Random Pace

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/vehicles/press-release/21244772/eldorado-national-enc-to-debut-axess-batteryelectric-bus-at-apta-expo

Guess we know where Pace will be getting their electrics from lol

[artthouwill]

3 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/vehicles/press-release/21244772/eldorado-national-enc-to-debut-axess-batteryelectric-bus-at-apta-expo

Guess we know where Pace will be getting their electrics from lol

I certainly hope ? that you are wrong!  Cheering for more New Flyers.  It's bad enough that I know I will ride an Eldorado everywhere outside of Pace West territory unless I get lucky enough to catch an I 55 corridor express.  Even in Pace West territor its 50/50 with them.

[BusHunter]

5 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/vehicles/press-release/21244772/eldorado-national-enc-to-debut-axess-batteryelectric-bus-at-apta-expo

Guess we know where Pace will be getting their electrics from lol

Good for them. If a manufacturer doesnt offer some kind of electric bus then its slowly gonna die as tas wont be buying diesel much longer. I hope Pace buys those over Proterras but the way they word the press release no buses en masse until 2026 and one or two next year sure sounds like Proterras scheduling. ?

[BusHunter]

#20431 was out tonight on the #331 with no tailights clearance lights or anything. With the dark blue you could barely see the bus by the forest preserve. I wonder why if the buses have daytime running lights it doesnt at keast have some working tailights. 

This almost reminds me of a situation I had. The summit police had stopped a man walking on the 171 bridge over I-55. The trunk was raised which totally blocks the police lights. Here I am doing 50mph. I notice that im coming on this squad car stopped in the road. The cars are dark colored. You come onto stuff fast at that speed. I just about had to stand on the brake pedal to get the bus to stop but I did it. 

[artthouwill]

On 11/10/2021 at 8:47 PM, BusHunter said:

#20431 was out tonight on the #331 with no tailights clearance lights or anything. With the dark blue you could barely see the bus by the forest preserve. I wonder why if the buses have daytime running lights it doesnt at keast have some working tailights. 

This almost reminds me of a situation I had. The summit police had stopped a man walking on the 171 bridge over I-55. The trunk was raised which totally blocks the police lights. Here I am doing 50mph. I notice that im coming on this squad car stopped in the road. The cars are dark colored. You come onto stuff fast at that speed. I just about had to stand on the brake pedal to get the bus to stop but I did it. 

Daytime running lights makes the front of the vehicle visible at all times and pretty much involves front headlights .  I think all marker lights should be included.  Better yet, just have all lights on automatically when the bus is on.  Too many times I have seen drivers (cars and buses) not turn on their lights after transisltioning from daylight to darkness.  They assume their lights are on because their headlights are on.  Sometimes progress breeds laziness and stupidity. 

[artthouwill]

One more rant.  With the exception of last year, history has shown that mall traffic on the day after Thanksgiving is brutal.  Oakbrook Mall parking lot was so full, the perimeter ring roads, 22nd, Spring Rd, and Rt 83 were parking lots.   Why won't these malls close the entrances to the mall for 20 minutes to allow some cars to freely leave the main before allowing more cars to enter.  

The 301 was a disaster today as it took a minimum of 39 minutes to get in and out of the mall.  I'm sure the 322 was way worse, having to deal with North Riverside and Yorktown in addition to Oakbrook mall.  

[NewFlyerMCI]

16 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

One more rant.  With the exception of last year, history has shown that mall traffic on the day after Thanksgiving is brutal.  Oakbrook Mall parking lot was so full, the perimeter ring roads, 22nd, Spring Rd, and Rt 83 were parking lots.   Why won't these malls close the entrances to the mall for 20 minutes to allow some cars to freely leave the main before allowing more cars to enter.  

The 301 was a disaster today as it took a minimum of 39 minutes to get in and out of the mall.  I'm sure the 322 was way worse, having to deal with North Riverside and Yorktown in addition to Oakbrook mall.  

39 minutes? That's absolutely brutal. Sorry you had to sit through that.

On the upside, I'm sure any roving bands of shoplifters attempting to use the buses to get away were promptly caught and detained ?

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

39 minutes? That's absolutely brutal. Sorry you had to sit through that.

On the upside, I'm sure any roving bands of shoplifters attempting to use the buses to get away were promptly caught and detained ?

I don't know about that.  Police cars certainly weren't going anywhere within the mall area.  

