Spring 2014 System Pick Changes

[cta_44499_FG]

The following changes have been announced for the upcomming bus system pick taking place this month:

• #12 Roosevelt - Assign select AM rush hour trips to Chicago Garage to help relieve AM bus requirement at Kedzie Garage.

• #37 Sedgwick- Assign entire route to Chicago Garage. This will relieve overcrowding at Kedzie Garage. Relief point will be moved to Chicago/Orleans from Clinton Blue Line Station.

• #76 Diversey- Assign entire route to Forest Glen Garage. Move relief point to Diversey/Central from Diversey/Pulaski. Forest Glen has enough capacity to fill route operator requirements.

• #151 Sheridan- AM rush trips operated by Chicago Garage will be moved back to Kedzie Garage. This will simplify garage assignments. No changes will be made to Foster/Sheridan (North Park) or Union Staton (Kedzie) relief points or to the route.

[jajuan]

The following changes have been announced for the upcomming bus system pick taking place this month:

• #12 Roosevelt - Assign select AM rush hour trips to Chicago Garage to help relieve AM bus requirement at Kedzie Garage.

• #37 Sedgwick- Assign entire route to Chicago Garage. This will relieve overcrowding at Kedzie Garage. Relief point will be moved to Chicago/Orleans from Clinton Blue Line Station.

• #76 Diversey- Assign entire route to Forest Glen Garage. Move relief point to Diversey/Central from Diversey/Pulaski. Forest Glen has enough capacity to fill route operator requirements.

• #151 Sheridan- AM rush trips operated by Chicago Garage will be moved back to Kedzie Garage. This will simplify garage assignments. No changes will be made to Foster/Sheridan (North Park) or Union Staton (Kedzie) relief points or to the route.

These make sense.They are correct that Kedzie is overcrowded with buses. Even with the loss of the 8, 62, 145 and 148 from there, it still needs to house and use a lot of buses since it now operates all the east-west routes from Jackson all the down to Pershing, The 76 was a Forest Glen route to begin with, and with the recent scaling down of bus service west of Jefferson Park Transit Center, FG was really starting to run close to being underutilized, well its buses anyway. I'm kind of surprised they hadn't simplified assignment of the 151 before now considering they had long simplified the Metra express shuttles and the 125 long before the de-crowd initiatives pulled the 120s from Navy Pier and cut the number of routes in half.

[Busjack]

Relevant to this is an ordinance to acquire property at 5601 N. Elston, demolish what's there, and expand the FG yard.

Question is whether Chicago Garage has that much room, especially after getting artics? It does appear to have more yard space.*

__________

*I struck that, as shifting Diversey to FG probably overcompensates.

[BusHunter]

FG with the #76 is going to have to increase it's fleet by at least 20 buses. Maybe they feel the route is better served by having buses pull in at Central versus Pulaski, which they have been doing on the #77 WB in the rush.

[garmon757]

You know what would be interesting; #8 getting helped by 74th, #9 by 77th or 103rd, #20 by Kedzie, #75 by 77th, and #80 by North Park.

[Sam92]

You know what would be interesting; #8 getting helped by 74th, #9 by 77th or 103rd, #20 by Kedzie, #75 by 77th, and #80 by North Park.

The 8 used to be served by 74th in the rush as support to Kedzie before it was shifted to 77th as part of the decrowding plan. having 77th at least partially cover the 9 would've been a good move to put artics there, but seeing as 77th only has enough artics to cover 79th now (2, 3, 4 & 8 are lucky to even see artics now) is kinda pointless especially with 74th being only a block or 2 from Ashland. Having 103rd do runs would just be a waste of gas even if it was to put artics on Ashland. #20 is probably a good idea to make use of Kedzie's extra artics (since they have such a need to take what the south was actually using) to help knock out some crowds there since #66 pretty much takes up most of Chicago's artics alone. #75 out of 74th is kinda iffy taking deadheading into consideration. #80 could definatly use some help from NP (also having a huge surplus of artics).

