Random Pace

[MetroShadow]

  On 8/27/2016 at 4:18 AM, BusHunter said:

Here we are. If someone asks you did you ever see a #779 on the Kennedy you can say yes. That surprises me they would do that as the Kennedy traffic is horrible on Friday. You basically just sit there and watch several blue line trains pass you by.

\

Our Double Jeopardy question is what other bus ran out to Lombard that served Jeff Pk in the past?

 

Expand  

Not counting UPS? 394

[Busjack]

  On 8/28/2016 at 4:16 AM, MetroShadow said:

Not counting UPS? 394

Expand  

That doesn't count any more according to pacebus.com.

The UPS routes are not what they once were.

[MetroShadow]

  On 8/28/2016 at 4:18 AM, Busjack said:

That doesn't count any more according to pacebus.com.

The UPS routes are not what they once were.

Expand  

I can't think of any Jeff Park - Lombard routes that pre-date the 90's.

[BusHunter]

  On 8/28/2016 at 9:30 PM, artthouwill said:

On Fridays every expressway is a parking lot.   There's no good way to get to Wrigley or anywhere else from the west burbs.

Expand  

Helicopter????

[Busjack]

  On 8/29/2016 at 12:30 AM, BusHunter said:

Helicopter????

Expand  

I might have mentioned, when we were stuck on a Shore Line bus at a railroad crossing in East Chicago, my mother, besides not being happy about me saying "choo choo,"  said "this is not a helicopter."

[Busjack]

  On 9/29/2016 at 4:54 PM, geneking7320 said:

Hi Folks;

I didn't think this question deserved a new thread so I'm asking it here.

I notice the Pace bus stop signs in Rogers Park do NOT have a sign code so one can text for arrival information. I base this statement on signs for the #290 and #215.

Any ideas or did I just miss something?

Expand  

Darn few in the suburbs do. The few that have Text PACE ---- to 41411 don't have a number in the blank. The Real Time Information Page suggests the counterintuitive:

If the bus stop sign at which you regularly board does not yet have a code, you can use the Pace website to look up the real-time bus arrival information for your stop and, at the same time, obtain the code number which you can use for future reference:

Visit the accessible version of Bus Tracker, select your bus route, direction of travel, and your chosen bus stop, and the web page will display the next 3 predicted times for a bus to arrive at that location.

While on that page (which is displaying the predicted arrival times), look at the address bar (also called “URL bar”) at the top of your web browser. The URL displayed there has a 3-to-5-digit number at the very end of it. That number is the stop identification code number. It can be typed into a text message in the manner described above to get information about that particular bus stop.

[geneking7320]

Here's another question:

Should CTA's system be updated so that it can report Pace info? It might be useful when you are at a bus stop served by CTA and Pace.

[Busjack]

  On 9/29/2016 at 5:21 PM, geneking7320 said:

Here's another question:

Should CTA's system be updated so that it can report Pace info? It might be useful when you are at a bus stop served by CTA and Pace.

Expand  

41411 is the number used by both. The question was raised earlier how some of the CTA signs at the multimodal terminals report Pace departures, and usually inaccurately.

But, if you take a common stop, such as 63-Central on 63W/386 the codes are CTABus 3291 and Pace 13393, i.e. not the same. This is despite that the two routes are supposed to be coordinated, and hence you are theoretically correct that from the passenger perspective, both should be reported, sort of similar to you can send a CTA request specifying the stop but not a particular route (particular route requires an additional command).

The other nonintuitive thing is that, per the instructions, one has to use the Accessible Pace Bus Tracker. The usual one, with pull downs, does not change the url.

[MetroShadow]

  On 9/29/2016 at 5:21 PM, geneking7320 said:

Here's another question:

Should CTA's system be updated so that it can report Pace info? It might be useful when you are at a bus stop served by CTA and Pace.

Expand  

No. and the reason is primarily that the network works on two different stop ID systems. Pace has a methology for theirs and CTA for theirs. 

 

Take me for example in the Bay Area where there are multiple agencies that use the (temporary) Transbay Terminal: there's a set of stop IDs for AC Transit, a set for Muni, SamTrans, Golden Gate, WestCAT…each of those networks are subject to their stop id's according to their scheduling software. While it makes sense to have one ID for all transit systems (on paper), it's a pain internally to do that. 

