Random Pace

[NewFlyerMCI]

58 minutes ago, rotjohns said:

Well considering both routes moved to a Saturday schedule, it makes sense to have multiple buses hit Fedex to promote social distancing.  I'm surprised it wasn't two Axess buses instead of the EZ Rider if the amount of Fedex workers is that steep.  Plus I'm sure work at Fedex has picked up dramatically since everybody's ordering online. It also gives another driver that could've been furloughed a chance to work and stay busy.  

The 386 is fine, not enough people to warrant extra buses. The 379 is the problem, cause almost everyone who takes it are also 79 riders. I was confused as to why they used an EZ Rider as opposed to another Axess; we passed a 379 F trip when we got to Cicero, it was also using an EZ Rider

Also forgot to mention that Southwest has started putting those “intentionally removed from service” papers on buses, and they’ve been promptly ignored everytime. Seen them on 379, 381 and 386

[NewFlyerMCI]

Same thing happened again today with the 379 in the evening.

In the morning, however, it was just one bus at first. Picked up 10 people at Midway, another 7 or so at Ford City and the usual 20-30 at 79th. However, we got there, she let everyone on, and then sat there for about almost 10 minutes. Then, an EZ Rider showed up behind us, and she said some of us could get on that one. She almost made us late though.

[twyztdmynd]

Sent to my email moments ago...

[MetroShadow]

16 hours ago, twyztdmynd said:

Sent to my email moments ago...

As of today, most service is operating except the Niles Service and the I-55 Corridor. 

ADA will adhere to the downtown zone restrictions. 

 

Stay safe. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

So was I the only one unaware the Eldo’s have free WiFi (at least the ones at SW and S as well, I think)?

[chicagocubs6323]

5 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

So was I the only one unaware the Eldo’s have free WiFi (at least the ones at SW and S as well, I think)?

All buses have Wifi.  Including the NABIs.  

[rotjohns]

So interesting note to pay attention to:  Route 825, a feeder route in Bolingbrook to Lisle Metra Station, had all of it's outside bus signs marked off with a black marker all along the Bolingbrook route.  I've seen no other Pace feeder routes in the West/SW suburbs like this.  Considering this is the last Bolingbrook route that survived the cuts and riders appear to be utilizing the I-55 routes more frequently from both Park-N-Ride stations because it's quicker to get downtown, is this route in trouble?

[Pace831]

6 hours ago, rotjohns said:

So interesting note to pay attention to:  Route 825, a feeder route in Bolingbrook to Lisle Metra Station, had all of it's outside bus signs marked off with a black marker all along the Bolingbrook route.  I've seen no other Pace feeder routes in the West/SW suburbs like this.  Considering this is the last Bolingbrook route that survived the cuts and riders appear to be utilizing the I-55 routes more frequently from both Park-N-Ride stations because it's quicker to get downtown, is this route in trouble?

The sign for route 461 at Ogden and Main (southwest corner) also is covered up in the way you described. I would guess this was done due to the temporary route suspensions. Pace would have to hold a public hearing to eliminate a route permanently, which there hasn’t been any mention of yet. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if 825 is on the next list of cuts.

Somewhat related: Pace has March ridership numbers on RTAMS now so we can start to see how much of a drop was caused by the pandemic.

[John7]

Since when was 6477 at west? Saw it on route 322.

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

29 minutes ago, John7 said:

Since when was 6477 at west? Saw it on route 322.

6477 was at West Division since August 19, 2019, and it has been a "ghost bus" since September and it still is a ghost bus today, I wonder why Pace is too lazy to fix the tracker.

[NewFlyerMCI]

Some pics from my travel yesterday. I almost messed up twice, first trying to take the 757 from NWTC and then trying to take the 895 from Rosemont, and ultimately giving up. Wasn’t until I was on the blue line that I remembered they weren’t running right now ?

[artthouwill]

I know CTA went back to collecting fares.  Did Pace do the same or is it still free to ride Pace buses?

[artthouwill]

On 6/30/2020 at 9:48 AM, NewFlyerMCI said:

Some pics from my travel yesterday. I almost messed up twice, first trying to take the 757 from NWTC and then trying to take the 895 from Rosemont, and ultimately giving up. Wasn’t until I was on the blue line that I remembered they weren’t running right now ?

IMG_7351.MOV IMG_7372.MOV

Great pics.  I rode the 600 in the winter. NWTC protected me from the sun, rain and snow,  but not from the cold and wind.

[NewFlyerMCI]

41 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I know CTA went back to collecting fares.  Did Pace do the same or is it still free to ride Pace buses?

Yeah, they started two Mondays ago. Unlike CTA though, drivers are (rightfully) refusing service to riders without a mask. The 603 driver left a guy today at Elgin (train was coming in ~12 mins so hopefully he caught that) and I’ve seen 386 and 379 drivers refuse service as well

[NewFlyerMCI]

40 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Great pics.  I rode the 600 in the winter. NWTC protected me from the sun, rain and snow,  but not from the cold and wind.

Yeah, the rain part I definitely experienced ?

[NewFlyerMCI]

Pics from today’s journey. Was headed out the the Fox River Trolley Musuem only to think to check the hours halfway thru my journey and find out it wasn’t open on weekdays. 
 