[jajuan]

You know what would be interesting; #8 getting helped by 74th, #9 by 77th or 103rd, #20 by Kedzie, #75 by 77th, and #80 by North Park.

The 8 used to be served by 74th in the rush as support to Kedzie before it was shifted to 77th as part of the decrowding plan. having 77th at least partially cover the 9 would've been a good move to put artics there, but seeing as 77th only has enough artics to cover 79th now (2, 3, 4 & 8 are lucky to even see artics now) is kinda pointless especially with 74th being only a block or 2 from Ashland. Having 103rd do runs would just be a waste of gas even if it was to put artics on Ashland. #20 is probably a good idea to make use of Kedzie's extra artics (since they have such a need to take what the south was actually using) to help knock out some crowds there since #66 pretty much takes up most of Chicago's artics alone. #75 out of 74th is kinda iffy taking deadheading into consideration. #80 could definatly use some help from NP (also having a huge surplus of artics).

The 20 actually used to be a Kedzie route up to about 20 years ago before the time that Chicago Garage opened and absorbed Lawndale Garage's 5300-series Flxibles along with a number of Kedzie's upper numbered TMCs at that time, and picked up the 53 and 54 from Lawndale; 16*, 20, 23**, 57, 65, 66, 70, 72, 73, 74 and 131* from Kedzie; and 76 from FG.

*16 Lake and 131 Washington both discontinued in the big BoozAllen service cuts of 1997 and 1998.

**23 Washington Express was of course the temporary limited stop route instituted to cover passengers who used the Lake Street portion of the Green Line during the mid-1990s reconstruction of the Green Line.

[garmon757]

The 20 actually used to be a Kedzie route up to about 20 years ago before the time that Chicago Garage opened and absorbed Lawndale Garage's 5300-series Flxibles along with a number of Kedzie's upper numbered TMCs at that time, and picked up the 53 and 54 from Lawndale; 16*, 20, 23**, 57, 65, 66, 70, 72, 73, 74 and 131* from Kedzie; and 76 from FG.

*16 Lake and 131 Washington both discontinued in the big BoozAllen service cuts of 1997 and 1998.

**23 Washington Express was of course the temporary limited stop route instituted to cover passengers who used the Lake Street portion of the Green Line during the mid-1990s reconstruction of the Green Line.

Wow! Interesting information indeed!

[garmon757]

The 8 used to be served by 74th in the rush as support to Kedzie before it was shifted to 77th as part of the decrowding plan. having 77th at least partially cover the 9 would've been a good move to put artics there, but seeing as 77th only has enough artics to cover 79th now (2, 3, 4 & 8 are lucky to even see artics now) is kinda pointless especially with 74th being only a block or 2 from Ashland. Having 103rd do runs would just be a waste of gas even if it was to put artics on Ashland. #20 is probably a good idea to make use of Kedzie's extra artics (since they have such a need to take what the south was actually using) to help knock out some crowds there since #66 pretty much takes up most of Chicago's artics alone. #75 out of 74th is kinda iffy taking deadheading into consideration. #80 could definatly use some help from NP (also having a huge surplus of artics).

Yeah, I've remembered #8 being a 74th back then when I was growing up. I've never seen #2 with an artic at all.

[ChicagoNova]

Yeah, I've remembered #8 being a 74th back then when I was growing up. I've never seen #2 with an artic at all.

I have a few times.

[Sam92]

Yeah, I've remembered #8 being a 74th back then when I was growing up. I've never seen #2 with an artic at all.

Just after the Dan Ryan re-opened and 77th had 60 artics, they pretty much covered 70% of the 2 with 4300's. Before that NABI's showed up but not on the scale they were right before 77th sent nearly half its fleet to Chicago and a few to Kedzie

[jajuan]

Wow! Interesting information indeed!

