Best and worst Garages.

[MRChiCity]

Good evening,

I would like to know what the best and worst garages of the CTA are and why?

[BusHunter]

Good evening,

I would like to know what the best and worst garages of the CTA are and why?

I don't know depends on who you ask. I'm sure Andrethebusman would say FG as he likes those Novas. The garages are all good in certain ways but if you are going by newer equipment head south!!

[Guest]

Forest Glen was a great garage to work at. Its just a shame that they cant assign newer equipment there. But Im sure thats due to the incompetent decisions of CTA management. IMO, the worst garage, North Park. I spent six months there. Poor attitudes by the operators as well as the public on the routes it serves.

[i8itall4u]

Just from watching buses go by, Chicago garage appears to have the cleanest, best maintained equipment. The novas re-assigned there were cleaned-up nicely. Following would be Kedzie, 103rd, Forest Glen, 77th, North Park and 74th. I base this on observation over time, notwithstanding new equipment.

Back in the day, North Park's 3800s and 7400s, and Limits' 9200s were the *&^%!

Some of you may remember the "Red Carpet" and "Ultimate Fleet Maintainance" programs from the 80s and 90s. Under the Red Carpet system certain, well-maintained buses were assigned to specific(key) routes. Ultimate Fleet Maintainance was cta's in-house rehab project.

Come on current and former Bus Operators, let's hear your thoughts.

[strictures]

Forest Glen was a great garage to work at. Its just a shame that they cant assign newer equipment there. But Im sure thats due to the incompetent decisions of CTA management. IMO, the worst garage, North Park. I spent six months there. Poor attitudes by the operators as well as the public on the routes it serves.

You'll get nothing but agreement on the last line of your post.

After the cutbacks a few years ago, when all the X buses were canceled, the NP drivers were in open revolt against the passengers for several weeks after the February cuts.

Many drivers refused to lower the buses at stops, didn't pull near the curb & drove in a herky-jerky manner.

I was sitting on a 155 at Devon/Kedzie, waiting for it to pull out & there were three drivers talking about how they were going to wreck the CTA. It was all talk, but the passengers got the worst of it, until the complaints must have finally gotten the manager at NP to crack down on that idiocy of treating the riders like crap.

But even before that, the NP drivers have done some of the most bizarre things I've seen on the CTA.

[Busjack]

Since the question was so open ended, it is not surprising that there is a variety of responses.

For instance, 77th is the most decrepit building, but apparently has to political clout to get the new buses. On the other hand, 74th is the newest building, but seems to be near the bottom of the pecking order in getting new equipment. Maybe perceptions will change by this time next year. It also seems like 77th does the best job of running buses into the ground.

FG probably has the easiest routes, but Belmont, Addison, and Lawrence are not easy. Maybe NP drivers are so cranky because NP is mostly downtown routes and there were the news stories that those with the least seniority got stuck with them, while those take the most skill. Probably some old guy gets 96, 97, or 201. On the other hand, the only regular downtown route FG has is 56.

[Mr.cta85]

As you all know I'm out of 103rd lol which is a pretty good garage. I won't say the best even though it's the only garage I been at since I started over 2yrs ago. A lot of long timers I know and talk to say that Archer was the best garage before it closed down, but now it's always between 103rd, Kedzie, and FG. They also say NP too, it takes forever and a day to get to those particular garages if you don't live close by but once you're there they say it's pretty sweet as far as the routes, area, and the people. 74th is usually the garage that gets thrown under the bus lol (rim shot) cause of the routes and area it goes through but honestly that's the garage I wanted to go to cause I like their bus fleet no artics there lol as well as 77th. I'll say this though every garage has a bad route or a 2. 103rd has a few of them such as 34, 71, 95E (in the summer time) the 103 is ok except in the winter when it's snow on the ground and you have to ride past Julian high school those kids are ruthless trust me on that LOOOL!!!. I'll end it with this though, I love 103rd but say if we had an emergency system pick, this is how my choice slip would be in the order from greatest to least in which garage I would want to go to. 1. 77th (cause of the new Novas they have now lol) 2. 74th 3. 103rd 4. Chicago 5. FG 6. Kedzie and 7. NP it's not a bad garage but I just really don't want to go there lol. So that's my take on this topic lol.

