Random CTA

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

7 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

we only have 2 more busses out of FG to get a number on the side #1022 and the other is a 135x i can’t remember the last number i believe 56 or 57 or 59

its none of those i saw all 3 recently they had side number. its either 1353 or 1355 i never seen those yet

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

12 hours ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

its none of those i saw all 3 recently they had side number. its either 1353 or 1355 i never seen those yet

1355 has his i remember it being a 135x it’s definitely not 1358 

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

59 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

1355 has his i remember it being a 135x it’s definitely not 1358 

So it’s 1353

[NovaBusFan]

15 hours ago, Erin Mishkin Jr. said:

Don't worry, that's 8257 and that bus currently has a new number on the side, so it's not too bad at all

Ye

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://www.transitchicago.com/travel-information/bus-status/

I saw the 3 & 4 here and thought they might've been finally moving to 95th/Dan Ryan (at least the 3) but alas 

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

random question for anyone: what do u think is the longet bus route in the system?

my guess would be either the 3 King Drive or 4 Cottage Grove (especially to 115th)

[Sam92]

15 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

random question for anyone: what do u think is the longet bus route in the system?

my guess would be either the 3 King Drive or 4 Cottage Grove (especially to 115th)

Ashland or western at 135 blocks of travel each so Cottage is not too far behind those though. As far as TRAVEL TIME cottage or king probably wins especially when grant park clogs Michigan. The first X49 was longest since it ended at 95th vs 79th 

[artthouwill]

4 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

random question for anyone: what do u think is the longet bus route in the system?

my guess would be either the 3 King Drive or 4 Cottage Grove (especially to 115th)

 

4 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Ashland or western at 135 blocks of travel each so Cottage is not too far behind those though. As far as TRAVEL TIME cottage or king probably wins especially when grant park clogs Michigan. The first X49 was longest since it ended at 95th vs 79th 

Ashland definitely seems to top the list, though a case could be made for the 26.  While it can be said that it only goes 114 blocks north to south,  it also goes from 100E (Michigan Ave) to Ewing (3632E) then back west to Stony Island (1600E).  Just adding the Ewing to Stony Island portion to the north south portion gets it to 134 blocks.  If you add South Shore Drive at 57th(2400E) to Jeffery (2000E) you are now at 138 blocks.  Unlike Ashland,  the 26 is an Express route with a significant express portion (11th/Columbus to 67th/Jeffery).  Also add in 3 blocks from 106th to 103rd. If you add 2 blocks on 83rd from South Shore to Exchange and 3 blocks from Commercial to Buffalo, you are about 144 blocks, not counting the northwest southeast trajectory of Lake Shore Drive. 

With Ashland you can add 8 blocks from 95th to 103rd and Ashland to Southport gets you 2 more blocks which ups that to 145, not counting the northwest southeast trajectory of Beverly (which only adds 4 blocks from Ashland to Racine along that stretch).. 

[Sam92]

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

 

Ashland definitely seems to top the list, though a case could be made for the 26.  While it can be said that it only goes 114 blocks north to south,  it also goes from 100E (Michigan Ave) to Ewing (3632E) then back west to Stony Island (1600E).  Just adding the Ewing to Stony Island portion to the north south portion gets it to 134 blocks.  If you add South Shore Drive at 57th(2400E) to Jeffery (2000E) you are now at 138 blocks.  Unlike Ashland,  the 26 is an Express route with a significant express portion (11th/Columbus to 67th/Jeffery).  Also add in 3 blocks from 106th to 103rd. If you add 2 blocks on 83rd from South Shore to Exchange and 3 blocks from Commercial to Buffalo, you are about 144 blocks, not counting the northwest southeast trajectory of Lake Shore Drive. 

