Pulse (Dempster Route)

[artthouwill]

43 minutes ago, Railguy said:

The 20 are for Milwaukee and Dempster Pulse.

So are you saying that once the CNGS  go into Pulse service,  Pace will unwrap the current diesel Pulse buses?  I suppose they could be assigned to 606 service or any route. 

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

So are you saying that once the CNGS  go into Pulse service,  Pace will unwrap the current diesel Pulse buses?  I suppose they could be assigned to 606 service or any route. 

I suppose they could go to 95th, but that seems an additional 2 years out according to the CMAQ schedule (2026). But there is precedent for running them unwrapped. They ran unwrapped from delivery in 2016 until documented here in 2019. The 20500s are running unwrapped. There is also precedent for downgrading the branding on buses, such as some of the 6385s being moved from S to R for essentially 606, which was running 6500s and 6700s at the time.

[BusHunter]

7 hours ago, Busjack said:

There's a topic for that. It isn't CTA/Proterra.

Wrong. If you watched the Jan. Board meeting, they ordered 20 Pulse buses (reference here), and it was said that the delivery was to be coordinated with Dempster Pulse. 11 diesel Pulse buses were assigned to Milwaukee (6510- 6512, 6514-6521) and it was questionable whether that many were ever necessary. The construction plan listed Dempster under both NS and NW expansion, but it's pretty clear there isn't going to be any NS expansion. But I suppose you know where the other 9 Pulse CNGs are going. Halsted already has its (20500s).

Well I was reading otherwise. Coordinated with just means in conjunction with or addition to so they are part of the equation but it could be indirectly. We all know ns cant house cngs and can pace wheeling hold 20 cngs and everything else? If you ask me 20 buses is too much. But they could take a hint from its current position. The 20500s are riding around south with no pulse route in sight so whose to say if the 6510s wont be rewrapped and run as regular buses. They have no use running on pulse lines if there is no non cng pulse garage. But ns was to run some pulse dempster service. I never said they was doing the complete route, but really the 20500s need to come up to wheeling because it makes no sense to run a 5 or 6 year old bus on the new pace halsted which will probably take that long to start. So Im 50 percent correct but so are you because how do you explain pulse running out of ns?

[Railguy]

Or go unwrapped  finish their life at west on Cermak as future Pulse advertising

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

how do you explain pulse running out of ns?

Only because it was a route mentioned in the expansion plan. But Melinda Metzger said Dempster was being coordinated with Wheeling Garage and the CNG order, so there you go,

For that matter, I-94 BOS was also listed in the NS expansion plan, but 626 isn't going to justify expansion.

[Tcmetro]

Route 250 bus stop changes starting on Monday April 4 for Pulse construction:

https://www.pacebus.com/notice/routes-221-250-temporary-bus-stop-relocations

[Busjack]

10 hours ago, Tcmetro said:

Route 250 bus stop changes starting on Monday April 4 for Pulse construction:

https://www.pacebus.com/notice/routes-221-250-temporary-bus-stop-relocations

Looks  like they are only working on the west end (furthest east is Austin).

I wonder if or what they are going to do at the Des Plaines Metra station.

[Busjack]

Pace posted the Public Hearing Notice for Dempster Pulse, essentially for the cutback for 250. I wonder if the 30 minute rush hour frequency is going to prevail (given that 270 was originally supposed to be 30, but ended up being 60), and, in light of the proposed 250 frequency, whether the only en route Pulse stop in Evanston being Dodge is sufficient (but Evanston politicians tend to take care of their own interests).

[artthouwill]

On 6/26/2022 at 7:35 PM, Busjack said:

Pace posted the Public Hearing Notice for Dempster Pulse, essentially for the cutback for 250. I wonder if the 30 minute rush hour frequency is going to prevail (given that 270 was originally supposed to be 30, but ended up being 60), and, in light of the proposed 250 frequency, whether the only en route Pulse stop in Evanston being Dodge is sufficient (but Evanston politicians tend to take care of their own interests).

According to today's Pylse Hearing,  Pulse service is 15 minutes peak, 15 to 20 minutes at all other times including weekends  

The 250 Dempster will run every 30 minutes during rush periods and 60 minutes at all other times.

[renardo870]

On 7/15/2022 at 1:20 PM, artthouwill said:

According to today's Pylse Hearing,  Pulse service is 15 minutes peak, 15 to 20 minutes at all other times including weekends  

The 250 Dempster will run every 30 minutes during rush periods and 60 minutes at all other times.

Will Pulse Dempster be operated by NW/Wheeling alone or will it be shared with an expanded North Shore Garage? Is there enough space to build the garage out for an additional 30 to 40 40 foot buses?

[artthouwill]

30 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

Will Pulse Dempster be operated by NW/Wheeling alone or will it be shared with an expanded North Shore Garage? Is there enough space to build the garage out for an additional 30 to 40 40 foot buses?

For the foreseeable future. PACE NW will operate the 250 and the Pulse Dumpster. 

[Busjack]

On 9/4/2022 at 1:48 PM, artthouwill said:

So in essence Pace is back at square one when it comes to finding a replacement for the Des Plaines facility.  At least there's no hurry or no immediate need for any fleet replacement as there aren't any 6323s eligible for retirement before 2025.  However Pace might need to modify a couple of buses for Dempster Pulse.  I Currently Pace NW has 10 buses wrapped for Pulse with about 5 in use on Pulse Milwaukee.   I think Pulse Dempster needs 7 or 8 for Pulse . If nothing else,  wrapping a few buses in Pulse branding should suffice.

