Random CTA

[Shannoncvpi]

10 hours ago, Busjack said:

Certainly RANDOM, and I can't figure out why the woman prevented the senior citizen from boarding I only understood "Don't you cuss on this bus," and "I'm going to call the police." I'm not sure why a woman like that would take on that type of crowd, except it was near Wicker Park or West Town.

Had to be I as just laughing at it but like hey it's 6570

[Shannoncvpi]

Seen 8527 with a broken sign & I remember 4037 when it was at K seen it on the 6 while me & my daughter was waiting on a southbound 6 bus 

[Jackson232]

Is this new?

[Busjack]

5 minutes ago, Jackson232 said:

Is this new?

I don't know about the price, but otherwise, no. Google search indicates in 2015, you could do it for $1800.

[Jackson232]

14 minutes ago, Busjack said:

I don't know about the price, but otherwise, no. Google search indicates in 2015, you could do it for $1800.

Oh ok thanks. I have never heard about this. 

[Javi75]

Are the 3200s the majority of the blue lines fleet at this point? The brown line still has 3200s without the special roof boards, is CTA still planning to move every 3200 under 3441 to the blue line? Also when the 7000s come in, would blue retire all of its 2600s first then send the 3200s to orange and brown when fully equipped with 7000s? 

[YoungBusLover]

When customers ask about why serivce is so inconsistent on certain streets, all I can say is traffic traffic traffic 😂😂😂😂

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, YoungBusLover said:

When customers ask about why serivce is so inconsistent on certain streets, all I can say is traffic traffic traffic 😂😂😂😂

Bus bunches on full display.

[YoungBusLover]

18 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Bus bunches on full display.

I was just traveling NB and saw about 8 buses in the distance traveling SB on King Drive and all I could think of was the media from last year interviewing customers about the inconvenience of having to wait for a bus. Traffic is normally the reason for the bus bunching between 55th to about 79th. A handful of those buses are pull ins, deadheads back to Ontario and Faibrbanks, school trippers that turn into the 2 and X4 from 95th. Headways are usually 6 - 9 minutes during that time of day.

[Shannoncvpi]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Bus bunches on full display.

Dam is somebody missed all of those buses 9 in total they are SOL cause every bus is late & they aren't driving slow af

[strictures]

4 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

When customers ask about why serivce is so inconsistent on certain streets, all I can say is traffic traffic traffic 😂😂😂😂

Also, some drivers are lazy & refuse to pass up their leader & hang back when they could go faster & help clear up a mess.

[Shannoncvpi]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

Also, some drivers are lazy & refuse to pass up their leader & hang back when they could go faster & help clear up a mess.

That's facts cause I had one who wouldn't pass me last week after I flew past them 

[Shannoncvpi]

5 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

When customers ask about why serivce is so inconsistent on certain streets, all I can say is traffic traffic traffic 😂😂😂😂

I be real af I be like it's the schedules that downtown put out traffic just today I had a lady on the 54 me ask why she had to way 26 minutes for me to show up I told her it's the schedule that downtown put out 

[Busjack]

21 minutes ago, Shannoncvpi said:

I be real af I be like it's the schedules that downtown put out traffic just today I had a lady on the 54 me ask why she had to way 26 minutes for me to show up I told her it's the schedule that downtown put out 

They also said that the control center had the tools (including Bus Tracker) to resolve bus bunching, but it still doesn't seem to be doing any good.

[YoungBusLover]

10 hours ago, strictures said:

Also, some drivers are lazy & refuse to pass up their leader & hang back when they could go faster & help clear up a mess.

Well in this particular scenario, when the headway is 6 mins on King Drive right after school lets out its really difficult to catch and pass buses after passing 51st SB, the high volume of traffic makes it impossible to do. I watched the tracker after getting home yesterday and indeed saw buses passing each other once they got past 69th but only a few could do it as King Drive is a two lane street and with all of the seniors, kids, bums and blue collar passengers riding the route it can take a while to get down the street. The real problem is the Dunbar school runs that start after 2:30, About 4 or 5 runs alone are heading SB to either 79th or 95th so they get mixed in with the regular runs coming from downtown which can also be 2 or 3 buses at a time. All in all some operators are lazy while others want to get down the street the best way they know how safely.

9 hours ago, Busjack said:

They also said that the control center had the tools (including Bus Tracker) to resolve bus bunching, but it still doesn't seem to be doing any good.

