Fall Pick 2016

[renardo870]

Well, Fall Pick 2016 is upon us. Aside from the expanded service on the South Side that will be implemented on the #4, #34, #71 #95EW, #119, the possible tweaks on the #26, the #10^, the end of beach service for #35*, #63*, #72* & #78* the start of #31, what other changes might be in store for bus service?

* Beach service ends Labor Day.

^ Museum service suspended until Memorial      Day 2017. 

Maybe later rush service or even midday service on X9/X49..

Edited August 3, 2016 by renardo870
Shortened post

[TaylorTank1229]

2 hours ago, renardo870 said:

Well, Fall Pick 2016 is upon us. Aside from the expanded service on the South Side that will be implemented on the #4, #34, #71 #95EW, #119, the possible tweaks on the #26, the #10^, the end of beach service for #35*, #63*, #72* & #78* the start of #31, what other changes might be in store for bus service?

* Beach service ends Labor Day.

^ Museum service suspended until Memorial      Day 2017. 

Maybe later rush service or even midday service on X9/X49..

For the #10 bus, service isn't suspended til next year, only weekday service will stop after Labor Day. It's always running on weekends/holidays all year long. Weekday service only runs on days from Thanksgiving to New Years Day & Memorial Day to Labor Day.

[renardo870]

I know the Museum wasn't going to subsidize the route after Labor Day. 

[jajuan]

11 hours ago, TaylorTank1229 said:

For the #10 bus, service isn't suspended til next year, only weekday service will stop after Labor Day. It's always running on weekends/holidays all year long. Weekday service only runs on days from Thanksgiving to New Years Day & Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Correct. That thing about the #10 being suspended completely until Memorial Day of next year is basically rumor another member heard until proven otherwise. We also shouldn't look for the #X9 or #X49 to run any later or on middays as he poses the question because Emanuel would have had a big press conference and had CTA making some big announcement about that specific expansion long before now if it were going to happen. If nothing else, it would have been included in the big South Side service expansion announcement* that already gave the expansion on #26 and brings the other mentioned south side bus route changes in the fall.

*Due to their long lengths, X9 and X49, like the local 9 and 49 routes, can also be considered north side routes as well as south side bus routes. But as we've seen the Mayor likes to link his name to service expansions that benefit the south side more often than he does for expansions for any other part of the city.

[Busjack]

15 minutes ago, jajuan said:

South Side service expansion announcement

Only thing that would be relevant to that would be 9 south of 63rd, as the announcement was centered around 95th and State and east. However, if such were to happen, there definitely would be an announcement, but I would have bet near the Medical District.

I'm not exactly sure how looking for votes in South Chicago and South Deering (26 and 71) helps him.

[jajuan]

1 hour ago, Busjack said:

Only thing that would be relevant to that would be 9 south of 63rd, as the announcement was centered around 95th and State and east. However, if such were to happen, there definitely would be an announcement, but I would have bet near the Medical District.

I'm not exactly sure how looking for votes in South Chicago and South Deering (26 and 71) helps him.

Only reason I can think of he does that is because based on past voting patterns in the last two mayoral contests, he figures he has the other demographics locked in but is running into trouble with African Americans in the city, which can be a problem for anyone hoping to be elected mayor of this city now that it is predominately minority populated. This is why Chuy Garcia's popularity with both Latinos and African Americans was enough to trigger a runoff the last go around. Although majority African American neighborhoods are on both the west and south sides, the majority of them are spread across the south side. A smart politician is going to play up the positives on his watch and campaign hard overall, but his natural instinct will still be to campaign harder in the areas where it's a toss up and he potentially could see strong competition by an opponent as a result of that area's toss up status. To bring this back to transit, the south side these days tends to have lower service levels and densities due to the lower population density compared to areas further north. So any type of expansion or enhancement on the south side is going to be calculated by a politician of Emanuel's stripe as being a big deal for those areas that he can tout to garner votes. Hence why we see so many news conferences he does related to CTA being done from the south side: the introduction of the 7900s, the 95th terminal renovation project (which you observed seems to indicate the 130th extension of the Red Line ain't happening any time soon), the restoration of X9 and X49 (which we also concluded signals Ashland BRT is something else placed on the long term back burner and won't happen soon), the rebuild of the Dan Ryan leg of the Red Line, the south side service enhancements announced a few months ago that began with the expansion of the 26 during the current summer pick with the rest coming in the fall, etc. Heck, the restoration of the 11 can be attributed not only to Carver's willingness to at least test if some service restorations will survive current demographic riding patterns, but also to Ald. Pewar getting smart enough to get keen to how to better to things past Emanuel and linked restoring the 11 to south side efforts to get the 31 restored. 