There's 1 (6510-6512, 6514-6521).  EDIT: Double error.

If the multicolor signs are part of the branding, I suppose W can send some 20400s to NW

 

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

18 hours ago, Busjack said:

There's 11 10 (6511, 6512, 6514-6521).  EDIT: I counted on my fingers and realized my mistake.

If the multicolor signs are part of the branding, I suppose W can send some 20400s to NW

 

that could happen possibly n hopefully got dempster

[Busjack]

45 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

have there been any dempster updates so far? i haven’t heard anything but keep seeing some pulse buses on the 250 on a daily basis 

The Board approved it to start "on or after" Dec. 4 (minutes). If it starts in Dec., it looks like most of the stations will be incomplete.

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, Busjack said:

If it starts in Dec., it looks like most of the stations will be incomplete.

I did a scouting trip. Furthest east construction was Milwaukee EB and Cumberland WB. Some pads near Maine East and along Lee St. Only station that looked nearly complete was WB at Dempster and Lee.

[NewFlyerMCI]

On 10/30/2022 at 1:54 PM, Busjack said:

The Board approved it to start "on or after" Dec. 4 (minutes). If it starts in Dec., it looks like most of the stations will be incomplete.

So just like Milwaukee Pulse, starting with incomplete stations and no TSP

[Railguy]

From what I recall, TSP is being installed on Dempter.  Doubt the line will open in December lots of stations still need work.  

[jackathan]

[Busjack]

On 10/30/2022 at 12:54 PM, Busjack said:

The Board approved it to start "on or after" Dec. 4 (minutes). If it starts in Dec., it looks like most of the stations will be incomplete.

It obviously didn't. Latest word is that construction is delayed; will restart in spring.

[jajuan]

On 12/24/2022 at 12:00 PM, Busjack said:

It obviously didn't. Latest word is that construction is delayed; will restart in spring.

I had a feeling, like others already picked up on, that they wouldn't be able to start service with incomplete stations as happened on Milwaukee Pulse because of the work remaining being more extensive than it seems was the case with the Milwaukee Pulse Line when it opened.

[OneofthewillsNW]

when I ran the route on wed, they had started working on Austin. and the stop next to Waukegan was being poured.  the ones at Milwaukee are basically done.  will be doing late night runs next week so can update any additional progress.  but they are hammering out the stops, 2 weeks ago they where pouring Milwaukee. on Thursday and Friday. 

on a side note,  the miner street bridge repair sucks. in the evenings, it can take 10 min just to get passed busse west bound. though it does look like the workers on the bridge are working hard, they did not even stop for the crazy rain earlier this week. 

[OneofthewillsNW]

as of last friday, they have gotten as far as starting work on the graceland/thacher/dempster stop and looks like they will have two stations outside of the swift one of which they already started working.  personally I do not like the idea of having pulse stop  outside of the station as that seems very bad for accessibility, especially for those who frequently need to use mobility assistance devices,  asking anyone to cross dempster even with the light to get to the westbound station seems like a really bad idea.  on top of that, the swift station already is very accessible  with a single curb and smooth ramp up to the station. 

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

as of last friday, they have gotten as far as starting work on the graceland/thacher/dempster stop and looks like they will have two stations outside of the swift one of which they already started working.  personally I do not like the idea of having pulse stop  outside of the station as that seems very bad for accessibility, especially for those who frequently need to use mobility assistance devices,  asking anyone to cross dempster even with the light to get to the westbound station seems like a really bad idea.  on top of that, the swift station already is very accessible  with a single curb and smooth ramp up to the station. 

O certainly agree with you.   I wonder why they ultimately made the decision to keep the PULSE Dempster outside of the Yellow line station.  The only thing I can think of is to keep the PULSE service as express as possible.   Pulling into the Dempster Yellow Line station will increase running time by a few minutes.  I don't have any numbers but I suppose Pace feels as though the loads for the 250 don't justify the pull ins for both the locals and the PULSE.   

[Tcmetro]

The Project Definition Report from 2016 says exactly that - reduction in travel time and delay by not entering the station.

Interestingly, they claim an advantage for an "efficient transfer" to the Yellow Line and do not note a longer walk as a negative.

See p. 125 of the PDF: https://www.pacebus.com/sites/default/files/2020-06/TR_PMO_DEMP_ProjectDefinition Small-compressed.pdf

[strictures]

11 hours ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

as of last friday, they have gotten as far as starting work on the graceland/thacher/dempster stop and looks like they will have two stations outside of the swift one of which they already started working.  personally I do not like the idea of having pulse stop  outside of the station as that seems very bad for accessibility, especially for those who frequently need to use mobility assistance devices,  asking anyone to cross dempster even with the light to get to the westbound station seems like a really bad idea.  on top of that, the swift station already is very accessible  with a single curb and smooth ramp up to the station. 

I'm totally baffled as to why CTA still has a set of stairs next to the ramp at Dempster there.  They should remove the stairs & make both sides a ramp.  But then it is CTA, so common sense never prevails!