[jajuan]

  On 10/1/2016 at 12:38 AM, MetroShadow said:

No. and the reason is primarily that the network works on two different stop ID systems. Pace has a methology for theirs and CTA for theirs. 

 

Take me for example in the Bay Area where there are multiple agencies that use the (temporary) Transbay Terminal: there's a set of stop IDs for AC Transit, a set for Muni, SamTrans, Golden Gate, WestCAT…each of those networks are subject to their stop id's according to their scheduling software. While it makes sense to have one ID for all transit systems (on paper), it's a pain internally to do that. 

Expand  

That addresses not using the same stop ID numbers at a shared stop, but that doesn't address why CTA and Pace can't show shared arrival info at that shared stop as Gene was asking especially if the services are supposed to be coordinated at that given stop as Busjack pointed to by citing the 63W/386 example. A multiple route bus terminal as you're citing with the SF Transbay Terminal isn't a good comparison for why there are different stop ID numbers at shared stops because the different bus bays of that terminal can count as different stops even among routes of the same agency. For example, both CTA routes 11 and 49B both stop at Western Brown Line Station. However, the stop ID is CTABus 1483 for the 11 and CTABus 1662 for the 49B. So even there, if you use 41411 to get bus arrival times, you're only going to get info for 11 or that for 49B, but not both together. The arrival display board at the station will give you both routes together though. So at the very least you should be able to get accurate cross info from various routes of different transit agencies stopping at a shared stop on the stop's arrival time display board if the that stop has one. 

[Busjack]

  On 10/5/2016 at 11:38 PM, jajuan said:

That addresses not using the same stop ID numbers at a shared stop, but that doesn't address why CTA and Pace can't show shared arrival info at that shared stop

Expand  

However, it did address why they don't share stop information, As I pointed out, "63-Central on 63W/386 the codes are CTABus 3291 and Pace 13393, i.e. not the same." That's basically at every stop they share, not just that one. Texting "CTABus 3291" does not automatically get you the Pace code.

Short of reprogramming either the CTA BusTime system or the Pace TransitMaster system, there would have to be some interface indicating 3291=13393. I suppose the RTA could do something like that, but considering the joke all RTA programming efforts have been so far, I wouldn't  count on success.

I had the previous caveat that somehow it appears to be done on some CTA signs at L transit centers.

[jajuan]

Pace announced on its What's New? page that there won't be any Pace express service for the Cubs playoff games. Essentially they say it's because the playoffs schedule is too variable for them to be able to commit buses and operators without risking hurting their weekday rush and weekend service schedules. They also say they don't have adequate time to establish safe routing and identify bus parking locations prior to the games I'm guessing from their wording also due to the level of uncertainty in game dates and times. 

[Pace831]

The City of Lockport has a suggestion. Instead of retiring the Orion VI's, why not shorten them for exclusive service on route 832?

[Busjack]

  On 10/14/2016 at 9:42 PM, Pace831 said:

The City of Lockport has a suggestion. Instead of retiring the Orion VI's, why not shorten them for exclusive service on route 832?

Expand  

I don't know if you have a source, but that's prima facie ridiculous. They already have 30 foot buses on the route, and the way that buses are structured, taking out the middle would probably lead to collapse. The average former NW ones are rust buckets and smokestacks.

Probably, though, you were having fun with someone's Photoshop exercise.

[Pace831]

  On 10/14/2016 at 10:52 PM, Busjack said:

I don't know if you have a source, but that's prima facie ridiculous. They already have 30 foot buses on the route, and the way that buses are structured, taking out the middle would probably lead to collapse. The average former NW ones are rust buckets and smokestacks.

Maybe, though, you were having fun with someone's Photoshop exercise, though.

Expand  

Yeah, it was a joke. I found it here on the City of Lockport website. This looks like the original.

I wonder why they thought they had to use Photoshop at all, or at least couldn't have found an easier picture to do it to.

[geneking7320]

  On 10/14/2016 at 10:59 PM, Pace831 said:

Yeah, it was a joke. I found it here on the City of Lockport website. This looks like the original.

I wonder why they thought they had to use Photoshop at all, or at least couldn't have found an easier picture to do it to.