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, jajuan said:

Only reason I can think of he does that is because based on past voting patterns in the last two mayoral contests, he figures he has the other demographics locked in but is running into trouble with African Americans in the city,

But the issue I brought up was that the areas mentioned are primarily Hispanic and have been since the steel mills were there. Emanuel lost the 10th Ward, and John Pope was voted out for Susan Sadlowski* Garza.

Maybe someone at CTA was concerned that South Deering had lousy service.

______

*Old time union family; Ed Sadlowski was big in the United Steelworkers Union.

[Juniorz]

Did it occur to anyone that the expanded service to the South Side is for Emmanuel to keep his promise to bring the Red Line extension to customers and by boosting service and renovating the 95th terminal keeps the political side at ease by knowing that the mayor is at least interested in investing service improvements to south side residents.

[Busjack]

11 minutes ago, Juniorz said:

Did it occur to anyone that the expanded service to the South Side is for Emmanuel to keep his promise to bring the Red Line extension to customers and by boosting service and renovating the 95th terminal keeps the political side at ease by knowing that the mayor is at least interested in investing service improvements to south side residents.

The last is the case. However, I don't think he is going to either assuage the community by promising a Red Line extension on which there has been no progress, and at this rate does not look like it could open before 2025.

As I've frequently noted:

• Emanuel boasted that he made 10 trips to the 95th station during the 2011 campaign, and made another one this time.
• Borrowing $240 million to expand the current 95th St. Terminal is inconsistent with any current expectation that the extension will be coming in the foreseeable future, as most of the bus lines now serving it would be routed to stations at 103rd, 111th, and 115th (the last, for which vacant land is reserved).

[jajuan]

The larger point is outside of restoration of #31 and the rest of the south side service enhancements, nothing out of the ordinary is likely happening. We get the usual ending of beach service, suspension of 130 till next Memorial Day outside of special events at Soldier Field, weekend only service on the 10 until Thanksgiving, and the extra school runs across the bus system.

[Juniorz]

Jajuan, thank you! So, what is the point of this post existing when the information is already known? 

Most of the fall changes were revealed between March and June, so the assumptions are pretty much DOA.

[Busjack]

On 8/4/2016 at 9:17 PM, Juniorz said:

Jajuan, thank you! So, what is the point of this post existing when the information is already known? 

Most of the fall changes were revealed between March and June, so the assumptions are pretty much DOA.

On the other hand, you have projected that the Union Station Transit Center will open about that time. That has to have effects on the schedule, just like Loop Link did.

Nothing official has been said yet. Does anyone know the effective date of the pick?

[Sam92]

8 minutes ago, Busjack said:

On the other hand, you have projected that the Union Station Transit Center will open about that time. That has to have effects on the schedule, just like Loop Link did.

Nothing official has been said yet. Does anyone know the effective date of the pick?

Shouldnt it be September 5? Its basically supposed to coincide with Labor Day to get school runs started right?

[BusOps]

2 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Shouldnt it be September 5? Its basically supposed to coincide with Labor Day to get school runs started right?

Sunday September 4th is when the new schedule goes into effect. 

