Why aren't there enough 147 to Howard buses?

[Pebobryson]

I watched 147 s to Devon go by empty over and over while I wait for one 147 to Howard all the time. WHY?

[BusHunter]

39 minutes ago, Pebobryson said:

I watched 147 s to Devon go by empty over and over while I wait for one 147 to Howard all the time. WHY?

Probably because those are the tripper buses/pullins. CTA is probably making you wait for the block runs that will go back south. It's no different out here in Dunning, because we both want service at the end of the lines we suffer the consequences of late buses short turning or block runs pulling in. Back in the day most runs would pullin from the end of the lines, but in the last five years or so they started this mid route pullin. It's not unusual to see a #77 to Central followed by a #77 to Harlem followed by one to Cumberland. Summer picks are bad on Addison as all pullins pull in at Harlem. I dread it.

One other thing on the #147 in particular, if you are experiencing this early like 4PM, they short turn these at Devon to send them south to Randolph/Michigan. It's one way they can get more bang for their buck. The masses always seem to out rate the few. It just part of how service is ran by them.

[jajuan]

19 hours ago, Pebobryson said:

I watched 147 s to Devon go by empty over and over while I wait for one 147 to Howard all the time. WHY?

Short and sweet, it's in large part because of the DeCrowd plan instituted under the previous CTA President as CTA head honchos felt the bulk of 147's rush ridership was in the middle of the route. So they increased the number of Devon short turns. Plus those Randolph to Devon trips are in part interlined with the 135 and 136 (mainly 136). Some buses from 135 and 136 buses reach their north ends, and deadhead to Michigan/Randolph to do those 147 to Devon trips.

[strictures]

While that's a big problem north of Devon, the 151 has a bigger problem.

There's no reason for the 151s that go to Belmont/Halsted to do so mid-days. It make for unreal waits for a NB 151 going to Clark/Devon north of there. 30+ minute waits aren't unusual at Foster. There just aren't that many going west of Sheridan at Belmont. All mid-day 151s should go all the way to Clark/Devon.

Taking the 147 to Winthrop & walking to Devon/Sheridan  & then getting a 36 or 155 to go west is a total crapshoot, as it's not unusual for there to be ridiculous waits for either a 36 or a WB 155, as they always seem to run in bunches of three. How such a short route as the 155 can get so screwed up is beyond me, even knowing what a traffic disaster Devon is from Leavitt to Sacramento! That traffic disaster could be mitigated just by assigning more Revenue Dept. people to write tickets for bus stop parking, double parking, crosswalk parking & a few jaywalking arrests! This is the only place in the city where jaywalking is a problem. Since so many of those causing all of those problems are from out of the city & even out of the state, I just don't get why the city won't crack down.

[Busjack]

What seems more significant, from perusing the schedule, is that the rush hour full route bus (Congress to Howard) has been cut back to once every 10 to 18 minutes,

[ChicagoNova]

10 hours ago, Busjack said:

What seems more significant, from perusing the schedule, is that the rush hour full route bus (Congress to Howard) has been cut back to once every 10 to 18 minutes,

Might as well have all 147 trips terminate at Devon/Clark & have all 151 trips terminate at Howard.

[Busjack]

1 minute ago, ChicagoNova said:

Might as well have all 147 trips terminate at Devon/Clark & have all 151 trips terminate at Howard.

Could take the Red Line, although the 147 bus is faster. 151 would not be.

Rush hour frequency on 151 to Devon seems a bit worse than 147 to Howard.

 

[Sam92]

 

 

10 hours ago, Busjack said:

What seems more significant, from perusing the schedule, is that the rush hour full route bus (Congress to Howard) has been cut back to once every 10 to 18 minutes,

 

46 minutes ago, ChicagoNova said:

Might as well have all 147 trips terminate at Devon/Clark & have all 151 trips terminate at Howard.

 

42 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Could take the Red Line, although the 147 bus is faster. 151 would not be.

Rush hour frequency on 151 to Devon seems a bit worse than 147 to Howard.

 

gonna kill 3 birds with one stone and reply to all three of these with one post. But yeah busjack from 4pm to about 5pm 147 to Howard looks pretty Bad with buses coming in at 4:16, 4:33 and 4:56? Or in that ball park on the schedule so that's 17-20 minutes apart in rush! Neck and neck with full trip 151 frequency staying about 9-17 minutes apart throughout rush while 147 then bumps to about every ten minutes going to Howard and 5 to Devon so 147 is still the winner in both runs. And I don't think stopping all 147s at Devon would go to smoothly with people up north considering youre replacing it with a local route

[artthouwill]

Perhaps the heaviest portion of 147 ridership is south of Devon, hence the short turns to get the buses back downtown faster.   Are those shorties all deadheading downtown? 

As for the 151, we know the heaviest ridership is south of Belmont.   No need for heavy 151 service north of Belmont.   The 146 takes the load between Belmont and Sheridan,  and the Red line parallels the 151 from Byron to Devon with 147 supplements from Foster to Devon.