Hot Doug's to court for the foie gras hot dog; rather than any of the four-or-five-star hotel restaurants doing so. The difference being Hot Doug's wouldn't put up a stiff defense; while those hotels have big money attorneys on retainer who probably would have gotten the entire ordinance tossed instantly.

Sorry but that's not a cutback. That's a bus doing a layover at the end of its new routing. It would be a cutback if the route actually was clipped at Belmont. It's not. It's merely rerouted to being a turnaround loop between Belmont and Addison, the latter actually being farther north of the previous terminus point. And yes the buses do need to show "to Addison/Rockwell' since that is now the layover point and Roscoe isn't any longer.

[Busjack]

...

I was actually on #52 Kedzie-California Sunday night, heading for the California Clipper tavern @ Augusta. The northbound buses I espied from my seat displayed "to Addison/Rockwell". {But should they actually show "to Rockwell/Addison"?}

...

If the theory is that it should correspond to how the timepoint is on the public schedule, then you are correct.

But others have pointed out that it may depend on where the bus actually lays over.

It used to be that the street on which the bus approached the terminus came first, but that broke down a long time ago.

jajuan answered the rest.

[Busjack]

A Red Eye article on the home page indicates that CTA and U of C came to a 5 year contract, apparently reversing the previous decision to end it as of Aug. 31, 2013. I guess we'll have to wait and see (if we ever do), if CTA came off the demand for $106/hour.

[BusHunter]

A Red Eye article on the home page indicates that CTA and U of C came to a 5 year contract, apparently reversing the previous decision to end it as of Aug. 31, 2013. I guess we'll have to wait and see (if we ever do), if CTA came off the demand for $106/hour.

So I wonder if that means the Optimas will be around a little bit longer. I'm pretty sure those buses don't have Ventra, but I could be wrong.

[jajuan]

So I wonder if that means the Optimas will be around a little bit longer. I'm pretty sure those buses don't have Ventra, but I could be wrong.

I think I saw Ventra on a few FG Optimas a few months ago when FG was doing trips on the 84 with those buses. My memory is fuzzy on that though because I haven't seen any Optimas on the 84 in weeks now and I don't live near any of the lower rider routes from Jefferson Park that use those buses not to mention not really using any of the Evanston CTA routes outside of the 93 every so often which along with 97 and 201 remains completely or mostly served by NP buses.

[nflyer22]

A Red Eye article on the home page indicates that CTA and U of C came to a 5 year contract, apparently reversing the previous decision to end it as of Aug. 31, 2013. I guess we'll have to wait and see (if we ever do), if CTA came off the demand for $106/hour.

That's slightly less than the $110/hour for bus service from CUMTD here for U of I students. We had a vote several months ago regarding a slight increase in student fees to compensate for increasing costs according to the transit agency; it passed with overwhelming majority support. I don't know whether U of Chicago students have a similar student government overseeing such a vote.

I got the $110/hour from a student representative who tried to advocate for more weekend service and disclosed these numbers to me. I tried looking online for some solid proof, but wasn't able to find any.

[Busjack]

,,,I don't know whether U of Chicago students have a similar student government overseeing such a vote.

,,,

Basically the bursar tells the students to pay up.

There were reports that some student was designing the routes (i.e. kill the one to the downtown business school and substitute a rather useless one to the L stations), but I'm sure that when it gets down to money it is up to the university administration.

However, your post does explain why some college towns (and Champaign Urbana is certainly among them) have transit districts of disproportionate size to the permanent population.

Around Chicago, the analogy is that the CTA U-Pass comes out of student fees, but I haven't heard that the student government had any voice in it, but once the college signs onto the program, the students don't have any choice regarding paying for it.

[MetroShadow]

Basically the bursar tells the students to pay up.

There were reports that some student was designing the routes (i.e. kill the one to the downtown business school and substitute a rather useless one to the L stations), but I'm sure that when it gets down to money it is up to the university administration.

However, your post does explain why some college towns (and Champaign Urbana is certainly among them) have transit districts of disproportionate size to the permanent population.

Around Chicago, the analogy is that the CTA U-Pass comes out of student fees, but I haven't heard that the student government had any voice in it, but once the college signs onto the program, the students don't have any choice regarding paying for it.

Some cases, whoever is in charge of the transportation programs (administration-level) have the say on whether or not to participate--and student involvement isn't necessary (unless otherwise stated).

In the case of Northern Illinois (HuskieLine), the student fees were built into the fares by default. Any users who aren't with the school (at least in cases of Routes 2 and 7) must pay a fare. Fares and Routing are left with the Student Association to determine.

[geneking7320]

I think I saw Ventra on a few FG Optimas a few months ago when FG was doing trips on the 84 with those buses. My memory is fuzzy on that though because I haven't seen any Optimas on the 84 in weeks now and I don't live near any of the lower rider routes from Jefferson Park that use those buses not to mention not really using any of the Evanston CTA routes outside of the 93 every so often which along with 97 and 201 remains completely or mostly served by NP buses.

I think Optimas are being used on the 205 route. I have seen some at the Howard L terminal in the last few weeks.

[Busjack]

I think Optimas are being used on the 205 route. I have seen some at the Howard L terminal in the last few weeks.

I've seen them on Golf in Skokie.

In that only 300 buses have been ordered out of what was originally said to be a 450 bus order (either the artic portion not being awarded or the options on 40 footers not yet exercised), the Optimas might not be gone as quickly as we first thought (in connection with the U of C ones).

Of course, what I consistently maintain is that we should be seeing Pace 2600s on that route and several others.

[Busjack]

Basically the bursar tells the students to pay up.

There were reports that some student was designing the routes (i.e. kill the one to the downtown business school and substitute a rather useless one to the L stations), but I'm sure that when it gets down to money it is up to the university administration.

I have to modify the above remarks in that The Maroon article cited on the home page indicated that some student who is the "SG's VP for Administration" had some voice in this.

[BusHunter]

I think I saw Ventra on a few FG Optimas a few months ago when FG was doing trips on the 84 with those buses. My memory is fuzzy on that though because I haven't seen any Optimas on the 84 in weeks now and I don't live near any of the lower rider routes from Jefferson Park that use those buses not to mention not really using any of the Evanston CTA routes outside of the 93 every so often which along with 97 and 201 remains completely or mostly served by NP buses.

The Optimas have Ventra, in case anyone was still wondering. I could have swore they didn't have it before though when Ventra was being installed, Maybe the Optimas were the last buses to get it..

[jajuan]

I think Optimas are being used on the 205 route. I have seen some at the Howard L terminal in the last few weeks.

Oh I know the 205 uses them. What I was saying was I don't use any CTA routes that operate in Evanston outside of the 93 on occasion, which is a North Park only route still, to help make my point that my commutes don't facilitate a need on my part to use any routes that have Optimas in regular use. The only reason I happened upon an occasional ride on one was when FG had one or two each weekday running on the 84 shortly before and after the initiation of the decrowd changes.