Also it seems like Elgin TC is a timed transfer point, which would make sense

[NewFlyerMCI]

So Pace has now taken to semi-regularly running EZ Riders behind the El Dorados on the 379, 384 & 386 (and that’s just what I’ve seen, could be other routes) which is baffling because they wouldn’t have these crowding issues if they simply returned schedules to normal, which should’ve been done when they started charging fares again. FedEx workers aside, the 379 and 386 are regularly crowded, with or without FedEx workers, simply because buses are coming once an hour, forcing everyone onto the same bus. You’d think it’d be more reasonable to keep buses at their regular schedule to encourage social distancing instead of basically abandoning it and then trying to make up for it with this half-hearted measure. I hadn’t even realized crowding was an issue on the 384, but I’m not surprised with the amount of people I’ve seen waiting for that route in the mornings at Midway. All the routes Pace changed schedule wise need to be re-evaluated.

[John7]

41 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

So Pace has now taken to semi-regularly running EZ Riders behind the El Dorados on the 379, 384 & 386 (and that’s just what I’ve seen, could be other routes) which is baffling because they wouldn’t have these crowding issues if they simply returned schedules to normal, which should’ve been done when they started charging fares again. FedEx workers aside, the 379 and 386 are regularly crowded, with or without FedEx workers, simply because buses are coming once an hour, forcing everyone onto the same bus. You’d think it’d be more reasonable to keep buses at their regular schedule to encourage social distancing instead of basically abandoning it and then trying to make up for it with this half-hearted measure. I hadn’t even realized crowding was an issue on the 384, but I’m not surprised with the amount of people I’ve seen waiting for that route in the mornings at Midway. All the routes Pace changed schedule wise need to be re-evaluated.

Im still hoping southwest gets rid of their EZ riders because they're not needed on routes that come out of midway.(with the exception of route 382) Before the pandemic id see them on routes 379 and 383 and there is hardly any space inside during the rush hour.

[NewFlyerMCI]

11 hours ago, John7 said:

Im still hoping southwest gets rid of their EZ riders because they're not needed on routes that come out of midway.(with the exception of route 382) Before the pandemic id see them on routes 379 and 383 and there is hardly any space inside during the rush hour.

383, 384 & 386 might not always need EZ Riders, but they’re useful for weekend trips. Can’t speak on 385 and I know 379 & 381 would be fine with Eldos all the time. Also, if SW lost their EZ Riders, the 895 would have to be moved (presumably to West). As I type this, I realize why SW is one of the smaller garages in the system ?.

[artthouwill]

I'm trying to figure out how Pace's new numbering system works.  I know the first two numbers are the year of manufacturing.   It's the last three that I have questions about.   For instance,  all of Pace South buses are on the 509 series range regardless of the year of manufacturing.   But they are also Eldorados.  Pace West new buses are in the 400 series range.   Is this garage based?  Is this manufacturer based. Since these are New Flyers?  Will another manufacturer and/or garage ser buses in the 600 range?  I will also have to pay more attention to the suburban paratransits to see how they are numbered and whether its according to the contractor or region.

The city paratransits are owned by each contractor.   CDT vehicles begin with a C and are in the 2000 range.  Once they reach2999. They revert back to 2000.

SCR starts with an R and numbered in the 3000s.  Once again when they reach 3999, they revert back to 3000.

The 1000s used to be Art's Transportation.   I believe the 4000s are First Transit 

[RJL6000]

35 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I'm trying to figure out how Pace's new numbering system works.  I know the first two numbers are the year of manufacturing.   It's the last three that I have questions about.   For instance,  all of Pace South buses are on the 509 series range regardless of the year of manufacturing.   But they are also Eldorados.  Pace West new buses are in the 400 series range.   Is this garage based?  Is this manufacturer based. Since these are New Flyers?  Will another manufacturer and/or garage ser buses in the 600 range?  I will also have to pay more attention to the suburban paratransits to see how they are numbered and whether its according to the contractor or region.

It's still the type of vehicle. Not the location. However, the first iteration of the 5-digit numbering system dated back to when most 30- and 40-foot buses still used the old 4-digit numbering system. But with the diesel 40-foot buses now beginning to use the new 5-digit system, the Xcelsiors now use the xx400-numbering group that was previously reserved for community vehicles, while the next batch of community vehicles will begin using the xx200 group of numbers (for example, 21201). The 30-foot Eldos are expected to have their numbers start at 21300. Paratransits will continue to use the xx000 and xx100 blocks.

[artthouwill]

28 minutes ago, RJL6000 said:

It's still the type of vehicle. Not the location. However, the first iteration of the 5-digit numbering system dated back to when most 30- and 40-foot buses still used the old 4-digit numbering system. But with the diesel 40-foot buses now beginning to use the new 5-digit system, the Xcelsiors now use the xx400-numbering group that was previously reserved for community vehicles, while the next batch of community vehicles will begin using the xx200 group of numbers (for example, 21201). The 30-foot Eldos are expected to have their numbers start at 21300. Paratransits will continue to use the xx000 and xx100 blocks.

So you are saying 400s are 40 ft diesels and 500s are CNG?  Or are 400s New Flyers and 500s Eldorados?

[BusHunter]

5 hours ago, artthouwill said:

So you are saying 400s are 40 ft diesels and 500s are CNG?  Or are 400s New Flyers and 500s Eldorados?

Cant be if RJL says 21300 is an eldo. But it sure is confusing. 

[artthouwill]

9 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Cant be if RJL says 21300 is an eldo. But it sure is confusing. 

What he meant was the 30 ft buses might be 21300s.  What I was curious about was whether any new 49 ft Axxess diesels might be 20600 or 21699.  Im thinking 500s might be for CNG, regardless of model.

[Pace831]

The Axess I was on had some new seat inserts that are a different color. They are blue/black instead of the original brighter blue. I don’t know if they plan to change all seats to this color, but I hope they do because the original seats are too prone to looking dirty.