Coming Soon: Prepaid Boarding at Belmont/Blue WB only

[BusHunter]

Did you guys hear about the renovation of belmont blue line? They intend to put an architectural canopy over the bus terminal and look to expand the station house. Perhaps they can lock off a section for prepaid boarding. They state they intend to carry on the pilot unfortunately there is no elevator included  but they state one is coming in the future. Strange snazzy canopies and  no elevator??? Hmm...

[jajuan]

8 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Did you guys hear about the renovation of belmont blue line? They intend to put an architectural canopy over the bus terminal and look to expand the station house. Perhaps they can lock off a section for prepaid boarding. They state they intend to carry on the pilot unfortunately there is no elevator included  but they state one is coming in the future. Strange snazzy canopies and  no elevator??? Hmm...

The post made by @Busjack earlier in this thread before yours mentions it, and CTA's press release on it mentions that prepaid boarding is indeed included in the planned remodel. 

[BusHunter]

Was looking at this again. Now they basically have a supervisor working alone. He was assisting passengers on the bus but he wasnt really watching the farebox and people were getting on with cards with inadequate fares. (Stop sign) i guess he cant be in two places at once but the passengers should know how to board a bus. I have seen other supervisors by the farebox. Maybe this guy was new or something.

[BusHunter]

Hmm.. they have 3 people over here at the belmont prepaid boarding. 2 socializing and one walking around. I still dont see how they are policing this all that effectively.  Its going to be interesting when the new belmont blue line station is going to be built it will have prepaid boarding built into it. I wonder if they'll  have rotogates or what.

[jajuan]

CTA put out a press release this morning that they plan to expand prepaid boarding testing to two new locations starting June 26th. Those locations are at the 69th/Red Line station and at Inner Lake Shore Drive and Belmont. The Red Line one will be in effect for PM rush only between 3 PM and 6 PM for riders boarding a SB #29 or WB #67 on the bus bridge. The Inner Drive one is for AM rush only between 6:30 AM and 9:30 AM for riders boarding SB #135 and #146 buses. 

[artthouwill]

26 minutes ago, jajuan said:

CTA put out a press release this morning that they plan to expand prepaid boarding testing to two new locations starting June 26th. Those locations are at the 69th/Red Line station and at Inner Lake Shore Drive and Belmont. The Red Line one will be in effect for PM rush only between 3 PM and 6 PM for riders boarding a SB #29 or WB #67 on the bus bridge. The Inner Drive one is for AM rush only between 6:30 AM and 9:30 AM for riders boarding SB #135 and #146 buses. 

At first I thought  why not  the 71?   But the 29 and 67 are thru routes  through  the station and the 71 is not.Yet I still think it could speed  boarding  on the 71, especially  if it is delayed. 

[Busjack]

22 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

At first I thought  why not  the 71?   But the 29 and 67 are thru routes  through  the station and the 71 is not.Yet I still think it could speed  boarding  on the 71, especially  if it is delayed. 

Statement said only westbound with respect to 67. I guess MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL can't stand somewhere else to accommodate passengers to South Shore. However, I'm not sure what the setup is at that terminal.

This is a rerun, as an enclosed bus fare area was tried there before.

[jajuan]

3 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Statement said only westbound with respect to 67. I guess MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL can't stand somewhere else to accommodate passengers to South Shore. However, I'm not sure what the setup is at that terminal.

This is a rerun, as an enclosed bus fare area was tried there before.

The part that caught my eye more for that reason is that they want to give it a try at Inner Drive and Belmont for southbound morning #135 and #146 riders.

[Busjack]

9 minutes ago, jajuan said:

The part that caught my eye more for that reason is that they want to give it a try at Inner Drive and Belmont for southbound morning #135 and #146 riders.

That's always been a congestion point, going back to the 2003 restructuring when people were complaining that with 145 hitting LSD at Irving Park, they lost half their bus service, even though they hadn't.

[artthouwill]

8 minutes ago, jajuan said:

The part that caught my eye more for that reason is that they want to give it a try at Inner Drive and Belmont for southbound morning #135 and #146 riders.