Yes in those days, Kedzie didn't have any Lake Shore Express bus routes except for the 10 Museum of Science & Industry route, which itself started operations 11/24/1995, according to Bill V's site. All its routes were locals, so it didn't really have as big a need for the high number of buses it uses today. In fact, it didn't even have artics on a regular basis until the MAN 7300s were acquired by CTA from Seattle because its 7100-series artics were dying at the same time that CTA was already in process of replacing its remaining nonaccessible 40 foot buses, the Flyer D901 9800 & 1600 series and MAN Americana 4000 series, with the soon to be retired Nova 6400 series. It just so happened that the 156 saw an explosion in ridership in the previous years so a small complement of 7300s were assigned I believe in 2002 when Kedzie's last Americanas went NP to cover NP's remaining express runs that weren't yet accessible. It got more after 134 was created the following year in the Lake Shore Drive routes' big realignment. The explosion in buses there that we see today started in March 2008, which had Kedzie receiving assignment of 143, 145, and 148 to ease up the load on NP and also assignment of the 8 there from 74th to help out 74th. Route reassignments that came with the closing of Archer Garage and the de-crowd plans a couple years after that further added to Kedzie needing a lot of buses.

[jajuan]

Just after the Dan Ryan re-opened and 77th had 60 artics, they pretty much covered 70% of the 2 with 4300's. Before that NABI's showed up but not on the scale they were right before 77th sent nearly half its fleet to Chicago and a few to Kedzie

Actually I think the 8 saw artics in more instances than the 2 did before 77th lost half its artics to Chicago in the start of the winter pick. Yeah the 2 had artics on some trips, but I still often spotted a Nova or NF 1000 on the route more than I did a 4300 artic.

[Sam92]

Actually I think the 8 saw artics in more instances than the 2 did before 77th lost half its artics to Chicago in the start of the winter pick. Yeah the 2 had artics on some trips, but I still often spotted a Nova or NF 1000 on the route more than I did a 4300 artic.

yeah now that I think about it they did tone it down to 50/50 on the 2 to put some more 4300's on Halsted but I do remember the first week after the Oct. 20 pick seeing them nearly back to back on the 2. Im still surprised they put them on the 2 before 87th. Not saying that the 2 didnt need a few here and there but 87th got them instead back when 77th had 4000's and NABI's

[cta_44499_FG]

FG with the #76 is going to have to increase it's fleet by at least 20 buses. Maybe they feel the route is better served by having buses pull in at Central versus Pulaski, which they have been doing on the #77 WB in the rush.

Actually very few 77s pull in from Central during the rush. Most of the AM rush pull in from Kimball, one run actually pulls in from Octavia (was at least, not sure if it still does). As far as the PM goes, only a handful pull in from Central. Most pull in from Octavia (or straight right turn down Harlem without even bothering to go to the terminal) or Cumberland.

[garmon757]

Yes in those days, Kedzie didn't have any Lake Shore Express bus routes except for the 10 Museum of Science & Industry route, which itself started operations 11/24/1995, according to Bill V's site. All its routes were locals, so it didn't really have as big a need for the high number of buses it uses today. In fact, it didn't even have artics on a regular basis until the MAN 7300s were acquired by CTA from Seattle because its 7100-series artics were dying at the same time that CTA was already in process of replacing its remaining nonaccessible 40 foot buses, the Flyer D901 9800 & 1600 series and MAN Americana 4000 series, with the soon to be retired Nova 6400 series. It just so happened that the 156 saw an explosion in ridership in the previous years so a small complement of 7300s were assigned I believe in 2002 when Kedzie's last Americanas went NP to cover NP's remaining express runs that weren't yet accessible. It got more after 134 was created the following year in the Lake Shore Drive routes' big realignment. The explosion in buses there that we see today started in March 2008, which had Kedzie receiving assignment of 143, 145, and 148 to ease up the load on NP and also assignment of the 8 there from 74th to help out 74th. Route reassignments that came with the closing of Archer Garage and the de-crowd plans a couple years after that further added to Kedzie needing a lot of buses.

Did Kedzie was dominated with MAN's back in the 80s and early 90s?

[BusHunter]

Actually very few 77s pull in from Central during the rush. Most of the AM rush pull in from Kimball, one run actually pulls in from Octavia (was at least, not sure if it still does). As far as the PM goes, only a handful pull in from Central. Most pull in from Octavia (or straight right turn down Harlem without even bothering to go to the terminal) or Cumberland.

