CTA Service Adjustments

[BUSANGEL#1]

You are sure correct that this flew under the radar. Other than the map on the schedule brochure including Holland Road, there is nothing there to indicate Walmart or any other shopping center.

I remember about 3 years ago debating with someone on chicagonow.com who claimed that Walmart was not transit friendly, to which I replied about the Niles Free Bus and that CTA could reroute there if it wanted to, although 83rd was not close to any particular route. Apparently they took care of it by extending 24, although that's only weekdays and not midday.

For those who are desperate for transit outside of the #24 hours, they have the #29 four blocks away at State/Laffayette and #87 three blocks south.

[MetroShadow]

For those who are desperate for transit outside of the #24 hours, they have the #29 four blocks away at State/Laffayette and #87 three blocks south.

I guess my concern is whether or not 83rd or Vincennes are walkable. Some people can do the 3 block walk. Others...not so much.

A few thoughts:

While some think that it will take the reopening of the Red Line to 95th to spur bus traffic to Wal-Mart at 109th/Doty, I disagree. I think simply extending routes like 15, 28, and 106 to the Wal-Mart will help tremendously. When the Red Line does reopen, I would return the 111 to the 111th/115th east west loop routes they once were (before being combined with 104 Pullman) and I would operate a King Drive/Cottage Grove loop route that also serves the Wal-Mart. Is CTA responsible for generating traffic for Wal-Mart? No, but CTA IS responsible to serve its riders, and if it can generate a moderate to generous amout of ridership by serving that Wal-Mart, then it should. I could even see Pace serving the Wal-Mart with the 353 simply by routing the bus via Doty instead of the Bishop Ford..

I'd personally would select the 106 since that route hasn't been tweaked with since the 90's, and Pace is definitely not interested in serving that market.

Which does bring me to this question: 100/106 were tweaked in the late 90s. Did this occur before or after the bridge construction at Torrence? Not sure if that switch was related (all I could remember was the 106A/106B split at the time).

[Busjack]

...

Which does bring me to this question: 100/106 were tweaked in the late 90s. Did this occur before or after the bridge construction at Torrence? Not sure if that switch was related (all I could remember was the 106A/106B split at the time).

It was more of a restructuring, since 106 between Stony Island and Torrence overlapped 14/15 (or 6/14 at the time). I don't think that the bridge was relevant to that segment.

100 previously went only to Jeffery Manor, and the substitution of 100 for 106 meant that east of Torrence only got rush hour service.

[jajuan]

I guess my concern is whether or not 83rd or Vincennes are walkable. Some people can do the 3 block walk. Others...not so much.

I'd personally would select the 106 since that route hasn't been tweaked with since the 90's, and Pace is definitely not interested in serving that market.

Which does bring me to this question: 100/106 were tweaked in the late 90s. Did this occur before or after the bridge construction at Torrence? Not sure if that switch was related (all I could remember was the 106A/106B split at the time).

To be more precise, it was part of CTA following the BoozAllen recommendations when they made those big cuts over the course of late 1997 on through 1998. The current 106 is what was left when they cut off the 106th Street leg of the route and renamed it 106 East 103rd from 106 103rd/106th. Because of the potential stink that could be made by folks living near 106th that they would be left with no service the compromise was that CTA added the 106th Street portion from 106 onto the 100 Jeffery Manor Express. So folks along that stretch did keep bus service access to 95th/Dan Ryan station, but they saw it cut from daily as part of the 106 to weekday rush hours only as part of the present day 100.

[BusHunter]

Still no #111a on Bustracker. In the present age of knowing when the bus is coming, that is not going to help ridership.

[mkohut]

Still no #111a on Bustracker. In the present age of knowing when the bus is coming, that is not going to help ridership.

The good news is you know there won't be any bus bunching on the route

[MetroShadow]

Still no #111a on Bustracker. In the present age of knowing when the bus is coming, that is not going to help ridership.

...but with service every 20 minutes!!!11!!!111!!!11

[Busjack]

...but with service every 20 minutes!!!11!!!111!!!11

Potentially that bus could be 15 minutes late. Or would it be 5 minutes early, then?