Expand  

Have you seen the picture of the shortened Mack that Muni did years ago? Here is a link to a model:

http://burlingtonreplicas.com/19macdtsfrmu1.html

 

Edited October 15, 2016 by geneking7320
forgot a word

[Busjack]

  On 10/14/2016 at 10:59 PM, Pace831 said:

Yeah, it was a joke. I found it here on the City of Lockport website. This looks like the original.

I wonder why they thought they had to use Photoshop at all, or at least couldn't have found an easier picture to do it to.

Expand  

Thanks for the link.

That page is really phony. The least they could have done is go out to the corner to get a picture, or find an open source of an EZ Rider.

The highway signs are even worse. Someone used a Roadgeek font, and 355 is not going to be on the same sign as  7 or 171, and, knowing the Tollway, nothing else in addition to 143rd or 159th St.

[Busjack]

  On 10/15/2016 at 3:28 AM, geneking7320 said:

Have you seen the picture of the shortened Mack that Muni did years ago? Here is a link to a model:

http://burlingtonreplicas.com/19macdtsfrmu1.html

 

Expand  

My first thought was "well they could do it in the 60s," but there were also the later CTA Frankenbuses.However, given stuff like manufacturers advertising unitized frames, and now stuff like computer wiring buses* and roof air conditioners, no way that could be pulled off today.

______________

*Always hit me as as double meaning.

[Pace831]

  On 10/15/2016 at 12:35 PM, Busjack said:

The least they could have done is go out to the corner to get a picture

Expand  

Especially since the bus stops right in front of city hall, and probably is stuck in traffic long enough to get as many photos as they want.

Also,

• Lockport requested the bus stop to be moved from 9th/State to 9th/Canal, but their own website doesn't reflect the change.
• It still says there are 6 HC trains when a 7th has been added.
• 832 stops at Stateville Prison. Statesville (with an extra s) is a local haunted house.

While it's not unusual for this kind of website to have outdated information, the photoshopped bus picture takes the cake.

[BusHunter]

  On 10/14/2016 at 10:59 PM, Pace831 said:

Yeah, it was a joke. I found it here on the City of Lockport website. This looks like the original.

I wonder why they thought they had to use Photoshop at all, or at least couldn't have found an easier picture to do it to.

Expand  

Upon closer examination the rear door looks to be in the 2nd window. That's like 6 feet from the front door!! LOL!! that would never happen on a real bus. This really makes Lockport website look good. They put phony pictures of buses up instead of the real thing. But I guess we shouldn't judge even though it is totally ridiculous. I remember some of the old Fox news file footage they were using for rosemont blue line one time showed white colored fishbowl buses. That was so old I don't even remember it. The oldest I can remember is the Nortran service with the blue buses.

[Busjack]

  On 10/15/2016 at 9:00 PM, BusHunter said:

Upon closer examination the rear door looks to be in the 2nd window.

Expand  

The comparison @Pace831 provided clearly showed they chopped out the part with the Pace logo. The proportions aren't bad for a 30' bus, but you are correct that the back door is misplaced.

[Busjack]

A couple of new things in the Passenger Notices effective Dec. 19, but both based on not needing to serve things that are no longer there.

• 423 gets 5 minutes cut out of its running time (trips start 5 minutes later) on former Kraft trips. I guess Medline (at the old Kraft site in Northfield) doesn't need the buses.
• 543 and 803 get rerouted around the closed Walmart in East Dundee.

[Busjack]

Strange one on the board meeting agenda:

"Ordinance authorizing the award of a Sole Source contract for Rear Destination Display Signs."

Retrofitting the Axess buses at West????

[MetroShadow]

  On 12/13/2016 at 4:35 AM, Busjack said:

Strange one on the board meeting agenda:

"Ordinance authorizing the award of a Sole Source contract for Rear Destination Display Signs."

Retrofitting the Axess buses at West????

Expand  

That's the only logical conclusion. It's worked well with the 6377+ order that they've decided to just retrofit them all. 

[jajuan]

  On 12/20/2016 at 6:18 PM, Busjack said:

As of noon, lines now on maps.

Expand  

Well  with Pace getting the map traces in for the new I-90 project routes in correctly on Pace Bus Tracker, they finally got the map trace done correctly on the 353 as well. It only took them four years to correct that one.