Random CTA

[YoungBusLover]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Are that may drivers calling in sick?  I know CTA recently hired a bunch of drivers.  Was there a shortage due to firings, retirement,  and Covid,?  Is it just the 4 or are other routes affected?

From what I've heard it's a combination of operators calling in sick,some only doing half runs as OT, police charters and if you want to throw covid in there you can. Cottage grove is worse than it was before covid 19 started. 79th is no better I was on my way home yesterday evening only to be offered by the night owl supervisor if I wanted to do runs 679 and or 680 which are both night owls on 79th. I was so upset because I don't usually take my car to and from work that often since I live only 3 miles away but after finding that out what is normally a 30 minute trip turned into an hour and a half. 

[artthouwill]

42 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

From what I've heard it's a combination of operators calling in sick,some only doing half runs as OT, police charters and if you want to throw covid in there you can. Cottage grove is worse than it was before covid 19 started. 79th is no better I was on my way home yesterday evening only to be offered by the night owl supervisor if I wanted to do runs 679 and or 680 which are both night owls on 79th. I was so upset because I don't usually take my car to and from work that often since I live only 3 miles away but after finding that out what is normally a 30 minute trip turned into an hour and a half. 

Yikes.

[YoungBusLover]

1 hour ago, MrH345 said:

I fully understand you. A few spring picks ago I had all Cottage 4 days. I experienced the same thing recently on 79th St. I had 3 buses missing in front of me. 

I don't understand why CTA isn't prioritizing filling runs over police shuttles and also loosening the rains on allowing part timers to do some extra work. Another thing that bugs me is with covid 19 still being an issue we still haven't gotten our warming buses back and the union is working hard on trying to get them back but man it's just getting frustrating not being able to have your fallback in piece without having to worry about so many factors on cottage grove.

[YoungBusLover]

37 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Yikes.

Yeah, yikes is right. 

[Tcmetro]

Today I took the #49 on Western at Cermak. Barely missed the first one, second one didn't show up, third one the driver skipped us. Gave up and walked to the L and transfered in the loop to get back up to Western and Milwaukee. 

A 36-minute wait is absurd on one of the major bus lines in the middle of the day. Terrible what the Cottage Grove passengers are going through too. From what I understand some cities are running more service on major lines because of Covid. 

Hopefully the newly announced bus lanes on Chicago and 79th can at least help those routes operate better and reduce some of the bunching and delays. 

[Shannoncvpi]

6472 out this morning on Madison at the 2nd Malcolm X location

[Shannoncvpi]

1235 out on the 7 this morning I just had her the other day on the 21

[artthouwill]

9 hours ago, Tcmetro said:

Today I took the #49 on Western at Cermak. Barely missed the first one, second one didn't show up, third one the driver skipped us. Gave up and walked to the L and transfered in the loop to get back up to Western and Milwaukee. 

A 36-minute wait is absurd on one of the major bus lines in the middle of the day. Terrible what the Cottage Grove passengers are going through too. From what I understand some cities are running more service on major lines because of Covid. 

Hopefully the newly announced bus lanes on Chicago and 79th can at least help those routes operate better and reduce some of the bunching and delays. 

Well we are still a very long way off, but companies are trying to get driverless vehicles into the marketplace.  Once that happens,  that will eliminate the human sick call factor.

Does CTA have standby drivers at each garage and for each day part?  I define a standby driver as a driver or drivers who go to the garage and stands by until a driver either calls off ir doesn't show and the standby fills in.  Most places have thus in place in the mornings.

[YoungBusLover]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Well we are still a very long way off, but companies are trying to get driverless vehicles into the marketplace.  Once that happens,  that will eliminate the human sick call factor.

Does CTA have standby drivers at each garage and for each day part?  I define a standby driver as a driver or drivers who go to the garage and stands by until a driver either calls off ir doesn't show and the standby fills in.  Most places have thus in place in the mornings.

What you're referring to is Show times for operators who are on the extra board. The 2 hours were there awaiting work to become available is sometimes a tedious one. The problem with the extra board is from what I've experienced on it pre covid and throughout the early stages of it is shockingly you didnt have enough man power to fulfill more runs that were needed on key routes. I don't want to reveal to much but during our current pick we had so many runs taken away which in then part put nearly over 50+ plus full time operators on the extra board and that didnt go over well with them either. Since I'm only a part timer under the 32 hour a week cap there's oy so much we're able to do. VTAs can't really do much either as far as helping out when needed. CTA has been hiring operators as of late there's just to much of a gap that needs to be filled at this point.

