Return of the X, Rapid, BRT-Lite, Limited Stop Routes (was X9, X49) Thread

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, jajuan said:

It seems a trend that's playing out in bus ridership is 10% and higher drops in Sunday ridership over last year at the same point of the year. 

I think what you are getting at is that bus ridership continues its trend of going down. Looking at system totals, monthly calendar adjusted is down 8.4%  and YTD cal. adj. down 5.5%.

They were saying that while bus has been consistently losing, rail was consistently gaining, but here the monthly total cal adj is down 3.6% although YTD is flat. Not sure if there is an explanation for that.

[jajuan]

On 9/24/2016 at 11:15 PM, Busjack said:

I think what you are getting at is that bus ridership continues its trend of going down. Looking at system totals, monthly calendar adjusted is down 8.4%  and YTD cal. adj. down 5.5%.

They were saying that while bus has been consistently losing, rail was consistently gaining, but here the monthly total cal adj is down 3.6% although YTD is flat. Not sure if there is an explanation for that.

Yeah that's the larger point, though it seems the general downward trend seems to be dragged down by significant drops either the Saturday or Sunday/holiday count or drops in both weekend days in the case of many routes that showed decreases, though in the case of the 9 and 49, the drop is explained by the already expected trend that riders would forgo those for the respective express routes. 

[renardo870]

Since the X9/X49 has been back in service for about a year now, are there discussions about bring the other former X routes back in service?  And what about AM thru PM service on the X9/X49?

X3 King Drive  Express • X4 Cottage Grove Express • X20 Madison/Washington Express • X53A South Pulaski Express • X54 Cicero Express • X55 Garfield Express • X80 Irving Park Express 

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, renardo870 said:

Since the X9/X49 has been back in service for about a year now, are there discussions about bring the other former X routes back in service?  And what about AM thru PM service on the X9/X49?

X3 King Drive  Express • X4 Cottage Grove Express • X20 Madison/Washington Express • X53A South Pulaski Express • X54 Cicero Express • X55 Garfield Express • X80 Irving Park Express 

Only thing that was said is what happened. The south side improvements were on the Green Line and extending 4 to 115th.

Western and Ashland had the biggest corridor problems, and little parallel L service, so Carter must have found some money to deal with them. Besides having access to the Green Line, I wonder if riders on Cottage Grove and King Dr. would complain about that most of the buses would stop only every half mile, and the locals only every quarter mile rather than eighth.

[jajuan]

18 hours ago, Busjack said:

Only thing that was said is what happened. The south side improvements were on the Green Line and extending 4 to 115th.

Western and Ashland had the biggest corridor problems, and little parallel L service, so Carter must have found some money to deal with them. Besides having access to the Green Line, I wonder if riders on Cottage Grove and King Dr. would complain about that most of the buses would stop only every half mile, and the locals only every quarter mile rather than eighth.

Right. And one thing that I had noted in the artic discussion is that X9 and X49 sems to spread ridership out enough along Ashland and Western that the crowd levels have dropped to a point that artics no longer appear to be as much a necessity beyond the artics that do school trippers. The buses still get a lot of riders, but I haven't seen them operating with back to back crush loads in the year since X9 and X49 returned. Speaking of these two routes, I've been seeing an increasing number of placards marketing these two as faster alternatives between crosstown destinations in the city. By the way Reynaldo, the limited stop route for Pulaski was designated 53AL South Pulaski Limited and not X53A South Pulaski Express. 

[renardo870]

Yeah I know it was, just sounded cooler to say the South Pulaski Express ?????

[jajuan]

15 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

Yeah I know it was, just sounded cooler to say the South Pulaski Express ?????

Well when it was still a part of the old 162 in the days before the Orange Line existed, it had Pulaski Express as part of the name. 

[artthouwill]

3 hours ago, jajuan said:

Well when it was still a part of the old 162 in the days before the Orange Line existed, it had Pulaski Express as part of the name. 

162 Pulaski/Stevenson Express to be exact.   Not to be confused with the 99 Stevenson Express which ran via Pulaski Weekdays between the Stevenson and Archer when the 162 wasn't operating.  

[geneking7320]

When CTA routes stop every half mile they should be called Limiteds.

When they go longer distances between stops (like the 147, J14, and 6 for example) they should be called Expresses.

Just my $0.02

[jajuan]

6 hours ago, geneking7320 said:

When CTA routes stop every half mile they should be called Limiteds.

When they go longer distances between stops (like the 147, J14, and 6 for example) they should be called Expresses.

Just my $0.02

Well the old 61 Archer/Franklin Express and 62 Archer Express already established the use of 'Express' for a route that stops every half mile. 

[Busjack]

20 hours ago, geneking7320 said:

When CTA routes stop every half mile they should be called Limiteds.

When they go longer distances between stops (like the 147, J14, and 6 for example) they should be called Expresses.

Just my $0.02

 

14 hours ago, jajuan said:

Well the old 61 Archer/Franklin Express and 62 Archer Express already established the use of 'Express' for a route that stops every half mile. 

CTA essentially gave up Limited (green sign) in the early 1970s. Before then, there was essentially the mess on Addison that Pace now has (only real distinction is 600/606, and I would make 606 Algonquin Rd, but the new names indicate Pace is not going in that direction.)

61 was after that,but the books indicate that 62 goes back to about 1945.

 

[Busjack]

Seems like the correct topic:

Chicago awarded $3.9 million to improve traffic signal technologies that prioritize buses

Quote

Chicago’s Centralized Transit Signal Priority Project will improve existing transit infrastructure and modify communication and software systems to prioritize buses at every traffic signal in Chicago. The new system will eliminate the need for separate field equipment to detect buses and implements a more centralized and seamless signal prioritization system for buses.

About time.