Pulse (Dempster Route)

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

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!

The steps are closest to the train doors. Riders don't want to take the long way to the parking lot. And NOT relevant to this topic.

[Busjack]

19 hours ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

looks like they will have two stations outside of the swift one of which they already started working. 

I just went by, and there is no construction on the north side of Dempster. So, it is too early to come to that conclusion.

There is apparently construction starting at Dodge, on the south side in front of Subway, with construction tape and electrical conduit.

[Mr.NewFlyer1279]

there’s a station platform built on the northeast corner of manheim/higgins

[Busjack]

About here, Metzger said Dempster Pulse service will start on Sunday in August, and hope to have enough operators to launch full service in October or November.

[OneofthewillsNW]

On 6/21/2023 at 11:47 AM, Busjack said:

About here, Metzger said Dempster Pulse service will start on Sunday in August, and hope to have enough operators to launch full service in October or November.

have not had a chance to look at every single trip sheet. but their are Sunday runs that i have seen, its labeled as 101 I am sure their will be more, likely burred into the 300's currently looking at and working though my bid and focusing on the 200's 

[Tcmetro]

Pulse Dempster Line will start trial operations on Sundays only beginning 8/13/23. Full service will start later this year.

Quote

Pulse Sunday PREVIEW Service Launches August 13th!

We're thrilled to announce we’re giving our rider a preview of the new Pulse Dempster Line. Beginning August 13th, the Pulse Dempster Line will begin picking up and dropping off riders on Sundays, offering riders a preview of what’s to come this fall.

This preview also allows us to fine-tune operations, optimize routes, and ensure a seamless and efficient launch of daily service later this year.

We value our riders' experience and want to ensure a smooth, reliable, and enjoyable commute for everyone when the official daily service begins.

The Sunday Pulse Preview serves as an exciting opportunity for both current Pace riders and new riders to explore the benefits of Pulse. It allows them to experience firsthand the convenience of our stylish purple buses equipped with Wi-Fi, as well as modern stations with heated shelters and bike racks.

We encourage riders to share their experiences so we can ensure we provide the highest level of satisfaction and meet the needs of our communities.

We appreciate our riders' support, understanding, and patience as we work to create a fast, frequent, and reliable new rapid transit service for their daily travels.

Later this fall, riders can look forward to all new, modern stations, and daily service offering fast, frequent, reliable transportation from Evanston to O’Hare.

https://www.pacebus.com/project/pulse-dempster-line

[artthouwill]

8 minutes ago, Tcmetro said:

Pulse Dempster Line will start trial operations on Sundays only beginning 8/13/23. Full service will start later this year.

https://www.pacebus.com/project/pulse-dempster-line

What i am interested in is whether NW will have enough PULSE buses to cover Dempster and Milwaukee?  They might have to wrap a few additional Eldorado or take some New Flyers from West and rebrand those as PULSE buses.  Maybe the latter also happens at Southwest when 95th St PULSE starts up if SW isn't slated for conversion to electric buses by then.

[Policeman]

On 7/22/2023 at 10:06 PM, artthouwill said:

What i am interested in is whether NW will have enough PULSE buses to cover Dempster and Milwaukee?  They might have to wrap a few additional Eldorado or take some New Flyers from West and rebrand those as PULSE buses.  Maybe the latter also happens at Southwest when 95th St PULSE starts up if SW isn't slated for conversion to electric buses by then.

6563 & 6567 got wrapped in pulse so im guessing more are getting wrapped soon or already wrapped

[pudgym29]

One should check Math22's Pace bus tracker to learn which buses have been assigned to route #250 Dempster service. Those are more likely to be wrapped for Pulse operations.

I just checked. It appears buses 6561-6571 have been wrapped, or at the least, have run on route #250 this month. ?

Edited July 27, 2023 by pudgym29
Identify potential Pulse vehicles.

[busfan2847]

7 hours ago, pudgym29 said:

One should check Math22's Pace bus tracker to learn which buses have been assigned to route #250 Dempster service. Those are more likely to be wrapped for Pulse operations.

I just checked. It appears buses 6561-6571 have been wrapped, or at the least, have run on route #250 this month. ?