I wonder  how that works when the first two 146s show up full.  Please  forgive me and my error  but exactly  how does prepaid boarding SPEED  the boarding  process? Then  how  do you speed board a jammed  packed  bus?

[Busjack]

6 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I wonder  how that works when the first two 146s show up full.  Please  forgive me and my error  but exactly  how does prepaid boarding SPEED  the boarding  process? Then  how  do you speed board a jammed  packed  bus?

It speeds the boarding process in that one goes through the Ventra reader while waiting for the bus, instead of queuing up on the platform (also eliminates cash fares). Whether there can be a boarding process if the bus is packed to the gills is another question (which I'm sure @BusHunter can answer re Belmont-Blue Line). Wouldn't seem to make sense to stop there, but the folks in the paid area would still complain.

[artthouwill]

6 minutes ago, Busjack said:

It speeds the boarding process in that one goes through the Ventra reader while waiting for the bus, instead of queuing up on the platform (also eliminates cash fares). Whether there can be a boarding process if the bus is packed to the gills is another question (which I'm sure @BusHunter can answer re Belmont-Blue Line). Wouldn't seem to make sense to stop there, but the folks in the paid area would still complain.

I guess  it could  work if everyone  prepays.  If everyone  isn't  prepaying, does the prepaid  passengers  get boarding  priority  over the cash  fare paying customers?

[jajuan]

16 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I wonder  how that works when the first two 146s show up full.  Please  forgive me and my error  but exactly  how does prepaid boarding SPEED  the boarding  process? Then  how  do you speed board a jammed  packed  bus?

And articulated buses jammed to the gills no less. Part of the solution would also seem to be allowing boarding through the rear doors if the premise is that riders standing at the stop have already tap a Ventra card. But that gets into your other question about those who pay cash and it also brings up CTA's concern about how to enforce fare payment in that case given the reason they insist on buses that board wheelchairs at the front (and by extension on get two door artics instead of three door ones) being everyone has to board at the front so they can pay their fares. 

[Busjack]

49 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I guess  it could  work if everyone  prepays.  If everyone  isn't  prepaying, does the prepaid  passengers  get boarding  priority  over the cash  fare paying customers?

The rule on all of these is that you can only board using a Ventra card. There isn't a coin box at the gate.

[Busjack]

37 minutes ago, jajuan said:

(and by extension on get two door artics instead of three door ones) being everyone has to board at the front so they can pay their fares. 

In that, as I said, cash fares are not accepted, they theoretically could board at the back door if the paid area is big enough.

[jajuan]

2 minutes ago, Busjack said:

In that, as I said, cash fares are not accepted, they theoretically could board at the back door if the paid area is big enough.

In that case, it might be something they may want to look into if speeding boardings is the reason and goal. I don't really ride the bus at any of the current prepaid areas so I wasn't completely sure how the setup is done. And the highrise residents who board the 135 and 146 at Belmont and still may cash will definitely need to invest in a Ventra card if they don't want to be left having to walk up Roscoe as the bus stop list doesn't show a southbound bus stop at Aldine for 135 and 146. Only for the 151 is a southbound stop shown.

[BusHunter]

4 hours ago, Busjack said:

It speeds the boarding process in that one goes through the Ventra reader while waiting for the bus, instead of queuing up on the platform (also eliminates cash fares). Whether there can be a boarding process if the bus is packed to the gills is another question (which I'm sure @BusHunter can answer re Belmont-Blue Line). Wouldn't seem to make sense to stop there, but the folks in the paid area would still complain.

Well it is faster boarding because they open the backdoor and people can board there as well as the front. Where it gets sticky is when multiple buses show up, there's nowhere for the follower to board. This needs to be addressed with the belmont rehab and it probably will. Really they could stand to do a bidirectional prepaid boarding there. I'm not sure if that's in the plans or not. It's unfortunate as well that the WB #77's have to turn into a terminal and then fight their way into Kimball traffic and back onto belmont which can take as many as 3 traffic light cycles. They could easily fix that like I said before in another post and make the Kimball intersection stop before the terminal.