With Ashland you can add 8 blocks from 95th to 103rd and Ashland to Southport gets you 2 more blocks which ups that to 145, not counting the northwest southeast trajectory of Beverly (which only adds 4 blocks from Ashland to Racine along that stretch).. 

yeah I wanted to actually say J14 and 26 after Ashland/western. I was bent on the old X49 to evergreen being longest but after what you say about it would probably tie

[Sam92]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

 

Ashland definitely seems to top the list, though a case could be made for the 26.  While it can be said that it only goes 114 blocks north to south,  it also goes from 100E (Michigan Ave) to Ewing (3632E) then back west to Stony Island (1600E).  Just adding the Ewing to Stony Island portion to the north south portion gets it to 134 blocks.  If you add South Shore Drive at 57th(2400E) to Jeffery (2000E) you are now at 138 blocks.  Unlike Ashland,  the 26 is an Express route with a significant express portion (11th/Columbus to 67th/Jeffery).  Also add in 3 blocks from 106th to 103rd. If you add 2 blocks on 83rd from South Shore to Exchange and 3 blocks from Commercial to Buffalo, you are about 144 blocks, not counting the northwest southeast trajectory of Lake Shore Drive. 

With Ashland you can add 8 blocks from 95th to 103rd and Ashland to Southport gets you 2 more blocks which ups that to 145, not counting the northwest southeast trajectory of Beverly (which only adds 4 blocks from Ashland to Racine along that stretch).. 

when you crunch numbers like that then 26 has taken the spot ever since X49 stopped going to Beverly outside of the rush hour 9 buses. The extension pushes it to #1. Then probably J14, 28, 9, 49 as the top 5 longest along with 26

[NewFlyerMCI]

8 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

random question for anyone: what do u think is the longet bus route in the system?

my guess would be either the 3 King Drive or 4 Cottage Grove (especially to 115th)

By travel time: The full 9. 104th/Vincennes to Irving Park is 100-120 minutes. The 4 is a good contender tho even with favorable traffic conditions. The 4 doesn't do worse than 180 min on schedule. Same with the 49.

By distance: I agree with @Sam92 the 26 probably wins it. A quick peek at CTA's GIS data shoes that the top 5 spots go to the 26, 28, J14, 169 and surprisingly, the 2. Next 5 are the 29, 9, X9, 6 & X98 (which I figured had to be up there somewhere). If you take away the 169 & X98, and match the X9 with the 9, the 147, 4 & 94 take those spots.

[Sam92]

51 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

By travel time: The full 9. 104th/Vincennes to Irving Park is 100-120 minutes. The 4 is a good contender tho even with favorable traffic conditions. The 4 doesn't do worse than 180 min on schedule. Same with the 49.

By distance: I agree with @Sam92 the 26 probably wins it. A quick peek at CTA's GIS data shoes that the top 5 spots go to the 26, 28, J14, 169 and surprisingly, the 2. Next 5 are the 29, 9, X9, 6 & X98 (which I figured had to be up there somewhere). If you take away the 169 & X98, and match the X9 with the 9, the 147, 4 & 94 take those spots.

Well technically @artthouwillwas right when he bought up the math ?. I can’t believe I guessed 28 and J14 but I never thought 2 and 6 would be so high up. But wait are is this GIS showing longest as far as run times or distance cause it’s surprising 49 isn’t behind 9.

[Sam92]

Tbh J14 needs to become the bus that ends at magnificent mile full time instead of 26. J14 is basically empty west of State, most of the riders get on or off at state or Michigan and take a bus deeper into downtown anyway so they can do that the same way they rerouted 146 to eliminate all the transferring from the 12; and the little museum campus  riders fromJ14 can be handled with some modifications. 26 could end at Ogilvie. You could interline the 26 with 192 and bring back the 127 to museum campus. OR possibly consult U of C about rerouting 192 via Columbus, Balbo, Adams/Jackson, Canal to retain the red line, and metra connection for the U of C students with a slight bit more frequency and keep the service for the reverse peak museum campus crowd to while  cutting the deadhead in half by not having to have as many 26’s deadhead to and from Washington/Jefferson. 