It also depends if Walmart shoppers are getting the $79 iPhone 5C (as opposed to $99 elsewhere) and whip it out in Pullman to see why the bus hasn't arrived.

[jajuan]

Potentially that bus could be 15 minutes late. Or would it be 5 minutes early, then?

It also depends if Walmart shoppers are getting the $79 iPhone 5C (as opposed to $99 elsewhere) and whip it out in Pullman to see why the bus hasn't arrived.

You point out with you post that for right now, it's not even worth putting the Pullman Park service on Bustracker in its present form since we're talking about service that's presently 15 mins round trip at 20 min intervals. Looks like folks who want to see this on BusTracker will have to wait till CTA works out which route they're going to add the service to on a more permanent basis.

[jajuan]

Well Tracy Swartz reported on her experience with the 111A and she ran into a snag. The bus didn't show up for its first two scheduled trips due to reported personnel issues, and of course because this route isn't on BusTracker there was no warning that folks would probably need to walk over to the other nearest bus routes or possibly look into other means of transportation for that first hour of service. From the sounds of her brief report on the issue, sounds like she never got to ride a bus assigned to this route.

[Busjack]

Looking at the new 111 schedule and 115 schedule, it doesn't look like they did anything about 111A on this pick.

[jajuan]

Looking at the new 111 schedule and 115 schedule, it doesn't look like they did anything about 111A on this pick.

Well keep in mind this isn't a normal pick. This is just to restore the southside routes that connect to the Dan Ryan Red Line back to their normal route configurations once Red Line trains return to the Dan Ryan. It would still technically be the fall pick after October 20th. So December will probably be when they do something else with the 111A.

[BUSANGEL#1]

Looking at the new 111 schedule and 115 schedule, it doesn't look like they did anything about 111A on this pick.

No major scheduling or routing changes on the system at all until winter pick.

[jajuan]

Found these little nuggets under the weekend service changes section of the CTA website. Effective Sunday, Oct. 20th, the Brown Line will see Sunday/holiday service that's going downtown start 15 mins earlier (6:30 AM first Loop-bound trip instead of 6:45 AM) and the Pink line will see weekend service starting 55 mins later (5 AM first Loop-bound trip instead of 4:05 AM and 5:25 AM first 54th/Cermak-bound instead of 4:30 AM as timed leaving Clark/Lake) to "match demand and ridership patterns".

[pudgym29]

Have any of you yet obtained the new RTA system map (either on-line or in physical form)? I downloaded the new one. I was amazed by at least one thing. I wonder if it is a typo, or a harbinger of a future service adjustment. There was no route #85A [North Central] on the map. No line at all - not even the broken one indicating rush-hour only, or part-time operation. Is this a sign that the route is going to be discontinued in the next cycle? Or will an agency insist this was a printing defect?

[Busjack]

Have any of you yet obtained the new RTA system map (either on-line or in physical form)? I downloaded the new one. I was amazed by at least one thing. I wonder if it is a typo, or a harbinger of a future service adjustment. There was no route #85A [North Central] on the map. No line at all - not even the broken one indicating rush-hour only, or part-time operation. Is this a sign that the route is going to be discontinued in the next cycle? Or will an agency insist this was a printing defect?

trainman said that when he worked on the RTA map, RTA was usually working on the fly instead of reproducing the CTA and Pace maps, although they supposedly consulted with the agencies. There have always been massive errors on the Pace side of RTA maps (like Niles local route 411 going into the heart of Glenview).

If CTA were cancelling a route (and they could have cancelled this one), they would have to hold a meaningless public hearing. In that they have not announced a service cut in connection with the current budget hearing,and say they are not reducing service in this budget, the route isn't being canceled as of yet.

[Busjack]

May agenda has an entry for a 2 year agreement with the Museum of Science and Industry for the #10 bus.

[Busjack]

Sort of in the spirit of the Crowd Reduction Plan, a Press Release noted on the home page states that Northwestern agreed to pay the fares of those with IDs to ride the 201 bus, so it could cut one of its shuttles.