Yeah the control center sees everything but there is only so much they can do in real time. Traffic in that corridor is the reason for bus bunching. CDOT needs to improve the traffic signals from 59th to about 71st, that light south of 59th on 60th is unique with it only giving NB/SB traffic about 7 - 9 seconds to clear the intersection. The stop sign at 59th also creates a bottleneck since there is a high volume of traffic coming EB towards King Drive that generally heads SB.  Certain days are better than others in that corridor though.

9 hours ago, Shannoncvpi said:

That's facts cause I had one who wouldn't pass me last week after I flew past them 

Some streets are worse than others, I work Halsted 4 day a week with 1 day on King Drive and there are quite a few operators that ride behind me the entire trip before getting popped by the control center to slow for running so far ahead of schedule. Other times I could be 5 - 10 behind schedule on Halsted and my follower will ride 2 blocks back the whole trip and not help at all. Only problem is they forget that after a certain point passengers can see them off in the distance and just wave me by to get on there bus. I get a kick out of that because what is the purpose of not helping on high volume streets.  😂😅

[strictures]

24 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

Other times I could be 5 - 10 behind schedule on Halsted and my follower will ride 2 blocks back the whole trip and not help at all. Only problem is they forget that after a certain point passengers can see them off in the distance and just wave me by to get on there bus. I get a kick out of that because what is the purpose of not helping on high volume streets.  😂😅

That's the problem when the follower won't move up & lighten the load on the leader.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen vastly overcrowded buses, with the follower having only a few passengers & the follower is just a couple of minutes behind.  The control center is useless & refuses to ever tell a driver to step up the pace & pass the leader.  I also blame CTA for not having a policy of teaching drivers with an overcrowded bus, who knows there's a follower immediately behind, to not pick up passengers, but drop off any on the wrong corner, so no one gets on & the follower picks up the new passengers.

[YoungBusLover]

2 minutes ago, strictures said:

That's the problem when the follower won't move up & lighten the load on the leader.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen vastly overcrowded buses, with the follower having only a few passengers & the follower is just a couple of minutes behind.  The control center is useless & refuses to ever tell a driver to step up the pace & pass the leader.  I also blame CTA for not having a policy of teaching drivers with an overcrowded bus, who knows there's a follower immediately behind, to not pick up passengers, but drop off any on the wrong corner, so no one gets on & the follower picks up the new passengers.

In rare cases that has happened but over the years I've witnessed a lot shady tactics being done by operators, some even get called out for it at the end of the line. With complaints of operators running ahead of schedule the way things are setup now with the AVAS system we've been sent messages by the control center to not run ahead of schedule and to run according to our run paddle. 

[Javi75]

3 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

In rare cases that has happened but over the years I've witnessed a lot shady tactics being done by operators, some even get called out for it at the end of the line. With complaints of operators running ahead of schedule the way things are setup now with the AVAS system we've been sent messages by the control center to not run ahead of schedule and to run according to our run paddle. 

Do operators get penalized for being behind schedule like 5-8 minutes? I ride the last southbound 50 Damen at night, I catch it at Lawrence. When the regular operator is off, there’s this operator who drives fast, he does a lot of different routes out of NP. He’ll usually leave Clark & Edgewater a few minutes late so he could drive as fast as he wants without running ahead of schedule. It works to my advantage on weekends when that last bus is scheduled a few minutes earlier. 

[YoungBusLover]

4 hours ago, Javi75 said:

Do operators get penalized for being behind schedule like 5-8 minutes? I ride the last southbound 50 Damen at night, I catch it at Lawrence. When the regular operator is off, there’s this operator who drives fast, he does a lot of different routes out of NP. He’ll usually leave Clark & Edgewater a few minutes late so he could drive as fast as he wants without running ahead of schedule. It works to my advantage on weekends when that last bus is scheduled a few minutes earlier. 

We're encouraged to take our time getting down the street, every situation is different though. From what you're describing if that's the last run of the night Damen heading SB 9 times out of 10 the operators will run a little quicker based on the run paddle. Some quicker than others. AVAS gives us upwards of 2 minutes to leave the terminal late after having a full layover of X amount of minutes. Only problem with that is as you described  "He’ll usually leave Clark & Edgewater a few minutes late so he could drive as fast as he wants without running ahead of schedule." Driving fast can sometimes offset the actual schedule you should be on at that point in time, what may seem on time isn't on time if that makes sense.