[Busjack]

... it takes forever and a day to get to those particular garages if you don't live close by ...

That's an interesting take. Closing Limits and Archer meant not only there wasn't any place to store buses near downtown, but, for the most part, the garages (especially 103, NP and FG) are at the periphery of the city, with respect to the drivers getting to them.

I think it is also somewhat of an irony that, like the streetcar books saying that operators who wanted to stay on the streetcars had to drive down from the northwest side to 77th, 103rd and FG have poor bus service, and the drivers have to drive their cars to work.

I'll bet though, that the CTA employee whose son was killed in the apartment fire on the 5700 block of N. Kimball worked at North Park.

[strictures]

That's an interesting take. Closing Limits and Archer meant not only there wasn't any place to store buses near downtown, but, for the most part, the garages (especially 103, NP and FG) are at the periphery of the city, with respect to the drivers getting to them.

I think it is also somewhat of an irony that, like the streetcar books saying that operators who wanted to stay on the streetcars had to drive down from the northwest side to 77th, 103rd and FG have poor bus service, and the drivers have to drive their cars to work.

I'll bet though, that the CTA employee whose son was killed in the apartment fire on the 5700 block of N. Kimball worked at North Park.

I noticed last week that the CTA was storing buses midday along the right curb on Lower Randolph, sort of like that lot they used to have at 14th & State.

[ajm522]

I noticed last week that the CTA was storing buses midday along the right curb on Lower Randolph, sort of like that lot they used to have at 14th & State.

77th began storing busses down on Randoplh at least 2 years ago. Routes 2,3 and 4 store down there. This pick 103rd now stores busses down there routes J14, 26 and I think a 6 stores down there.

[Guest]

Since the question was so open ended, it is not surprising that there is a variety of responses.

For instance, 77th is the most decrepit building, but apparently has to political clout to get the new buses. On the other hand, 74th is the newest building, but seems to be near the bottom of the pecking order in getting new equipment. Maybe perceptions will change by this time next year. It also seems like 77th does the best job of running buses into the ground.

FG probably has the easiest routes, but Belmont, Addison, and Lawrence are not easy. Maybe NP drivers are so cranky because NP is mostly downtown routes and there were the news stories that those with the least seniority got stuck with them, while those take the most skill. Probably some old guy gets 96, 97, or 201. On the other hand, the only regular downtown route FG has is 56.

My time at CTA, Ive worked at three garages. I started out PT at Kedzie in 1997, Once I turned over to full time in 99, I transferred to North Park, trained on the artics. Six months later on the system pick I transferred to Forest Glen in the closing days of the 20th century! . At FG, the only easy routes are #68, #88, #85A and #81W. They do get their share of the business! As for cranky operators, well youll find that pretty much in any garage! North Park I think are the worst! Not the most social operators! Ive had confrontations with at least three operators and a clerk at North Park in my six months there. All of them with bad attitudes! One fellow NP operator almost caused me to crash into a light pole at Michigan/Delaware because of her reckless driving behavior. She was in a MAN, I had a 5800 NF which I was new to. My favorite garage to work at was FG!

[cta_44499_FG]

I'll bet though, that the CTA employee whose son was killed in the apartment fire on the 5700 block of N. Kimball worked at North Park.

He did....

[Brandon93]

You'll get nothing but agreement on the last line of your post.

After the cutbacks a few years ago, when all the X buses were canceled, the NP drivers were in open revolt against the passengers for several weeks after the February cuts.

Many drivers refused to lower the buses at stops, didn't pull near the curb & drove in a herky-jerky manner.

I was sitting on a 155 at Devon/Kedzie, waiting for it to pull out & there were three drivers talking about how they were going to wreck the CTA. It was all talk, but the passengers got the worst of it, until the complaints must have finally gotten the manager at NP to crack down on that idiocy of treating the riders like crap.

But even before that, the NP drivers have done some of the most bizarre things I've seen on the CTA.

I agree & also I read an article about how operators at NP particularly operators that worked Broadway, Clark, and Sheridan would leave people in wheelchairs out in the cold among other things. I think that may have contributed to cause the managers to do a crackdown.

[MRChiCity]

He did....