[BusHunter]

Sort of in the spirit of the Crowd Reduction Plan, a Press Release noted on the home page states that Northwestern agreed to pay the fares of those with IDs to ride the 201 bus, so it could cut one of its shuttles.

The question is, is the #201 now going to overcrowd because I don't really see a service frequency increase and #201 is one of Evanston's busier CTA routes. They are sort of asking it to do the Ryan shuttle service and it's own.

[Busjack]

The question is, is the #201 now going to overcrowd because I don't really see a service frequency increase and #201 is one of Evanston's busier CTA routes. They are sort of asking it to do the Ryan shuttle service and it's own.

The Press Release said what current ridership is (2000 weekday) and how many more they expect (600 more), so either this has been figured out or CTA got it wrong.

[BusHunter]

I don't know, that's a 30 percent ridership increase with no increase in service. 

[Busjack]

I don't know, that's a 30 percent ridership increase with no increase in service. 

But at least that is certainly quantifiable compared to current capacity. My comment with regard to "got it wrong" is if it turns out to say, be 1200. In the latter case, CTA is entitled to an adjustment in the cap on reimbursement every 6 months, but still the reimbursement is capped, Northwestern still must have some idea what the ridership was on the route it is cancelling.

[NewFlyerMCI]

It was my understanding that the #201 was the only busy evanston route, although the #205 and #206 must still have a sufficient passenger base and/or funding to still be running. That aside, does anyone see NP sparing 1 or 2 artics to the 201 during events or rush?

[BusHunter]

But at least that is certainly quantifiable compared to current capacity. My comment with regard to "got it wrong" is if it turns out to say, be 1200. In the latter case, CTA is entitled to an adjustment in the cap on reimbursement every 6 months, but still the reimbursement is capped, Northwestern still must have some idea what the ridership was on the route it is cancelling.

Too bad they couldn't have got some kind of funding to pay for an extra driver. The #201 ridership is actually quite respectable as i have seen myself. Almost a full seated load in the rush. These additional riders might push it into a standing load. Really they need to run this every 15 minutes like they used to before the cuts of 2010, but that would mean an additional run. The #97 suffers from too long a headway too. There's actually standing loads on it and i wouldn't expect that from a feeder. But when everything is cut to 20 minutes headways in the rush I guess it's possible. While they can get away with doing that to a #205, #97 and #201 are like the main feeders in the north burbs.

[Busjack]

As good a place as any, since no sense propagating more paranoia on the 7900s page.

So far there's nothing to worry about. But eventually CTA will probably be in a mess with the schools. It's like the calm before the storm. Rauner's definitely not in a giving mood. Next year is when the storm hits. I doubt there won't be some kind of damage. Stay tuned in Oct. we'll hear all about it. The schools were forced to lay off like 1,300 workers, what makes the CTA so special that nothing will happen to it?

Simple answer to that one--neither the schools nor the city laborers' pension fund has the RTA Sales Tax. That's the main source of revenue for transit here--not state income taxes and local property taxes.*

It has been said that the state budget mess has some effect, but mostly on half fare reimbursements. That's why I said it was marginal, not calling for a 2010 type cutback. Similarly, at first Pace said paratransit was gong to be hurt, even though ADA paratransit gets paid out of the RTA Sales Tax off the top,  Later there was a Daily Herald article that said what was really at risk was Dial a Ride.

Now, if you want to blame someone if something happens to the CTA--blame Toni Preckwinkle. She's just again forced buyers into the collar counties and Indiana to shop. While CTA gets 48% of .25% of the new RTA taxes, it gets 100% of the old in Chicago, 30% in suburban Cook County, and 0% in the collar counties and Indiana. I don't think the county commissioners on the south and west sides figured that out when they voted for that tax increase, but their constituents will be the first to cry when their bus service is cut. I also wonder if Dorval Carter will then trot out the specious "81% of the rides" garbage that several of his predecessors did.

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*CTA Pension Fund is covered by the city Real Estate Transfer Tax.