[BusHunter]

14 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

39 minutes? That's absolutely brutal. Sorry you had to sit through that.

On the upside, I'm sure any roving bands of shoplifters attempting to use the buses to get away were promptly caught and detained ?

The Louis Vuitton has no more purses over there so they need to find another location. 

Fox valley outlet mall shut down for a few minutes. Was on my facebook. 

14 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Daytime running lights makes the front of the vehicle visible at all times and pretty much involves front headlights .  I think all marker lights should be included.  Better yet, just have all lights on automatically when the bus is on.  Too many times I have seen drivers (cars and buses) not turn on their lights after transisltioning from daylight to darkness.  They assume their lights are on because their headlights are on.  Sometimes progress breeds laziness and stupidity. 

I had since seen the same driver doing the same thing by brookfield zoo around 6pm headed west. Will someone tell that operator to turn on his lights. 

[andrethebusman]

1000s were often "dark", only headlights. Eventually run switches had to be replaced. Now starting to see 7900s dark. Probably same problem with run switches.

[rotjohns]

On 11/26/2021 at 5:26 PM, artthouwill said:

One more rant.  With the exception of last year, history has shown that mall traffic on the day after Thanksgiving is brutal.  Oakbrook Mall parking lot was so full, the perimeter ring roads, 22nd, Spring Rd, and Rt 83 were parking lots.   Why won't these malls close the entrances to the mall for 20 minutes to allow some cars to freely leave the main before allowing more cars to enter.  

The 301 was a disaster today as it took a minimum of 39 minutes to get in and out of the mall.  I'm sure the 322 was way worse, having to deal with North Riverside and Yorktown in addition to Oakbrook mall.  

Hate to wonder about this, but you'd have to think on weekends and the week before Xmas, Pace could consider not entering the mall at all.  So 301, 322, 877, & 888 could stay on 22nd street (since OBM is the ending point for 301, they could rest at the Binny's parking lot across the street, same with 332).  Passengers would be mad, but there might not be another choice if traffic is that bad.  Yorktown probably wouldn't be as bad and North Riverside definitely isn't that bad (I was there the day after Thanksgiving, it was busy, but given the stores there, it wasn't horrible).  

BTW, above average weather is definitely playing a part in it being busier than normal.  

[artthouwill]

12 minutes ago, rotjohns said:

Hate to wonder about this, but you'd have to think on weekends and the week before Xmas, Pace could consider not entering the mall at all.  So 301, 322, 877, & 888 could stay on 22nd street (since OBM is the ending point for 301, they could rest at the Binny's parking lot across the street, same with 332).  Passengers would be mad, but there might not be another choice if traffic is that bad.  Yorktown probably wouldn't be as bad and North Riverside definitely isn't that bad (I was there the day after Thanksgiving, it was busy, but given the stores there, it wasn't horrible).  

BTW, above average weather is definitely playing a part in it being busier than normal.  

Certainly a thought, but what I didn't mention was that our bus had a wheelchair passenger going to the mall.  The fact that an alternative site might not be accessible may cause problems.   There are no sidewalks along Spring Rd, 22nd, Rt 83, Hodges, and 16th St.

[NewFlyerMCI]

4 hours ago, rotjohns said:

Hate to wonder about this, but you'd have to think on weekends and the week before Xmas, Pace could consider not entering the mall at all.  So 301, 322, 877, & 888 could stay on 22nd street (since OBM is the ending point for 301, they could rest at the Binny's parking lot across the street, same with 332).  Passengers would be mad, but there might not be another choice if traffic is that bad.  Yorktown probably wouldn't be as bad and North Riverside definitely isn't that bad (I was there the day after Thanksgiving, it was busy, but given the stores there, it wasn't horrible).  

BTW, above average weather is definitely playing a part in it being busier than normal.  

 

4 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Certainly a thought, but what I didn't mention was that our bus had a wheelchair passenger going to the mall.  The fact that an alternative site might not be accessible may cause problems.   There are no sidewalks along Spring Rd, 22nd, Rt 83, Hodges, and 16th St.

Yeah, my first thought was the lack of sidewalks wouldn't let that happen. There's a bus route near me where SB trips have to take a rather lengthy detour into a shopping center because that side of the street doesn't have a sidewalk and no crosswalk as a result. NB side does have a sidewalk, and those trips continue on w/o entering the shopping center, and passengers just walk 2-4 mins to the entrance instead.