[Shannoncvpi]

7 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

What you're referring to is Show times for operators who are on the extra board. The 2 hours were there awaiting work to become available is sometimes a tedious one. The problem with the extra board is from what I've experienced on it pre covid and throughout the early stages of it is shockingly you didnt have enough man power to fulfill more runs that were needed on key routes. I don't want to reveal to much but during our current pick we had so many runs taken away which in then part put nearly over 50+ plus full time operators on the extra board and that didnt go over well with them either. Since I'm only a part timer under the 32 hour a week cap there's oy so much we're able to do. VTAs can't really do much either as far as helping out when needed. CTA has been hiring operators as of late there's just to much of a gap that needs to be filled at this point.

I can vouch for that I be dealing with that also & ive seen nee drivers come in

[Shannoncvpi]

Just saw 6803 a few mins on north ave running the 86 still looks good tho sounds good too

[NewFlyerMCI]

On 9/28/2020 at 2:33 AM, Tcmetro said:

Today I took the #49 on Western at Cermak. Barely missed the first one, second one didn't show up, third one the driver skipped us. Gave up and walked to the L and transfered in the loop to get back up to Western and Milwaukee. 

A 36-minute wait is absurd on one of the major bus lines in the middle of the day. Terrible what the Cottage Grove passengers are going through too. From what I understand some cities are running more service on major lines because of Covid. 

Hopefully the newly announced bus lanes on Chicago and 79th can at least help those routes operate better and reduce some of the bunching and delays. 

Are they full on bus lanes or queue jumps? Cause if its the latter, I've seen the queue jumps on 79th, they've been there for a while, and imo, don't really assist.

[Tcmetro]

Full bus lanes. Chicago lanes run from Laramie to Ashland. 79th lanes run from Cicero to Western, which I suspect won't provide as much benefit. These are supposedly temporary measures due to covid. 

Here's the press release from the CTA: https://www.transitchicago.com/mayor-lightfoot-announces-cdot-and-cta-launching-pop-up-essential-bus-lanes-program-/

[BusHunter]

On 9/28/2020 at 1:33 AM, Tcmetro said:

Today I took the #49 on Western at Cermak. Barely missed the first one, second one didn't show up, third one the driver skipped us. Gave up and walked to the L and transfered in the loop to get back up to Western and Milwaukee. 

A 36-minute wait is absurd on one of the major bus lines in the middle of the day. Terrible what the Cottage Grove passengers are going through too. From what I understand some cities are running more service on major lines because of Covid. 

Hopefully the newly announced bus lanes on Chicago and 79th can at least help those routes operate better and reduce some of the bunching and delays. 

This is why the #49 needs some artics.  The first and second longest lines have no artics? Why? It's a wide street too. On some of these routes on narrow streets like Pulaski I notice the artics are slower than a short bus. Its alot of bus to maneuver in tight areas like 31st and komensky. I still say a peppering of artics would do the job and you could have them on more routes even sharing garages on routes with a system pick. I notice myself people calling uber on straight line routes which makes me wonder why they do it but then I notice wheres the bus? It seems they are doing it due to lack of service. It's the only thing to do when you have no alternative. 

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

3 hours ago, Shannoncvpi said:

Just saw 6803 a few mins on north ave running the 86 still looks good tho sounds good too

In this video it appears you have ran a red light. 6803 was waiting for the light to turn green along with the silver SUV, and you went left of the SUV to pass the red. But yes I rode 6803 the other day it ran well.

[artthouwill]

4 hours ago, BusHunter said:

This is why the #49 needs some artics.  The first and second longest lines have no artics? Why? It's a wide street too. On some of these routes on narrow streets like Pulaski I notice the artics are slower than a short bus. Its alot of bus to maneuver in tight areas like 31st and komensky. I still say a peppering of artics would do the job and you could have them on more routes even sharing garages on routes with a system pick. I notice myself people calling uber on straight line routes which makes me wonder why they do it but then I notice wheres the bus? It seems they are doing it due to lack of service. It's the only thing to do when you have no alternative. 

That is sn easy fix since NP has artics.   But that's only during weekdays since 74th solely  operates the route owls and weekends. 

[artthouwill]

5 hours ago, BusHunter said:

 

 

3 hours ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

In this video it appears you have ran a red light. 6803 was waiting for the light to turn green along with the silver SUV, and you went left of the SUV to pass the red. But yes I rode 6803 the other day it ran well.