That used to be true, but these latest picks are different. They used to send every other bus to Harlem or Cumberland. Now what they do is send every third bus to central in the rush. Other routes have been doing similar things. Back in the day, all #76's would pull in from the west end. Now they can pull in from Pulaski via the east end and something even weirder was that the bummer, will pull in from Logan Square blue line which is nowhere near the relief point. A few #152's pull in from Pulaski and #80's pullin/out from Cicero all from/to the east. I think they are trying to get more bang for their buck, but it shows how times have changed.

[Busjack]

Did Kedzie was dominated with MAN's back in the 80s and early 90s?

If you mean MAN artics, no. At that time, they were mostly Archer, 103rd and and NP, although a few on the replacements when the Green Line was down.

Also, at that time, Kedzie Garage was mostly down, either for its rebuilding or when North and Cicero was being replaced by Chicago Garage and N's fleet was at K. K's routes, in both cases, were out of Lawndale Garage. Chicago Garage eventually got Lawndale's fleet of 5400s.

Basically, Kedzie did not get any, or any significant number, until the NABIs, which basically replaced 40 foot 4000 series MANs. The 4000s were predominantly at K, 74 (69 in those days), NP and 103.

Archer was heavy artics, because it had the Stevenson Express routes until they were replaced (eventually) by the Orange Line.

[jajuan]

Did Kedzie was dominated with MAN's back in the 80s and early 90s?

If you mean MAN artics, no. At that time, they were mostly Archer, 103rd and and NP, although a few on the replacements when the Green Line was down.

Also, at that time, Kedzie Garage was mostly down, either for its rebuilding or when North and Cicero was being replaced by Chicago Garage and N's fleet was at K. K's routes, in both cases, were out of Lawndale Garage. Chicago Garage eventually got Lawndale's fleet of 5400s.

Basically, Kedzie did not get any, or any significant number, until the NABIs, which basically replaced 40 foot 4000 series MANs. The 4000s were predominantly at K, 74 (69 in those days), NP and 103.

Archer was heavy artics, because it had the Stevenson Express routes until they were replaced (eventually) by the Orange Line.

And if you mean the 4000-series MAN bus, the answer there was also no though it did become the dominant 40 foot bus at Kedzie that wasn't accessible to wheelchair passengers once the GMC Fishbowls were on the decline and headed for retirement. The exception to that was during 1994 to about 1997, during which there were the overlapping moments of 69th (and subsequently 74th) having borrowed Kedzie's 25-30 highest numbered 4000s because extra buses were needed to operate the 38 while the Green Line was shutdown for reconstruction and Limits Garage having closed in 1995 with part of the Flyer 9800s and all the Flyer 1600s from Limits going to Kedzie since Kedzie took on Limits' coverage of the 37(at that time still the Sedwick/Ogden route), Metra shuttle 120's, 125. 135 (for a very brief moment), 151 and 156.

On the artic front, when I mentioned Kedzie having 7300s, it only had 20-25 at best because CTA only had 114 total 7300s along with five or six 7100s that hadn't died due to Chicago's harsh winters. Busjack is correct that Kedzie's artic count didn't rise to the levels of today until delivery of the ill-fated NABI 7500-series. And even then it really wasn't until Kedzie was assigned the 143, 145 and 148 for a few months, that it's artic count grew beyond 50.

[Kimball401]

And if you mean the 4000-series MAN bus, the answer there was also no though it did become the dominant 40 foot bus at Kedzie that wasn't accessible to wheelchair passengers once the GMC Fishbowls were on the decline and headed for retirement. The exception to that was during 1994 to about 1997, during which there were the overlapping moments of 69th (and subsequently 74th) having borrowed Kedzie's 25-30 highest numbered 4000s because extra buses were needed to operate the 38 while the Green Line was shutdown for reconstruction and Limits Garage having closed in 1995 with part of the Flyer 9800s and all the Flyer 1600s from Limits going to Kedzie since Kedzie took on Limits' coverage of the 37(at that time still the Sedwick/Ogden route), Metra shuttle 120's, 125. 135 (for a very brief moment), 151 and 156.

