Night owl runs

[MRChiCity]

Good evening any operators ever done Night owl runs before? If so what is it like?

[andrethebusman]

Owls are usually not too bad. Most start about 8 or 9 pm and finish by 5am. Some streets you run like heck, like 81, where running time at night is 28 minutes each way, so for about 5 yours you run non-stop. Others like 77 are much easier, about 40 minutes each way, so you sit about 20 minutes each trip. Used to be a bit different in 1970's - some owl runs started as late as 230am and ended at 11am! Worked thru entire morning rush. But 241 got rid of that stuff in the 1990's.

[MRChiCity]

On 10/29/2016 at 10:58 AM, andrethebusman said:

Owls are usually not too bad. Most start about 8 or 9 pm and finish by 5am. Some streets you run like heck, like 81, where running time at night is 28 minutes each way, so for about 5 yours you run non-stop. Others like 77 are much easier, about 40 minutes each way, so you sit about 20 minutes each trip. Used to be a bit different in 1970's - some owl runs started as late as 230am and ended at 11am! Worked thru entire morning rush. But 241 got rid of that stuff in the 1990's.

Who usually bids on owls? Are do Part time operators ever end up working owls or just Full Timers? 

[andrethebusman]

Owls are picked jobs, so FT's pick them. However open runs usually are filled by PT's

 

[MRChiCity]

What about doing night owl runs on the 22 Clark? I bet it would be fun dealing with the Lake view and Lincoln park drunken late night crowd or was it manageable? 

[qwantae]

Which former Owl Routes or any other routes should extend or restore hours as night cars?  

I'll say the 8, 12, 28, 54, 72, 80 and 151.  

[Busjack]

On 5/24/2017 at 0:35 AM, qwantae said:

Which former Owl Routes or any other routes should extend or restore hours as night cars?  

I'll say the 8, 12, 28, 54, 72, 80 and 151.  

Do you have any customer survey statistics to support any of this?

151 used to run owl to Foster, but I see the last SB trip is 12:30 and NB is 1:27. The Red Line parallels most of it anyway. But non owl buses that run late into the night, such as 151 and 8 (last trip about 12:30, which also shows a cutback in hours) are justified as owl only if there is somewhere passengers have to go basically between 2 and 4 a.m. Most night shifts start or end around midnight.

[sht6131]

Rte 72 North has partial owl service between Ashland and Clark as Rte 8 Ashland owl service terminates at North and Clark via North Ave.

[strictures]

2 hours ago, sht6131 said:

Rte 72 North has partial owl service between Ash land and Clark as Rte 8 Ashland owl service terminates at North and Clark via North Ave.

Since 8 is Halsted, is that what you meant, as 9 is Ashland?

[Busjack]

10 hours ago, strictures said:

Since 8 is Halsted, is that what you meant, as 9 is Ashland?

No, he meant 9, as 8 is not owl.

[sht6131]

Another senior moment. I should proof read twice before sending. Yes I meant 9

[jajuan]

Route 151 in fact was the most recent route to have a cutback of owl hours just a couple of years ago. And the justification was just what @Busjack alluded to: low overnight because the Red Line was a parallel and handling much of the overnight lakefront area ridership. The 22 is also an overnight alternative for those who would prefer a bus instead of a train. At any rate those two alternatives coupled with it being a freshly made cut, make it unlikely that owl service for the 151 would be restored anytime soon, 

[pudgym29]

I actually wrote {a real U.S.P.S. paper letter} the Authority and suggested having owl runs on a portion of the #50 (North) Damen route: The portion between the Pink Line “L” and the Blue Line “L”. I noted the new nightlife venues opening on this portion and felt patrons would use this service rather than hike the half-mile to Ashland or Western. I thought a 30-minute interval would be best, but would accept a 60-minute interval.