When I first saw the video I thought the light was green.   Upon further review it was red.  Im glad he wasn't driving it bus.   Fortunately SB Narragansett had tge green lights.   If NB Ridgeland had the green,  it might've been a bad story.  Be careful bro! @Shannoncvpi

[Shannoncvpi]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

 

When I first saw the video I thought the light was green.   Upon further review it was red.  Im glad he wasn't driving it bus.   Fortunately SB Narragansett had tge green lights.   If NB Ridgeland had the green,  it might've been a bad story.  Be careful bro! @Shannoncvpi

I am I do like 12 do but I actually make sure its clear I dont try to gun it cuz cars coming I be in the clear 

[Agent]

6 hours ago, BusHunter said:

This is why the #49 needs some artics.  The first and second longest lines have no artics? Why? It's a wide street too. On some of these routes on narrow streets like Pulaski I notice the artics are slower than a short bus. Its alot of bus to maneuver in tight areas like 31st and komensky. I still say a peppering of artics would do the job and you could have them on more routes even sharing garages on routes with a system pick. I notice myself people calling uber on straight line routes which makes me wonder why they do it but then I notice wheres the bus? It seems they are doing it due to lack of service. It's the only thing to do when you have no alternative. 

I was thinking about Pulaski and specifically about the 31st/Komensky terminal. If I'm not mistaken, artics don't enter the terminal but instead continue to 31st/Kostner as if it were doing a school trip and loops under the bridge. It then has its layover in front of the school.

[WCR]

2 hours ago, Shannoncvpi said:

I am I do like 12 do but I actually make sure its clear I dont try to gun it cuz cars coming I be in the clear 

Cops are not above the law and neither are you. Two wrongs don't make a right, and frankly a CTA bus operator (whether on duty or not) running a red light and blatantly recording it is absurd. Even cops don't just cruise right through the lights most of the time, 9/10 times they'll at least hesitate and check for traffic, which I didn't notice in the video. Not to mention the cops you see could be responding to calls and were instructed to keep their sirens off for various reasons.

Honestly, this place is going downhill fast. It's sad to see.

[jesi2282]

13 minutes ago, WCR said:

Cops are not above the law and neither are you. Two wrongs don't make a right, and frankly a CTA bus operator (whether on duty or not) running a red light and blatantly recording it is absurd. Even cops don't just cruise right through the lights most of the time, 9/10 times they'll at least hesitate and check for traffic, which I didn't notice in the video. Not to mention the cops you see could be responding to calls and were instructed to keep their sirens off for various reasons.

Honestly, this place is going downhill fast. It's sad to see.

City needs more red light cameras... the only people that complain about red light cameras are the ones eating red lights.

[YoungBusLover]

1 hour ago, Agent said:

I was thinking about Pulaski and specifically about the 31st/Komensky terminal. If I'm not mistaken, artics don't enter the terminal but instead continue to 31st/Kostner as if it were doing a school trip and loops under the bridge. It then has its layover in front of the school.

Artics still go in the terminal at 31st and Komensky for whatever reason and it bugs the hell out of me at times especially when there's two sitting in there. 

[Agent]

17 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

Artics still go in the terminal at 31st and Komensky for whatever reason and it bugs the hell out of me at times especially when there's two sitting in there. 

That's strange, I've seen a lot of #53 artics near Kostner. Komensky is a very small terminal so I don't know how they manage to fit artics in there

[artthouwill]

32 minutes ago, jesi2282 said:

City needs more red light cameras... the only people that complain about red light cameras are the ones eating red lights.

Not true.   In the suburbs, and most places in this country,  the yellow light lasts for 5 seconds.  In Chicago,  the yellow lasts for 3 seconds .  Sometimes I think its more like 2.5 seconds   if safety was the concern,  then the yellow would last 5 seconds in the city also.  But we knew its about revenue and not safety.  Plus they cause more congestion.   Who in their right mind would enter an intersection to turn  left with a camera there? So maybe 1 or 2 cars can make a left turn without getting a ticket.

Those 2 seconds separate safety and citation. 

[Shannoncvpi]

2 hours ago, WCR said:

Cops are not above the law and neither are you. Two wrongs don't make a right, and frankly a CTA bus operator (whether on duty or not) running a red light and blatantly recording it is absurd. Even cops don't just cruise right through the lights most of the time, 9/10 times they'll at least hesitate and check for traffic, which I didn't notice in the video. Not to mention the cops you see could be responding to calls and were instructed to keep their sirens off for various reasons.

Honestly, this place is going downhill fast. It's sad to see.

Well I was just recording 6803 like I was sitting at the liight first I. Waitited for traffic to pass & yes sometimes they do be creeping responding & a lot of times they be just running the light cruising responding to nothing at the end of the day this is a bus topic not what somebody did topic