[strictures]

23 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

We're encouraged to take our time getting down the street, every situation is different though. From what you're describing if that's the last run of the night Damen heading SB 9 times out of 10 the operators will run a little quicker based on the run paddle. Some quicker than others. AVAS gives us upwards of 2 minutes to leave the terminal late after having a full layover of X amount of minutes. Only problem with that is as you described  "He’ll usually leave Clark & Edgewater a few minutes late so he could drive as fast as he wants without running ahead of schedule." Driving fast can sometimes offset the actual schedule you should be on at that point in time, what may seem on time isn't on time if that makes sense.

I can always tell when a 22 Clark St driver is going to end a shift at Foster.  They drive like maniacs down Clark to get there as fast as possible.  The rest of the time they dog it.  Half the time their relief isn't there yet & they have to stay with the bus until the relief shows up, a welcome change from years ago when they used to just walk away from the bus & get on the first bus going west on Foster to NP!

[Mr.NewFlyer1279]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

I can always tell when a 22 Clark St driver is going to end a shift at Foster.  They drive like maniacs down Clark to get there as fast as possible.  The rest of the time they dog it.  Half the time their relief isn't there yet & they have to stay with the bus until the relief shows up, a welcome change from years ago when they used to just walk away from the bus & get on the first bus going west on Foster to NP!

happens on the 151 they floor it from downtown to foster and the belmont trippers😂

[Shannoncvpi]

17 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

Well in this particular scenario, when the headway is 6 mins on King Drive right after school lets out its really difficult to catch and pass buses after passing 51st SB, the high volume of traffic makes it impossible to do. I watched the tracker after getting home yesterday and indeed saw buses passing each other once they got past 69th but only a few could do it as King Drive is a two lane street and with all of the seniors, kids, bums and blue collar passengers riding the route it can take a while to get down the street. The real problem is the Dunbar school runs that start after 2:30, About 4 or 5 runs alone are heading SB to either 79th or 95th so they get mixed in with the regular runs coming from downtown which can also be 2 or 3 buses at a time. All in all some operators are lazy while others want to get down the street the best way they know how safely.

Yeah the control center sees everything but there is only so much they can do in real time. Traffic in that corridor is the reason for bus bunching. CDOT needs to improve the traffic signals from 59th to about 71st, that light south of 59th on 60th is unique with it only giving NB/SB traffic about 7 - 9 seconds to clear the intersection. The stop sign at 59th also creates a bottleneck since there is a high volume of traffic coming EB towards King Drive that generally heads SB.  Certain days are better than others in that corridor though.

 

Some streets are worse than others, I work Halsted 4 day a week with 1 day on King Drive and there are quite a few operators that ride behind me the entire trip before getting popped by the control center to slow for running so far ahead of schedule. Other times I could be 5 - 10 behind schedule on Halsted and my follower will ride 2 blocks back the whole trip and not help at all. Only problem is they forget that after a certain point passengers can see them off in the distance and just wave me by to get on there bus. I get a kick out of that because what is the purpose of not helping on high volume streets.  😂😅

I agree like this morning it was me & 2 other buses on the 66 I unloaded alot of my riders at western & I jumped around the other buses & got alot of those people we just kept jumping around each other when we had the chance

[Shannoncvpi]

On 2/13/2024 at 9:47 PM, Busjack said:

They also said that the control center had the tools (including Bus Tracker) to resolve bus bunching, but it still doesn't seem to be doing any good.

Not at all I think they just tell the public that to shut them up

[Busjack]

11 hours ago, Shannoncvpi said:

Not at all I think they just tell the public[*] that to shut them up

*As a member of the public,** do the drivers get messages from the control center to speed it up, slow down, or pass leaders, or is the only indication the plus or minus on the Clever Device?

___________

**As you can infer, I'm not a driver, while several dozen of you are.

[YoungBusLover]

21 hours ago, Busjack said:

*As a member of the public,** do the drivers get messages from the control center to speed it up, slow down, or pass leaders, or is the only indication the plus or minus on the Clever Device?

___________

**As you can infer, I'm not a driver, while several dozen of you are.

To answer your question yes.  We get sent messages all the time. Quite a few operators know how to use the Clever Device system very well to communicate back and forth to the control if they're delayed, having no leader or follower and being instructed to move ahead X amount of minutes that seem fit at the time. Other times we're sent reminders to slow down systemwide if too many operators are seen running ahead of schedule. If we're delayed we'll send a message to the control center normally depending on how late we're traveling down the street they'll send a message back to short turn at a designated terminal or cross street. One time I was working the #8 during pride month and was delayed 30 minutes going NB. I was instructed to terminate my trip once I arrived at Belmont and switch in place SB at Diversey due to the high volume of traffic in the area.