Return of the 11 & 31 Bus

[BusHunter]

23 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

My question concerning the 11 is this, where will the south terminal be?  Will it terminate at Clark/Wisconsin?  Will we see another 11/37 combo?  Will the 11 be routed into downtown along the Mag Mile?

Well if it is going to called #11, it should at least link with the current #11 at Western/Brown. At Fullerton, there's the #37 which is weekday only and the current #11 now runs 7 days a week. Before they ran the #11 to Clark/Wisconsin now Clark/north on weekends and downtown weekdays. I think personally the #37 will stick around and the #11 will go to clark/north, but if it did go downtown, then Chicago will be using a few less buses and Np a few more. 

[jajuan]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

I could be wrong but any CTA route  with daytime intervals of once an hour will probably fail.

I envision a test of this route from the Orange Line to the Lake or McCormick area,  If somehow that proves successful, then perhaps CTA would consider linking the 31st street portion of route 35 to the new 31 and let 35th be a  stand alone route.

If you mean the West 31st Street portion of #35 through Little Village. I tend to doubt it because 31st isn't a through street and cuts off between Pitney and Western. Even though Carter seems more open to examining where service can be enhanced and expanded, CTA still says that to have a bus route that through routes from the westernmost portion of 31st to the easternmost part, you'd still have to configure the route along either Archer or 35th Street in such a way that you wouldn't be able to avoid significant enough duplication to consider it a stand alone from the 35 or 62 because of how other E-W streets between Cermak and 35th are configured due to the Stevenson Expressway, the railroads crossing through adjacent to the Orange Line, and the angle of the Chicago River.

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

My question concerning the 11 is this, where will the south terminal be?  Will it terminate at Clark/Wisconsin?  Will we see another 11/37 combo?  Will the 11 be routed into downtown along the Mag Mile?

Well if they did terminate it near Lincoln Park again, they'd likely go with the Clark/North layover spot it shared with the #73 before its prior merging with the #37 due to subsequent real estate development since the Clark/Wisconsin terminal was given up a couple decades ago not only having paved that terminal over for apartment buildings but leaving mainly narrow residential streets near that location available that makes looping a bus around the block sort to speak not really a desirable choice since CTA has been trying to limit the use of narrow streets to a minimum if they can help it. It's quite likely why the #73 has been routed to loop Clark, LaSalle, North Ave back to Clark in those last two decades.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, jajuan said:

...

Well if they did terminate it near Lincoln Park again, they'd likely go with the Clark/North layover spot it shared with the #73 before its prior merging with the #37 due to subsequent real estate development since the Clark/Wisconsin terminal was given up a couple decades ago not only having paved that terminal over for apartment buildings but leaving mainly narrow residential streets near that location available that makes looping a bus around the block sort to speak not really a desirable choice since CTA has been trying to limit the use of narrow streets to a minimum if they can help it. It's quite likely why the #73 has been routed to loop Clark, LaSalle, North Ave back to Clark in those last two decades.

I figure that the south terminal is one of the things they say they want community input about. If the line is not to be reconnected to Sedgwick, the Fullerton L station would seem far enough.

[jajuan]

2 hours ago, Busjack said:

I figure that the south terminal is one of the things they say they want community input about. If the line is not to be reconnected to Sedgwick, the Fullerton L station would seem far enough.

Perhaps, but also remember it wasn't connected to the #37 when it terminated at Clark/North 7 days a week after the Booz-Allen cuts of late 1997/early to mid-1998.

[Busjack]

11 hours ago, jajuan said:

Perhaps, but also remember it wasn't connected to the #37 when it terminated at Clark/North 7 days a week after the Booz-Allen cuts of late 1997/early to mid-1998.

I'm pretty sure nobody in the community is thinking 19 years back. What might be more relevant are statements in the newspaper articles about redeveloping Children's Memorial Hospital site and the like (which would take it further south than I thought).

[geneking7320]

Hi Jajuan and Fellow Readers;

Last summer 35th street buses bound for the 31st street beach bobbed and weaved through Lake Meadows [via 33rd Pl, Rhodes, etc.] non stop from 33rd Place and Rhodes to the beach. Has anyone looked at the bridge under construction at 3500 south over Lake Shore Drive? It looks rather heavy for foot and bicycle traffic. I don't know if it would be strong enough to support a transit bus though.

I wonder if an alternative access to the lakefront is being made for route 35.

[Pace831]

14 minutes ago, geneking7320 said:

Hi Jajuan and Fellow Readers;

Last summer 35th street buses bound for the 31st street beach bobbed and weaved through Lake Meadows [via 33rd Pl, Rhodes, etc.] non stop from 33rd Place and Rhodes to the beach. Has anyone looked at the bridge under construction at 3500 south over Lake Shore Drive? It looks rather heavy for foot and bicycle traffic. I don't know if it would be strong enough to support a transit bus though.

I wonder if an alternative access to the lakefront is being made for route 35.

When I saw it, I had the same impression of the heavy beams were for an extension of 35th, but they are actually for temporary support during construction. The end result will be a cable-stayed pedestrian bridge. Here's a link to an article.

 

[geneking7320]

Thanks for posting the pic! I had forgotten what the bridge was supposed to look like.
 

[TaylorTank1229]

Has anyone heard any new reports about the #11 and/or #31 buses yet?

[Juniorz]

Information related to Route's 11 & 31 will be discussed this week at the CTA's May board meeting. The memorandum calls for an 180 day pilot on both routes

Stay Tuned!

[renardo870]

Yes the #11 has a extension  proposed for 180 days. It wasn't clear if it's to North/Clark on wknds or to Clinton Blue line wkdys  and no expanded info on the 31st St. route.