Now this #146, #135 prepaid boarding could benefit by filling the bus up to the max. You know how people congregate by the back doors and block out more would be riders. On the #77 i notice now the bus gets more fuller to a point where all footspace of the bus is used. That #146 stop I know is quite popular in the morning and my guess is it gets the most complaints for failure to board due to no room on the bus, but it could benefit from a prepaid boarding, but the smart cookies will always board in the rear.

Too bad they couldn't just have an express bus do a local stop there, like possibly have a #147 pull off and on the drive at belmont. I think it can be done. It could even be done nb if you did a far side stop. Basically the #147 and #136 are going to the same places as a #135 or #146. This would be the smartest option. Perhaps even smarter would be in the future take a page from Pace's book and do a few station stops right there on the Drive. Think of the possibilities, an express trip to north ave beach, or lincoln pk zoo via fullerton. As a ton of riders exit at Irving/Marine this could be done there too or make it a prepaid boarding as well. The LSD market is well worth tapping into as that's the biggest cash engine on the north side other than the nearby "L" service.

We might see in the future alot of prepaid boarding. I know the Garfield/Red line stop has tons of riders and most of the Dan Ryan stops could benefit from such a service. The only issue I see is possibly a increased theft of service but a few rotogates could solve that.

[Busjack]

13 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Well it is faster boarding because they open the backdoor and people can board there as well as the front.

 

13 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Really they could stand to do a bidirectional prepaid boarding there

Thanks for explaining the back door, and also why it isn't eastbound at 69th( @artthouwill also forgot route 30). Again, I don't know the setup at either station, but it is unlikely that someone would be going EB on Belmont from the Blue Line, although it is very likely that someone would be going EB from 69th.

[Busjack]

13 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Perhaps even smarter would be in the future take a page from Pace's book and do a few station stops right there on the Drive.

Something like that was once proposed, but given that the philosophy of the north side LSD restructurings was to separate the service zones north to south, I don't think that those riding 147 would appreciate having time added to the trip (maybe 3 minutes) making a station stop at Belmont. Also, IIRC, the proposal would have required in highway stations, such as now being built at Barrington Road.

[BusHunter]

It doesnt have be every #147 it could be a few like the short runs from Devon. Im sure people dont like standing around at belmont and inner lake shore either.

[Busjack]

47 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

It doesnt have be every #147 it could be a few like the short runs from Devon. Im sure people dont like standing around at belmont and inner lake shore either.

At some point it becomes a question whether they spend more time waiting for a bus or taking 151 (it can't be too full on the south side of the street on Belmont trips, and there aren't that many stops in Lincoln Park).

[BusHunter]

9 hours ago, Busjack said:

At some point it becomes a question whether they spend more time waiting for a bus or taking 151 (it can't be too full on the south side of the street on Belmont trips, and there aren't that many stops in Lincoln Park).

Sometimes I wonder if that's why the #143 and #134 became so popular, because they serve the areas that are having difficulty with service. In the rush the #151 can be painfully slow, it runs with artics for a reason.

[artthouwill]

20 hours ago, Busjack said:

 

Thanks for explaining the back door, and also why it isn't eastbound at 69th( @artthouwill also forgot route 30). Again, I don't know the setup at either station, but it is unlikely that someone would be going EB on Belmont from the Blue Line, although it is very likely that someone would be going EB from 69th.

I didn't  forget about the  30, but it's ridership  is negligible.  Even though the  30 and 71 are EB routes,  they both board in separate  areas on the bus bridge.   I still think  71st  could  benefit from the  prepaid  boarding. 

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

I didn't  forget about the  30, but it's ridership  is negligible.  Even though the  30 and 71 are EB routes,  they both board in separate  areas on the bus bridge.   I still think  71st  could  benefit from the  prepaid  boarding. 

Then it basically gets down to how much of the bridge is part of the experiment. Again, you can correct me, but the last time I thought it was the whole bridge, but this time it obviously is only part of it.

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, Busjack said:

Then it basically gets down to how much of the bridge is part of the experiment. Again, you can correct me, but the last time I thought it was the whole bridge, but this time it obviously is only part of it.

IIRC, the 29 and WB 67 stop just east of  the stationhouse on the bridge, the 71 stops just West of the stationhouse  on the bridge and the 30 stops  on the far west  end of the  bridge.