BusHunter Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 It's not a matter of bus service expansions that justify this proposed garage; it's both the overcapacity situation at Kedzie with buses parked on the street overnight, and the amount of deadheading particularly from downtown. But then what is over capacitated? If it's just Kedzie can a garage be justified for 100 buses max? Looking at how we got into this situation of 1 garage less, they did a bus cut that affected putting #6000's in storage by decreasing frequency that got rid of 100 buses at least that included closing Archer. They would have to restore service to Archer garage era levels to get that back and possibly have a more practical 200 fleet bus garage. This would mean more hiring, more maintenance and more to budget for. If they didn't tie this into BRT, then the garage is just for 100 buses. Maybe they could justify this by adding NP artics but then they are in a situation of long deadheads from the north end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted January 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 But then what is over capacitated? If it's just Kedzie can a garage be justified for 100 buses max? Looking at how we got into this situation of 1 garage less, they did a bus cut that affected putting #6000's in storage by decreasing frequency that got rid of 100 buses at least that included closing Archer. They would have to restore service to Archer garage era levels to get that back and possibly have a more practical 200 fleet bus garage. This would mean more hiring, more maintenance and more to budget for. If they didn't tie this into BRT, then the garage is just for 100 buses. Maybe they could justify this by adding NP artics but then they are in a situation of long deadheads from the north end. Last to first, with all the buses going up the Kennedy Expressway at the end of rush hour, and all the buses at 2 p,m. going to DOWNTOWN, there is a deadhead one way or the other, unless demand to go in the nonrush direction has suddenly increased. There are now also the layovers under Wacker Drive and on N,. Halsted for south side buses. It isn't clear from the article whether using this garage as just a layover or splitting routes between garages is contemplated (once verboten, now back), but as I said before, the only way this saves money is cutting down the deadheads. Closing Archer involved getting rid of 300 buses (not 100). Then CTA got back 100 buses, but since they are artics, needed storage space for 150. So, it is half recovered. If sales taxes rebound (and they seem to have), there is nothing saying that CTA won't restore service, as it has not been indicated that demand has decreased that much. Then we get to the issue that at least all the cookie-cutter garages have a listed capacity of 250 buses. Counting artics as needing capacity for 1=1/2, the Garage Rosters page indicates C: 242 buses, using capacity for 263. K: 287 buses, using capacity for 321. 1 246 buses, using capacity for 281 6 262 buses There's apparently more capacity at NP and 77th, but based on these numbers, something is going to burst, and not just K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 Getting rid of Archer involved the cutting of all the X routes. That's alot of service that was canned. If they were to bring them back then they have my blessing. Doing what you suggest would involve a deadhead from Howard terminal to the south side which is beyond downtown. While they did mention artics, that's the only other purpose besides taking Kedzie's artics or tying it to BRT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 It's not a matter of bus service expansions that justify this proposed garage; it's both the overcapacity situation at Kedzie with buses parked on the street overnight, and the amount of deadheading particularly from downtown. Last to first, with all the buses going up the Kennedy Expressway at the end of rush hour, and all the buses at 2 p,m. going to DOWNTOWN, there is a deadhead one way or the other, unless demand to go in the nonrush direction has suddenly increased. There are now also the layovers under Wacker Drive and on N,. Halsted for south side buses. It isn't clear from the article whether using this garage as just a layover or splitting routes between garages is contemplated (once verboten, now back), but as I said before, the only way this saves money is cutting down the deadheads. Closing Archer involved getting rid of 300 buses (not 100). Then CTA got back 100 buses, but since they are artics, needed storage space for 150. So, it is half recovered. If sales taxes rebound (and they seem to have), there is nothing saying that CTA won't restore service, as it has not been indicated that demand has decreased that much. Then we get to the issue that at least all the cookie-cutter garages have a listed capacity of 250 buses. Counting artics as needing capacity for 1=1/2, the Garage Rosters page indicates C: 242 buses, using capacity for 263. K: 287 buses, using capacity for 321. 