On the artic front, when I mentioned Kedzie having 7300s, it only had 20-25 at best because CTA only had 114 total 7300s along with five or six 7100s that hadn't died due to Chicago's harsh winters. Busjack is correct that Kedzie's artic count didn't rise to the levels of today until delivery of the ill-fated NABI 7500-series. And even then it really wasn't until Kedzie was assigned the 143, 145 and 148 for a few months, that it's artic count grew beyond 50.

You are right (I used to stay on Madison and Kedzie from Kedzie garage) I used to ditch school a hour early so i could call myself spotting buses {i still have some paper i wrote on with bus numbers and runs in additon to models } i was no more than 10-11 so i seen mostly Nabi's/Mans/Flixible in that time being new so it was briefly above 50 until around winter than it seemed they decreased in additon to some 5300 's that i assumed went to Chicago (i was young so i though they went to the next closet garage)

but the 143,145,148 cuase Kedzie's aquiring of more artics but that was in the 2005 -08 heyday if i remember right {but these routes have since been ran by kedzie before}

[renardo870]

These make sense.They are correct that Kedzie is overcrowded with buses. Even with the loss of the 8, 62, 145 and 148 from there, it still needs to house and use a lot of buses since it now operates all the east-west routes from Jackson all the down to Pershing, The 76 was a Forest Glen route to begin with, and with the recent scaling down of bus service west of Jefferson Park Transit Center, FG was really starting to run close to being underutilized, well its buses anyway. I'm kind of surprised they hadn't simplified assignment of the 151 before now considering they had long simplified the Metra express shuttles and the 125 long before the de-crowd initiatives pulled the 120s from Navy Pier and cut the number of routes in half.

I'm suprised that the 77 Belmont didn't get any help from Kedzie's 134/143/151/156 trips from Kimball to Halsted or Lake Shore Dr during the AM/PM Rush. They definitely could use a few Artics on that route. U figure u have 3 el lines @ Belmont/Sheffied and the buses are at crush capacity. I'm sure its gets crowded again at Belmont Blue and it could go a little further west to maybe Central.

[jajuan]

You are right (I used to stay on Madison and Kedzie from Kedzie garage) I used to ditch school a hour early so i could call myself spotting buses {i still have some paper i wrote on with bus numbers and runs in additon to models } i was no more than 10-11 so i seen mostly Nabi's/Mans/Flixible in that time being new so it was briefly above 50 until around winter than it seemed they decreased in additon to some 5300 's that i assumed went to Chicago (i was young so i though they went to the next closet garage)

but the 143,145,148 cuase Kedzie's aquiring of more artics but that was in the 2005 -08 heyday if i remember right {but these routes have since been ran by kedzie before}

Yeah, they didn't even really assign artics on the 12 with any sense of regularity beyond intermittent weekday use until around the start of the 2010 cuts if I'm not mistaken. The initial reasoning was that the old west terminus at Roosevelt/Monitor was too small to accommodate articulated buses. By the time of the switch to artics to run weekend service, the west terminal was already changed to Central/Harrison which we know is located in the parking lot across the street from Loretto Hospital and more than big enough to hold artics.

[Juniorz]

When will the picks debut

[jajuan]

When will the picks debut

Notices should be sometime toward the middle of next month with the actual start of the pick being on the 23rd or the 30th, based on past history.

[jajuan]

The apparent one is that instead of turning around in Marquette Park, it goes to the 74th garage, which probably also indicates that it will be run out of the 74th garage, or at least use the same turnaround as #75.

As far as I can tell, it doesn't look like the hours were markedly changed. It is on the list of routes with new schedules effective March 30, but that list doesn't have an asterisk for a major change in hours.

Looks like I was correct on the timing of notices and the start of the pick. At any rate, this is the appropriate space for what I noticed for the 76 which is not only is it getting a new schedule with the change of garages,

It looks like there's going to be a significant change to its service hours since it had an asterisk next to it indicating such.