[TaylorTank1229]

17 minutes ago, BusOps said:

Sunday September 4th is when the new schedule goes into effect. 

Is that for the south side bus changes, green line, and 31st bus altogether?

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, BusOps said:

Sunday September 4th is when the new schedule goes into effect. 

Why do i always think mondays lol

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

Why do i always think mondays lol

Technicality the week starts Sunday.For instance, most of the Pace ones are effective August 15, but the changes on Dempster and Touhy, being a 7 day routes, are effective August 14. Since the 208 notice only affects Sat. service, it is effective Aug. 20.

To get back to the reason I asked, which was there wasn't official word yet. the advance timetables will be available probably some time around Aug. 25.

[jajuan]

6 hours ago, TaylorTank1229 said:

Is that for the south side bus changes, green line, and 31st bus altogether?

Barring any delays in getting new schedules together, it should include those too except for the Green Line. Rail picks tend to be separate from those for the bus routes. 

5 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Why do i always think mondays lol

It's only on Mondays for routes that have no Sunday or weekend service and when that Monday isn't a major holiday that triggers the Sunday schedule. So if a route like say 136 or 148 were having a schedule adjustment for this fall pick, that route's new schedule wouldn't be in effect until Tuesday, September 6 the first work and school day following Labor Day.

[andrethebusman]

for info, 31-31st will be from 77th garage.

[renardo870]

On Sunday, August 07, 2016 at 11:40 AM, andrethebusman said:

for info, 31-31st will be from 77th garage.

That's kind of odd, being 31st is closer to Kedzie by nearly 5 miles from Ashand/Archer opposed to 77th a little closer to 6 miles from 35th Red Line unless the Dan Ryan is quicker mileage wise.

[Busjack]

10 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

That's kind of odd, being 31st is closer to Kedzie by nearly 5 miles from Ashand/Archer opposed to 77th a little closer to 6 miles from 35th Red Line unless the Dan Ryan is quicker mileage wise.

They can do street relief at the Red Line station, as opposed to no direct way to do street relief from Kedzie. Sort of similar to why 43 and 51 are out of 77.

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, renardo870 said:

That's kind of odd, being 31st is closer to Kedzie by nearly 5 miles from Ashand/Archer opposed to 77th a little closer to 6 miles from 35th Red Line unless the Dan Ryan is quicker mileage wise.

77th makes the most sense,  though a case for 74th could also be made with relief at Ashland/Archer,  but that is a long ride.   At least the 77th drivers can take the Red Line. 

[renardo870]

4 hours ago, Busjack said:

They can do street relief at the Red Line station, as opposed to no direct way to do street relief from Kedzie. Sort of similar to why 43 and 51 are out of 77.

Good point

[renardo870]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

77th makes the most sense,  though a case for 74th could also be made with relief at Ashland/Archer,  but that is a long ride.   At least the 77th drivers can take the Red Line. 

Point well taken

[jajuan]

Since this is relevant for both the south side bus changes and the ones serving Union Station Transit Center directly, I'll post here in the general Fall 2016 thread. It doesn't appear that Bus Tracker has been totally updated, and CTA is also still behind with new fall schedules. The 4, 124 and 151 don't pop up in the Tracker map to show the new routings, but the buses on the routes do. The new 95 which started this morning is not yet on the Bus Tracker pull down menu, though strangely enough the former 95E and 95W that the route replaced this morning still are. Of course no route map will appear for either of those two. By the way those two are still listed in the bus schedule pull down menu list strangely enough, right behind the new 95. The Bus Tracker pull down does include the 31 though. I come up with the same glitches through two different browser on my laptop and get similar glitches when using the browser on my phone. Also on the bus schedule front, the routes that still are showing a "coming soon" notation on the advance schedule list are still basically showing their previous version of schedules in the current list of schedules. Basically only the routes that CTA updated their schedules in time are linked to their new schedules when clicking them from the current schedules page.