I see you worked out of Forest Glenn and North Park which one did/do you like and why?

[TripleTransit1]

Best: Archer Garage.

Worst: 74th (I picked that one at random, I don't actually have a "worst garage," I like all of the current ones equally).

[rvwnsd]

...At FG, the only easy routes are #68, #88, #85A and #81W. They do get their share of the business! ...

Are the girls from Insurrection Resurrection High School who ride the 88 as bad as they were when I lived in the neighborhood back in the 80's? Even the Taft High School kids did not want to ride the 88 when the girls from Res were aboard. I'll never forget the time I was walking down Higgins Avenue and a seat went flying out of the bus window. Then there was the time when the hapless kid from Taft was sexually assaulted by a group of Res girls.

[jajuan]

Well looking on my own experiences, Kedzie comes to mind as a top one and I think that's largely to do with me being familiar with a lot of the operators there when I still lived on the west side and from so many of them shopping at the former Jewel on Cermak Road near Western that I worked for at part of that time when I was going to class. It was always interesting having any one of them recognize me while walking along in my neighborhood and blow their horn to catch my attention so they could give a quick wave. My family would ask if I knew that driver and I'd always let them know that it was one of the drivers on one or more of the routes I rode to work, class or back home from either. Now having lived in Rogers Park a few short years I think I may have missed a lot of the negative and bad behaviors from the NP operators that were guilty of them. Those operators I run into regularly on the 22 as well as from the 136, 147 and 148 (all three of which are interlined with the 22 in some form or fashion) tend to be those with far better attitudes than those described above. It's the same with those 74th operators I encounter on the 9. Any bad apples I encounter on that route tend to be one of those filling in for one of those operators who regularly might drive that run but has the day off or may be on vacation.

[jajuan]

Are the girls from Insurrection Resurrection High School who ride the 88 as bad as they were when I lived in the neighborhood back in the 80's? Even the Taft High School kids did not want to ride the 88 when the girls from Res were aboard. I'll never forget the time I was walking down Higgins Avenue and a seat went flying out of the bus window. Then there was the time when the hapless kid from Taft was sexually assaulted by a group of Res girls.

Oh wow!

[strictures]

Are the girls from Insurrection Resurrection High School who ride the 88 as bad as they were when I lived in the neighborhood back in the 80's? Even the Taft High School kids did not want to ride the 88 when the girls from Res were aboard. I'll never forget the time I was walking down Higgins Avenue and a seat went flying out of the bus window. Then there was the time when the hapless kid from Taft was sexually assaulted by a group of Res girls.

Sounds like they could have made a St. Trinian's sequel at Res!

There were several British comedies made about that fictional girl's school where they were all out of control monsters.

[Guest]

Are the girls from Insurrection Resurrection High School who ride the 88 as bad as they were when I lived in the neighborhood back in the 80's? Even the Taft High School kids did not want to ride the 88 when the girls from Res were aboard. I'll never forget the time I was walking down Higgins Avenue and a seat went flying out of the bus window. Then there was the time when the hapless kid from Taft was sexually assaulted by a group of Res girls.

Never heard or experienced any such stories. The worst high schools I ever had to deal with were Westinghouse (K) and ETHS (NP). As for Taft, I did operate #68 NW Hwy school trippers that would load up starting on Bryn Mawr and Sayre ave via Avondale, Nagle, NW Hwy to Jeff Pk. Taft students I dont recall any incidents on any of my trips. They were a bit loud, but then what high school wasant??? Probably one of the most interesting moments was on the #80 Irv Park picking up Lake View HS. I remember one time seeing two female students making out in the back of the bus!

[Busjack]

Sounds like they could have made a St. Trinian's sequel at Res!

There were several British comedies made about that fictional girl's school where they were all out of control monsters.

This goes way back, but students in Catholic schools seemed dirtier than those in public schools. Maybe it was the nuns saying "you can't do that," so they did.

[artthouwill]

Well I still think North Park is the golden child garage of the CTA, seeing that lately it gets the newest and best equipment. The 3800s and 9600s were mainstays there. When the garage had crap equipment, mostly it was due to that equipment having the most seats. It has the newest and last deliveries of the 4000s and the 4333s. It also serves the most affluent of neighborhoods along the north lakefront and the Gold Coast.

