Red Line South Bus Shuttles

[jajuan]

Yeah I would gather the operators know not to use the Ryan till everything is cleared up. So looks like they'll be using State/Lafayette to and from Garfield for now.

[jtrosario]

From May 2013 Ridership Reports:

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/ridership_reports/2013-5.pdf

Route Avg. Weekday Avg. Saturday Avg. Sunday Year to Date

R22 Cermak-Roosevelt Express 2,429 3,929 2,434 33,093

R55 Dan Ryan OWL Shuttle 535 714 455 6,900

R63 Dan Ryan Local Shuttle 5,841 4,309 3,151 66,332

R69 69th-Garfield Express Shuttle 1,768 1,366 1,060 20,461

R79 79th-Garfield Express Shuttle 3,268 2,184 1,557 36,265

R87 87th-Garfield Express Shuttle 2,448 1,502 1,322 27,501

R95 95th-Garfield Express Shuttle 10,032 5,936 4,437 109,536

[Busjack]

From May 2013 Ridership Reports:

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/ridership_reports/2013-5.pdf

...

This only reflects the shuttles, but if CTA's press release that it retained 90% of its ridership is based on this added to the free entries at Garfield, there is double counting. Southbound, there is double counting if both the boarding of this bus and another bus at the terminal (such as 95W) are counted. In both cases, that's because a transfer at Garfield was not required until mid-May, but now is, resulting in an additional boarding per trip.

There is also the question of how they will deal with the recovery ratio if in the first half month of this service, CTA has given away 300,000 free rides.

But this does show that someone is riding those buses.

[jajuan]

This only reflects the shuttles, but if CTA's press release that it retained 90% of its ridership is based on this added to the free entries at Garfield, there is double counting. Southbound, there is double counting if both the boarding of this bus and another bus at the terminal (such as 95W) are counted. In both cases, that's because a transfer at Garfield was not required until mid-May, but now is, resulting in an additional boarding per trip.

There is also the question of how they will deal with the recovery ratio if in the first half month of this service, CTA has given away 300,000 free rides.

But this does show that someone is riding those buses.

The 90% ridership statistic reported by the Trib, RedEye and SunTimes also counts the extra boardings on the 3,4 and 29, boardings on the rerouted portion of the Red Line, the change in boardings on the south Green Line over the average number before the project started and a reported bump in boardings at the Ashland, Halsted and Roosevelt Orange Line stations. (Of course we know that boardings at the Roosevelt elevated station would have to include those boarding the Green Line at that station.)

[geneking7320]

The 90% ridership statistic reported by the Trib, RedEye and SunTimes also counts the extra boardings on the 3,4 and 29, boardings on the rerouted portion of the Red Line, the change in boardings on the south Green Line over the average number before the project started and a reported bump in boardings at the Ashland, Halsted and Roosevelt Orange Line stations. (Of course we know that boardings at the Roosevelt elevated station would have to include those boarding the Green Line at that station.)

Yesterday I used an alternate route to get to my barber on the south side. Instead of taking the R95 from Garfield and tranferring to

a westbound bus at the 95th terminal I rode the Red to 63rd/Halsted and rode the 8A to 97th and Halsted and walked east. I walked an additional block but had a two seat ride. I wonder how those things are reflected in CTA's counts.

[Busjack]

Yesterday I used an alternate route to get to my barber on the south side. Instead of taking the R95 from Garfield and tranferring to

a westbound bus at the 95th terminal I rode the Red to 63rd/Halsted and rode the 8A to 97th and Halsted and walked east. I walked an additional block but had a two seat ride. I wonder how those things are reflected in CTA's counts.

It would only be that you boarded at some northside station, and then boarded the 8A at 63rd, so two trips, one on the Red Line and one on 8A. The other means would be 3 trips, unless the transfer was to 352 or 381. Update: For the official explanation of this method, see page 3 of the Ridership Report.

As I noted when the Google Planner came out, via Halsted-63 was the suggested routing.

The next question would be how you got back, but remember that all passenger counts are unlinked trips.

[geneking7320]

Hi Busjack;

My return trip was by car[my girlfriend gave me a lift] but I didn't go all the way back to Howard then [i went to 31st and King Dr.].

Had I used transit it would have been by CTA or Pace on 95th to 95/Ryan then CTA to 95th/King Dr then north via #3 King to 31st street. That would be 3 unlinked trips then.

[When I finally returned home I got a ride to the 35th/Bronzeville station and rode the Red to Howard ].

[Busjack]

Hi Busjack;

My return trip was by car[my girlfriend gave me a lift] but I didn't go all the way back to Howard then [i went to 31st and King Dr.].