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

11 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

Tbh J14 needs to become the bus that ends at magnificent mile full time instead of 26. J14 is basically empty west of State and the little museum campus ridership can be handled with some modifications. 26 could end at Ogilvie retaining the same hours. You could interline the 26 with 192 and bring back the 127 to museum campus. OR possibly consult U of C about rerouting 192 via Columbus, Balbo, Adams/Jackson, Canal to retain the red line, and metra connection for the Students and keep the service for the reverse peak museum campus crowd to while  cutting the deadhead in half by not having to have as many 26’s deadhead to and from Washington/Jefferson. 

yea there’s barley any ridership once it makes that turn onto madison they should really consider having the J14 end at michigan/chicago (mag mile) and have the 26  end at OTC/Union Station

@artthouwillyou are correct i completely forgot bout the 26 that is one hell of a long route i feel bad for the 77th drivers doing the 4 during rush hour all the way from wackier/michigan to 115th street like sheesh but my top 5 would be 

1.26 South Shore Express

2.3 King Drive

3. 4 Cottage Grove-115th

4.6 Jackson Park Express

5. 9 Ashland-104th/Vincennes

[sht6131]

32 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

Well technically @artthouwillwas right when he bought up the math ?. I can’t believe I guessed 28 and J14 but I never thought 2 and 6 would be so high up. But wait are is this GIS showing longest as far as run times or distance cause it’s surprising 49 isn’t behind 9.

Rte 94 on bus tracker from the route progress box indicates 16.67 miles. That would put it just behind 49 which is 15.94 than 29. I understand that 94 is still on trial I think.

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

Well technically @artthouwillwas right when he bought up the math ?. I can’t believe I guessed 28 and J14 but I never thought 2 and 6 would be so high up. But wait are is this GIS showing longest as far as run times or distance cause it’s surprising 49 isn’t behind 9.

I used the shapefile length, so physical distance. Not sure what the direct correlation in miles is though

[NewFlyerMCI]

50 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

Tbh J14 needs to become the bus that ends at magnificent mile full time instead of 26. J14 is basically empty west of State, most of the riders get on or off at state or Michigan and take a bus deeper into downtown anyway so they can do that the same way they rerouted 146 to eliminate all the transferring from the 12; and the little museum campus  riders fromJ14 can be handled with some modifications. 26 could end at Ogilvie. You could interline the 26 with 192 and bring back the 127 to museum campus. OR possibly consult U of C about rerouting 192 via Columbus, Balbo, Adams/Jackson, Canal to retain the red line, and metra connection for the U of C students with a slight bit more frequency and keep the service for the reverse peak museum campus crowd to while  cutting the deadhead in half by not having to have as many 26’s deadhead to and from Washington/Jefferson. 

One issue with the J14 is that while almost nobody rides down Madison, a lot of people ride down Washington. I used to take the J14 to the Orange Line and vice versa, almost the whole bus was empty when I got off at Madison/Wabash in the mornings, but we had pretty good boarding from when I got on at Washington/Wells in the evening (the bulk of passengers still boarded btwn Washington/Wabash & Michigan/Balbo). J14 going to Water Tower Place would be interesting, although layover space might present an issue. Also, the J14 does a decent job of actually not getting bogged down by traffic in the loop, going up Michigan would definitely kill that

[NewFlyerMCI]

55 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

yea there’s barley any ridership once it makes that turn onto madison they should really consider having the J14 end at michigan/chicago (mag mile) and have the 26  end at OTC/Union Station

@artthouwillyou are correct i completely forgot bout the 26 that is one hell of a long route i feel bad for the 77th drivers doing the 4 during rush hour all the way from wackier/michigan to 115th street like sheesh but my top 5 would be 

1.26 South Shore Express

2.3 King Drive

3. 4 Cottage Grove-115th

4.6 Jackson Park Express

5. 9 Ashland-104th/Vincennes

When you say "your" top 5, you mean routes that are the longest? Or routes you wouldn't like to drive?