[Busjack]

37 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

Yes the #11 has a extension  proposed for 180 days. It wasn't clear if it's to North/Clark on wknds or to Clinton Blue line wkdys  and no expanded info on the 31st St. route.

It'll show up in the video of the subcommittee meeting, or the press release at about 11:52 a.m. today.

[TaylorTank1229]

51 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

Yes the #11 has a extension  proposed for 180 days. It wasn't clear if it's to North/Clark on wknds or to Clinton Blue line wkdys  and no expanded info on the 31st St. route.

I doubt they'll extend it to the Clinton Blue Line, since they already got the #37 for that on weekdays. My best guess its either Clark/North again or as far as the Fullerton L' Station it's gonna go.

[Busjack]

25 minutes ago, TaylorTank1229 said:

I doubt they'll extend it to the Clinton Blue Line, since they already got the #37 for that on weekdays. My best guess its either Clark/North again or as far as the Fullerton L' Station it's gonna go.

You'll know in an hour.

[sw4400]

It will either terminate at North/Clark(like it did when it was just the #11 Lincoln) or at Clinton Blue Line station(when it was #11 Lincoln/Sedgwick). Like @Busjack says, we'll know soon enough.

[jajuan]

20 minutes ago, TaylorTank1229 said:

I doubt they'll extend it to the Clinton Blue Line, since they already got the #37 for that on weekdays. My best guess its either Clark/North again or as far as the Fullerton L' Station it's gonna go.

Agreed not unless they plan on reabsorbing 37 back into the 11, something we didn't hear them say they were going to do, but whatever they propose this afternoon would still have to be for more than just weekends, otherwise what would be the point?

[sw4400]

If they follow the old time scheduling, the bus route will terminate at about 8p on Monday-Saturday and 7p on Sunday.

[Busjack]

Is already on the video at about 20:00. Extension of 11 between Western Brown Line and Fullerton, 10 am to 7 pm weekdays, to be implemented in summer service changes in June; same frequency as current 11.

31 is Ashland to King Dr., same hours of service, and every 30 minutes, implemented with fall pick in Sept. Would serve the 2 35th st. train stations. Debate whether the outreach materials should be Cantonese or Mandarin.

Route projections based on average ridership per service hour.

[jajuan]

5 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Is already on the video at about :20. Extension of 11 between Brown Line and Fullerton, 10 am to 7 pm weekdays, to be implemented in summer service changes in June; same frequency as current 11.

31 is Ashland to King Dr., same hours of service, and every 30 minutes, implemented with fall pick in Sept. Would serve the 2 35th st. train stations. Debate whether the outreach materials should be Cantonese or Mandarin.

I'm wondering if an every 30 minute #31 route will survive as the hourly headway on the original #31 was part of what killed the original route. I see your prediction of operating to Fullerton was essentially proven correct. Will that be Fullerton 'L' station it ends at or Fullerton/Halsted similar to #74?

[Busjack]

6 minutes ago, jajuan said:

I'm wondering if an every 30 minute #31 route will survive as the hourly headway on the original #31 was part of what killed the original route. I see your prediction of operating to Fullerton was essentially proven correct. Will that be Fullerton 'L' station it ends at or Fullerton/Halsted similar to #74?

They said on the video Fullerton Red Line. The question (not relevant to the committee discussion) is wheher it would use the former Lincoln to Sheffield to Fullerton route, or Lincoln to Halsted to Fullerton.

[jajuan]

1 minute ago, Busjack said:

They said on the video Fullerton Red Line. The question (not relevant to the committee discussion) is wheher it would use the former Lincoln to Sheffield to Fullerton route, or Lincoln to Halsted to Fullerton.

Ah okay. Either way, if they're going to try an extension, that's the one that makes the most economic sense as you were saying when you first mentioned that it makes sense to probably go no further than Fullerton as part of the justification for chopping it off at the Western Brown Line station was that the Brown Line trains could take up the load from the 11's elimination south of Leland.

[renardo870]

It should go to North/Clark since a lot a riders want to go to the zoo, especially during the summer. Otherwise I advise customers to ride the Brown Line south to Armitage and board an EB 73 Armitage bus to Clark and walk over to the zoo.

[Busjack]

10 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

It should go to North/Clark since a lot a riders want to go to the zoo, especially during the summer. Otherwise I advise customers to ride the Brown Line south to Armitage and board an EB 73 Armitage bus to Clark and walk over to the zoo.

Apparently, it won't though. For that matter, the 74Lephant bus has been out of service for a long time now.

Armitage doesn't get you near the zoo; one should go to Belmont and get some Stockton bus.

[jajuan]

18 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

It should go to North/Clark since a lot a riders want to go to the zoo, especially during the summer. Otherwise I advise customers to ride the Brown Line south to Armitage and board an EB 73 Armitage bus to Clark and walk over to the zoo.

The zoo is already well served enough from the north side by the 22, 36, and 151. And if one were going to use Jack's suggestion, the 156 then also comes into play. The main crux of folks wanting the extension aren't worried about the zoo. A good majority are very likely more concerned with the shops and restaurants on Lincoln or better and more convenient connections to routes to various high schools than the Brown Line would provide if they're teenage passengers. 

[Busjack]

31 minutes ago, jajuan said:

Ah okay. Either way, if they're going to try an extension, that's the one that makes the most economic sense as you were saying when you first mentioned that it makes sense to probably go no further than Fullerton as part of the justification for chopping it off at the Western Brown Line station was that the Brown Line trains could take up the load from the 11's elimination south of Leland.

That was Claypool's justification for doing nothing at all in that corridor.

The question only arose because of the prior combination of 11 and 37 into Lincoln-Sedgwick. Originally, that seemed justified only by the fact that 37 was a NP bus and thus to eliminate the deadhead. Now that 37 is a C route, that doesn't make any difference.