1 246 buses, using capacity for 281 6 262 buses There's apparently more capacity at NP and 77th, but based on these numbers, something is going to burst, and not just K. Busjack beat me to the punch in pointing out it's more than just Kedzie that's overcapacity and has a lot of deadheading. You got all kinds of deadheads on Lake Shore Drive with buses from both North Park and 103rd to get buses in position on peak direction only express routes as well as trips on bidirectional routes that don't have a corresponding trip back into downtown because of the peak direction having more trips than the nonpeak. Some buses from 74th and 77th also deadhead up Lake Shore in the morning to get in position for southbound trips on the 8 and 9 leaving the north end of those routes. This is seen especially in early morning. Plus there's also the issue of each garage having some routes that are just plain relatively far from that garage. So that also contributes to the deadheading. A good number of these deadheads are longer than the deadheading of Kedzie assigned buses from downtown along the Ike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictures Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 Busjack beat me to the punch in pointing out it's more than just Kedzie that's overcapacity and has a lot of deadheading. You got all kinds of deadheads on Lake Shore Drive with buses from both North Park and 103rd to get buses in position on peak direction only express routes as well as trips on bidirectional routes that don't have a corresponding trip back into downtown because of the peak direction having more trips than the nonpeak. Some buses from 74th and 77th also deadhead up Lake Shore in the morning to get in position for southbound trips on the 8 and 9 leaving the north end of those routes. This is seen especially in early morning. Plus there's also the issue of each garage having some routes that are just plain relatively far from that garage. So that also contributes to the deadheading. A good number of these deadheads are longer than the deadheading of Kedzie assigned buses from downtown along the Ike. I also see a lot of NB deadheads on the Ryan in the afternoon, but I can't read the garage letter or the bus's number while going in the opposite direction on the L. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 I also see a lot of NB deadheads on the Ryan in the afternoon, but I can't read the garage letter or the bus's number while going in the opposite direction on the L. I think those are from both 77th and 103rd with 77th being just off the Ryan and 103rd being right near the Bishop Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewFlyerMCI Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Isn't this a sign, though, that some artics need to be redistributed? Didn't 77th lose their artics to NP and both of them still have more space? As much as I want to, I can't see a move happening anytime soon to 77th (3, 4, 8, 79, 87) and North Park has artics for what it needs, except for 49 and maybe 36. Can't see them throwing artics at 155 or taking FG runs every once in a while (77). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictures Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Isn't this a sign, though, that some artics need to be redistributed? Didn't 77th lose their artics to NP and both of them still have more space? As much as I want to, I can't see a move happening anytime soon to 77th (3, 4, 8, 79, 87) and North Park has artics for what it needs, except for 49 and maybe 36. Can't see them throwing artics at 155 or taking FG runs every once in a while (77). Actually, there are often a few afternoon rush runs on 155 that need an artic. So why doesn't the CTA deadhead one or two from Howard to the Loyola L station, which is where the big load starts. Just watch the farebox passenger counts & see which WB runs are overloaded & somehow make the change for those couple of runs. Then either move them back to Howard as 147s or if that was the operator's last run, head back to NP. Some routes just have the need for an artic for just a few runs, but the CTA management can't or won't make the ride better for the passengers, which leads to people getting disgusted & finding another way. Why do you think that so many people pay a premium to ride Metra from Rogers Park & Ravenswood to downtown? It's faster & more comfortable, without the panhandlers & other bums to drive you nuts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted January 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Back to the topic, a DNAInfo link on the home page lead to a CTA Press Release* on this topic. Both stress, as I indicated, that the savings is from "deadhead miles" (DNA) otherwise denominated as "reducing the distance between the garage and the start of bus routes served by the garage" (PR). ______________________ *I was surprised that it was on the CTA site rather than the City site, and also that there was some sort of planning agreement between CTA and NRG. I also wonder about the community association called PERRO, which in Spanish means dog. Coincidence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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