[Anthony Devera]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

Tbh J14 needs to become the bus that ends at magnificent mile full time instead of 26. J14 is basically empty west of State, most of the riders get on or off at state or Michigan and take a bus deeper into downtown anyway so they can do that the same way they rerouted 146 to eliminate all the transferring from the 12; and the little museum campus  riders fromJ14 can be handled with some modifications. 26 could end at Ogilvie. You could interline the 26 with 192 and bring back the 127 to museum campus. OR possibly consult U of C about rerouting 192 via Columbus, Balbo, Adams/Jackson, Canal to retain the red line, and metra connection for the U of C students with a slight bit more frequency and keep the service for the reverse peak museum campus crowd to while  cutting the deadhead in half by not having to have as many 26’s deadhead to and from Washington/Jefferson. 

An alternative to this is extending the 6 to Water Tower. As a Hyde Park resident, I wish the one-seat ride to Mag Mile was year-round rather than just during the summer (with the 10) or peak-only (with the 2). But if you want to move the J14 to Water Tower, you could also send the 6 to Ogilvie along the same routing. If your J14/26 switch ever happens, maybe instead of restoring the 127, it would make sense to run the 130 year-round, and maybe even interline it with the 124 (run from Museum Campus to Navy Pier).

[NewFlyerMCI]

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

By travel time: The full 9. 104th/Vincennes to Irving Park is 100-120 minutes. The 4 is a good contender tho even with favorable traffic conditions. The 4 doesn't do worse than 180 min on schedule. Same with the 49.

By distance: I agree with @Sam92 the 26 probably wins it. A quick peek at CTA's GIS data shoes that the top 5 spots go to the 26, 28, J14, 169 and surprisingly, the 2. Next 5 are the 29, 9, X9, 6 & X98 (which I figured had to be up there somewhere). If you take away the 169 & X98, and match the X9 with the 9, the 147, 4 & 94 take those spots.

 

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

Well technically @artthouwillwas right when he bought up the math ?. I can’t believe I guessed 28 and J14 but I never thought 2 and 6 would be so high up. But wait are is this GIS showing longest as far as run times or distance cause it’s surprising 49 isn’t behind 9.

 

48 minutes ago, sht6131 said:

Rte 94 on bus tracker from the route progress box indicates 16.67 miles. That would put it just behind 49 which is 15.94 than 29. I understand that 94 is still on trial I think.

Didn't know that could be viewed. In order from what I posted, we have

• 26 - 19.7 miles
• 28 - 14.05 miles
• J14 - 15.88 miles
• 2 - can't check rn
• 9 - 16.91 miles (to 95th)
• 6 - 13.22 miles
• 147 - 11.79 miles
• 4 - 15.43 miles (to 115th)
• 94 - 16.63 miles

[NewFlyerMCI]

10 minutes ago, Anthony Devera said:

An alternative to this is extending the 6 to Water Tower. As a Hyde Park resident, I wish the one-seat ride to Mag Mile was year-round rather than just during the summer (with the 10) or peak-only (with the 2). But if you want to move the J14 to Water Tower, you could also send the 6 to Ogilvie along the same routing. If your J14/26 switch ever happens, maybe instead of restoring the 127, it would make sense to run the 130 year-round, and maybe even interline it with the 124 (run from Museum Campus to Navy Pier).

While I've been of the opinion the 6 needs a new downtown routing and terminal for years, I'm cautious about the Mag Mile. It's a time sink, often crowded even outside of rush hour, already has 4 full time routes (3 of which are artics), so adding another one isn't going to make traffic conditions better. However, I'm not really sure what a better solution here would be. I've thought that truncating the 3 would be better, but a lot of people rely on it for Northwestern. Ultimately, I think any and all solutions would probably require a transfer. If either the 6 or J14 are sent to Chestnut/Mies, the 3 should be rerouted via South Water & Columbus/Fairbanks. There would still be plenty of transfer opportunities, and for those that are able, the one seat ride to the mag mile corridor isn't exactly lost (although Water Tower access would be).

I've always advocated for the 124 & 130 being not just interlined but combined and running year round. More consistent bus service = more people to the museums, especially from the suburbs. 

[artthouwill]

The 6 has always had its terminus at Michigan and Wacker.

The J14 got its routing as a result of the combination of the old 1 Drwxel/Hyde Park and the old 38 Indiana.  The new 1 Indiana/Hyde Park took the 28's terminus at Union Station and the 14 took the old 1's terminus at NW Station (OgIlivie).