Pace does that, I can definitely see a lawsuit coming from somebody just getting tapped by a car, even if Pace might not necessarily be at fault.

[cityguy426]

In what year did Pace alter the 330 route so it'd connect with the Rosemont Blue Line station? 

[NewFlyerMCI]

7 minutes ago, cityguy426 said:

In what year did Pace alter the 330 route so it'd connect with the Rosemont Blue Line station? 

Sometime after May 2019

[cityguy426]

38 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Sometime after May 2019

Oh wow, I didn't know it was that recent of a route change. I wonder why the connection didn't exist prior to that. It's really useful.

[Smolensk]

1 hour ago, cityguy426 said:

In what year did Pace alter the 330 route so it'd connect with the Rosemont Blue Line station? 

According to this Aug 2019.

 

[NewFlyerMCI]

3 hours ago, cityguy426 said:

Oh wow, I didn't know it was that recent of a route change. I wonder why the connection didn't exist prior to that. It's really useful.

Yep, I want to guess and say it was in part because of the 326 getting cut. Now if they could just work on that Midway extension...

Edit: Lol and if I had clicked on the link before I sent this, I wouldn't have had to guess 

Edited December 7, 2021 by NewFlyerMCI

[artthouwill]

5 hours ago, cityguy426 said:

In what year did Pace alter the 330 route so it'd connect with the Rosemont Blue Line station? 

 

5 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Sometime after May 2019

 

4 hours ago, cityguy426 said:

Oh wow, I didn't know it was that recent of a route change. I wonder why the connection didn't exist prior to that. It's really useful.

The 330 reroute was the result of Pace cutting the 326.  Even though the 326 had been reduced to rush only service,  it served Balmoral between River Rd and I-294.  Pace wanted to keep that area' accessible to Rosemont CTA for workers in that area.  

Byproducts if that change gave 330 riders access to the PACE routes serving Rosemont.  It also gave O'Hara area workers access to CTA At Rosemont,  bypassing a $5 fare at the airport.   O'HARE workers can bypass shuttle buses and the ATS going to work and take the Blue Line directly into the airport. 

As for the former 326, the Irving Park portion between 25th Ave and River Rd is covered by the 303 and Lawrence between 25th Avenue and River Rd is covered by the 332.  The 332 also has a slight reroute,  running via Seymour between Manheim and Irving Park. 

[busfan2847]

20 hours ago, cityguy426 said:

In what year did Pace alter the 330 route so it'd connect with the Rosemont Blue Line station? 

11th Aug 2019

[NewFlyerMCI]

20 hours ago, artthouwill said:

 

 

The 330 reroute was the result of Pace cutting the 326.  Even though the 326 had been reduced to rush only service,  it served Balmoral between River Rd and I-294.  Pace wanted to keep that area' accessible to Rosemont CTA for workers in that area.  

Byproducts if that change gave 330 riders access to the PACE routes serving Rosemont.  It also gave O'Hara area workers access to CTA At Rosemont,  bypassing a $5 fare at the airport.   O'HARE workers can bypass shuttle buses and the ATS going to work and take the Blue Line directly into the airport. 

As for the former 326, the Irving Park portion between 25th Ave and River Rd is covered by the 303 and Lawrence between 25th Avenue and River Rd is covered by the 332.  The 332 also has a slight reroute,  running via Seymour between Manheim and Irving Park. 

Don't O'Hare workers already get the regular $2.50 fare through some convoluted process using their work ID?

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Don't O'Hare workers already get the regular $2.50 fare through some convoluted process using their work ID?

I believe they do, but I don't know the process.  But you can save fifty cents if Pace is you first ride as opposed to the train being the first ride.

[BusHunter]

10 hours ago, busfan2847 said:

11th Aug 2019

Thought they did this cause the people mover was so screwed up, this was the next viable option. Alot of ohare employees have used the people mover. I once did. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

56 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Thought they did this cause the people mover was so screwed up, this was the next viable option. Alot of ohare employees have used the people mover. I once did. 

For the employee parking lot though right? I can't imagine there's a huge number going to the 250/330, even with the 330 reroute

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Thought they did this cause the people mover was so screwed up, this was the next viable option. Alot of ohare employees have used the people mover. I once did. 

I used the people mover too.  When I didn't drive to O'Hare,  I used the ARS to access the 330.  Some people boarding at the ATS got off along Manheim between Montrose and United Pkwy.   Now those riders don't have to go to the airport at all.  They can access the 330 from Rosemont.