Had I used transit it would have been by CTA or Pace on 95th to 95/Ryan then CTA to 95th/King Dr then north via #3 King to 31st street. That would be 3 unlinked trips then.

[When I finally returned home I got a ride to the 35th/Bronzeville station and rode the Red to Howard ].

It was more a rhetorical question rather than prying, but anyway...

The return trip validates the CTA observation that some passengers have resorted to other means, such as the automobile, as you reduced what would have been a 2 passenger count under normal circumstances (and, as you note, 3 under present ones) to one.

If your aim were simply to get to the 35-Bronzeville station, CTA didn't lose any money because of the auto trips, since I assume you paid whatever would have been full fare at 35th. Your scenario would have been a bit different, since you would have used the 3 bus to 35th, instead of the free shuttle and free entrance at Garfield. The count also would have depended on whether you would have walked from 95/State to 95/King Dr. or incur another transfer by using the 95E or 111.

My only point is that the ridership numbers can be easily manipulated.

[CircleSeven]

Well, were more than eleven weeks into the reconstruction, and it appears that the CTA has added another shuttle.

Looking through the customer alert, it appears they've added an #R39 Shuttle. This shuttle will follow the #39 Pershing routing from Lake Park to the Orange Line station on Archer/Leavitt. Buses will run hourly from 8am-6pm every Saturday and Sunday.

Unless there's probably a demand, I don't understand why they form a shuttle for a corridor that usually don't have bus service on weekends?

[Busjack]

Well, were more than eleven weeks into the reconstruction, and it appears that the CTA has added another shuttle.

Looking through the customer alert, it appears they've added an #R39 Shuttle. This shuttle will follow the #39 Pershing routing from Lake Park to the Orange Line station on Archer/Leavitt. Buses will run hourly from 8am-6pm every Saturday and Sunday.

Unless there's probably a demand, I don't understand why they form a shuttle for a corridor that usually don't have bus service on weekends?

That is a puzzler. If it were to take care of the Red Line being down, it would be irrelevant because when the 39 bus runs, it goes to the Indiana station, and Pershing doesn't normally get weekend service. Unless the Orange Line station is merely being used as a turnaround, it doesn't make sense to use it as a terminal, unless they also plan to mess with Orange Line service.

Once an hour isn't going to provide much convenience.

[jajuan]

From the alert, the premise is to provide another connection to the Red and Green Lines during the weekend. The only thing I can think of is the Orange Line being a bit heavy from their point of view between the 35th/Archer station and Roosevelt on weekends. The Ridership reports did indicate increased ridership on the Orange Line at 35/Archer, Halsted and Roosevelt since the shutdown. And they did say they would tweak service along the way during the shutdown as needed.

[Juniorz]

Well, didn't anyone guess that maybe ridership demand called for Weekend service & then it's free service during the weekend. So this might be an experiment to see when the Dan Ryan reopens in October, will the extented weekend service become an 180 day experiment or a permanent service change

[jajuan]

Well, didn't anyone guess that maybe ridership demand called for Weekend service & then it's free service during the weekend. So this might be an experiment to see when the Dan Ryan reopens in October, will the extented weekend service become an 180 day experiment or a permanent service change

The Pershing shuttle is only for the remaining duration of the Dan Ryan leg reconstruction as stipulated in the alert.

[BusHunter]

Still I think it's totally unnecessary. Three negatives come to mind. The R routes can't be Bustracked so will riders want to sit and wait on a bus like in the 1980's. (This is the digital age) The hourly service is too little a service to implement and lastly there are hardly any riders that will ride it. There are too many factories and dead zones for a service on the weekend especially west of Halsted. Then the speed of it comes into play, will riders want to wait on a bus and a train or take a train only to the loop. Really this only serves the side street communities, the main street communities will just continue to use Halsted or Ashland or State. This is a real headscratcher.

[MetroShadow]

Well, didn't anyone guess that maybe ridership demand called for Weekend service & then it's free service during the weekend. So this might be an experiment to see when the Dan Ryan reopens in October, will the extented weekend service become an 180 day experiment or a permanent service change

When you have crosstown service on 35th and 43rd, this is moot.

[jtrosario]

Looking at the 39 weekday schedule, this would require 1 bus to cover the R39 Weekend route with hourly service. It's both a head scratcher and looks like a way to have a "free" experiment to see is 39 is warranted on the weekends. Frankly, I would have thought R47 OWL service from the South Side elevated to the Dan Ryan would have been implemented before R39 Weekend.