I would put Kedzie number 2 because it also serves some of that NP territory that it inherited from the old Limits garage. It also has a lot of downtown routes that serve tourists so it has a lot of good equipment and is also the showcase garage for experimental equipment like the 800s, 900s, and 700s.

I would put Chicago Ave 3rd. It has grown since the Wicker Park area has regentrified, thus routes along that corridor have seen significant ridership increases as well as increased affluency. It has the latest delivery of the 1000s, and I'm sure it is possible to get some 7900s if CTA decides to give that series to 4 garages. I think its the odd one out if CTA only delivers them to 3 garages.

I would put 103rd in the 4th position only because of the artics, though that garage has been given increased routing downtown.

Numbr 5 is Forest Glen, despite the fact that currently it is running all Nivas, But I fully expect FG to get some new 7900s, after 74th receives them. Historically, this garage has had very good equipment. Until inheriting other garages' Novas, its Novas were in pristine condition

77th, despite what some people may think, is number 6. As I have shown on other posts, 77th usually loses the new equipment it gets. The 4333s are the latest example. It lost them to NP for its 41xx buses only to lose artics altogether. Until recently it had the oldest Novas. 77th also lost some its downtown work to 103rd.

I think nearly everyone agress that 74th is the stepchild garage, even from the days that this garage was at 69th street. It along with FG had to suffer through all 6000 Flx buses until they just crapped out totally (and FG) Flxs outlasted 74ths utnitl thery were all retired. It still has a very large number of Novas

[BusHunter]

I've seen some pretty wild experiences myself with the kids on the bus. Back when i was going to school at Lane, one day some guy entered the bus through the window, those #7100 artics windows were big enough you could do that. I always heard stories of bad stuff happening on the #91 Austin as back then they would pick up the Taft kids and then pick up the Addison crowd. Drivers did not like to do that route. But even today there's drivers out of FG that refuse to work that and Central as that gets hit by Prosser too. But I think the worst kids I experienced were from Marshall on the #52, there was alot of sex dancing on the back of that bus, I remember thinking wow these kids are like a bunch of ho's. I think I do remember talk of the Res girls but I never was over there to see it. Probably the wildest kids I ever heard on the CTA radio were the ones on 79th that would shut off the buses from the rear. One day they had five #79 buses disabled and it was starting to mess up operations. This was almost like a daily thing for a little while. That lock they put on the buses was built for them.

[Busjack]

....

77th, despite what some people may think, is number 6. As I have shown on other posts, 77th usually loses the new equipment it gets. The 4333s are the latest example. It lost them to NP for its 41xx buses only to lose artics altogether. Until recently it had the oldest Novas. 77th also lost some its downtown work to 103rd.

...

However, this seems to be an effect of them running what they have into the ground, and then wanting something better. It seems to go back to when BusDrawings.com had pictures of a New Look swap between 77th and NP, then 77th got 6000s, but lost them because they got 6400s. 77th wasn't the first to get 1000s, but they certainly got them before garages in worse shape (NP and 103 with regard to 4400s) did. Now 77 unloaded its 6400s before getting 7900s.

In short, the losing point would be valid only if 77th continually got something worse than what it had, sort of like K when it got old FG buses in the 2001 swap so that FG could get buses with preheaters, or any of the garages that just got 6400s. Update: One exception may be when 77th got 5300s from 103rd.

On the artics, someone pointed out that 77th lost them when the construction detour went into effect on 79th; we'll see if they come back after that detour ends.

[BusHunter]

The maintenance at 77th is horrible. The buses that come out of their look like they have never had any attention. But drivers at FG tell me that CTA likes the FG maintenance, that's one reason there buses look good. I mean could you imagine these Novas somewhere else, a complete fleet. That does stand as a testament to the work they do. But they are not miracle workers, they have alot of buses to bring back about 90-100 and then they got other buses from 74th and Chicago but I think they are better maintained due to a smaller fleet of them there. I don't know if this is a cover story to give them the oldest buses or not, but i remember the #6800's looked real good until they went to 77th. I was actually surprised how good they did look at around 3-5 years and they were pretty clean too.