Until the 3 was extended to Northwestern Hospitals, the 2 was the only south side bus route other than the 29 to cross the Chicago River  The reason the 3 was extended was to give the residents along Michigan and Indiana south of Roosevelt a one seat ride to the Mag Mile.  Rwmemer Mayor Richard M Daley lived on Indiana after moving from. Bridgeport.   The 3 was rerouted via Indiana between Roosevelt and 16th 

Yould make a case to truncate the 26 to Wacker and extend the 6 to Chicago, nut that might create redundancy with the 10.

[YoungBusLover]

An honorable mention would be Halsted and trust me it is straight hell out there at times when you have minimal manpower with excess demand. I know it's not the longest route but under the wrong conditions the amount of time it would take to complete it and not get a layover is a daunting task. From start to finish though Ashland is number one for the distance and amount of time it would take to complete minus the express portions from some of the other routes mentioned.

My top 5 routes I'll actually do though barring distance  are the 4,8,9,49, & 72.

[Shannoncvpi]

2 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

An honorable mention would be Halsted and trust me it is straight hell out there at times when you have minimal manpower with excess demand. I know it's not the longest route but under the wrong conditions the amount of time it would take to complete it and not get a layover is a daunting task. From start to finish though Ashland is number one for the distance and amount of time it would take to complete minus the express portions from some of the other routes mentioned.

My top 5 routes I'll actually do though barring distance  are the 4,8,9,49, & 72.

Ive did the 72 & I say its mostly long in between western & Clark sometimes to Pulaski after that its mostly butter

[Sam92]

6 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

While I've been of the opinion the 6 needs a new downtown routing and terminal for years, I'm cautious about the Mag Mile. It's a time sink, often crowded even outside of rush hour, already has 4 full time routes (3 of which are artics), so adding another one isn't going to make traffic conditions better. However, I'm not really sure what a better solution here would be. I've thought that truncating the 3 would be better, but a lot of people rely on it for Northwestern. Ultimately, I think any and all solutions would probably require a transfer. If either the 6 or J14 are sent to Chestnut/Mies, the 3 should be rerouted via South Water & Columbus/Fairbanks. There would still be plenty of transfer opportunities, and for those that are able, the one seat ride to the mag mile corridor isn't exactly lost (although Water Tower access would be).

I've always advocated for the 124 & 130 being not just interlined but combined and running year round. More consistent bus service = more people to the museums, especially from the suburbs. 

 

5 hours ago, artthouwill said:

The 6 has always had its terminus at Michigan and Wacker.

The J14 got its routing as a result of the combination of the old 1 Drwxel/Hyde Park and the old 38 Indiana.  The new 1 Indiana/Hyde Park took the 28's terminus at Union Station and the 14 took the old 1's terminus at NW Station (OgIlivie).

Until the 3 was extended to Northwestern Hospitals, the 2 was the only south side bus route other than the 29 to cross the Chicago River  The reason the 3 was extended was to give the residents along Michigan and Indiana south of Roosevelt a one seat ride to the Mag Mile.  Rwmemer Mayor Richard M Daley lived on Indiana after moving from. Bridgeport.   The 3 was rerouted via Indiana between Roosevelt and 16th 

Yould make a case to truncate the 26 to Wacker and extend the 6 to Chicago, nut that might create redundancy with the 10.

Well the thing is the 14 length wise would only be extended by 2 extra blocks. Instead of going a mile west you’re going a mile north but keeping the buses where the riders are. Mag mile is a full time generator so it makes sense to keep a full time route there and put the rush hour heavy 26 at a rush heavy generator. It’s no different than 146. State traffic is worse than the old balbo routing but since most museum campus riders got off at the 12 Roosevelt to go further into downtown at the red line, it was worth the extra time. Same could be said here. Riders save a transfer. Peak hours I’d do something similar to 146 and run certain buses between Wacker and 83rd only. Those could interline with a few 125s to help relieve some pressure on K who’s been on and off crammed since limits closed and it took on downtown/LSD service.