At present, if they appear on 100 they are definitely wrapped. 6563 and 6567 are the only ones that have appeared on the 100 so far. I agree it is likely to be buses in the 6560-6571 group that are likely to be wrapped. Looks like they can get it done in about 5 days (6567) and a number in that group have been missing for more than that.

[Busjack]

19 hours ago, pudgym29 said:

One should check Math22's Pace bus tracker to learn which buses have been assigned to route #250 Dempster service. Those are more likely to be wrapped for Pulse operations.

I just checked. It appears buses 6561-6571 have been wrapped, or at the least, have run on route #250 this month. ?

In real life, that doesn't work. Being there frequently, I see what's always been on 250: usual NW buses, with the occasional 6511-6521. 6563 and 6564 (unwrapped) have also been seen, so I guess that's where the growth is.

Update: Just saw 6563. It is now wrapped.

Quote

At present, if they appear on 100 they are definitely wrapped.

Am I correct in assuming that the purple PULSE on the digital signs is not part of the look?

_______________

Also, as of last weekend, there were shelters erected at Yellow Line and another location (Harlem? Waukegan?) eastbound, but it seems fairly obvious that an August start will be mostly only with signs, as was Milwaukee in Chicago.

 

[Policeman]

8 hours ago, busfan2847 said:

At present, if they appear on 100 they are definitely wrapped. 6563 and 6567 are the only ones that have appeared on the 100 so far. I agree it is likely to be buses in the 6560-6571 group that are likely to be wrapped. Looks like they can get it done in about 5 days (6567) and a number in that group have been missing for more than that.

6564 is also confirmed wrapped 

[Tcmetro]

Schedule is up:https://www.pacebus.com/route/pulse-dempster-line 

[OneofthewillsNW]

their where around 11 pulse wrapped buses with a few always in the workshop or east lot, think they added a few more pulse wraps plus the wrap people have been visiting almost every day, though some of that has also been the really annoying yellow lawyer wraps. 

another big change is that all westbound routes that would have used the sugar bowel stop now will use the pulse station instead. 230 has been rerouted so that it will always loop lee to minor/metra/person, with the north/west version joining dempster/thacher from person. this does mean that 230 north has a even more dumb turn left from center to dempster thacther. though it also removes the right from graceland to dempster.  going into the next pick, we have about 3 more new drivers coming out of line training, while we have had 2 drivers retire and one more retiring soon.  their are also still like 40 more new hires in training, plus likely a few more working though the paperwork. 

lastly, with 208 having to share the new pulse stop in des plaines, that means that it will no longer have the shortcut via person so you would have to take the right at river/minor. which still has the dumb cutout. so again, not too happy with that setup.

[Busjack]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:21 AM, OneofthewillsNW said:

another big change is that all westbound routes that would have used the sugar bowel stop now will use the pulse station instead. 230 has been rerouted so that it will always loop lee to minor/metra/person, with the north/west version joining dempster/thacher from person. this does mean that 230 north has a even more dumb turn left from center to dempster thacther. though it also removes the right from graceland to dempster.  going into the next pick, we have about 3 more new drivers coming out of line training, while we have had 2 drivers retire and one more retiring soon.  their are also still like 40 more new hires in training, plus likely a few more working though the paperwork. 

lastly, with 208 having to share the new pulse stop in des plaines, that means that it will no longer have the shortcut via person so you would have to take the right at river/minor. which still has the dumb cutout. so again, not too happy with that setup.

Passenger notice, essentially to that effect, that the buses will use the Pulse shelter. Also, 230  NB will pull into the Metra station and the stop in front of the Des Plaines Theater will be discontinued. Another notice of the routing changes and that Sunday 250 will be once an hour.

Also, I saw a double bus stop sign at Dodge.

[OneofthewillsNW]

16 hours ago, Busjack said:

Passenger notice, essentially to that effect, that the buses will use the Pulse shelter. Also, 230  NB will pull into the Metra station and the stop in front of the Des Plaines Theater will be discontinued. Another notice of the routing changes and that Sunday 250 will be once an hour.

Also, I saw a double bus stop sign at Dodge.

ya, safety is running the pulse dempster training starting next week. so I will know more about how they want it done, but from what I can tell, they have added pulse purple signs for all the pulse stops. even where the platforms have not been finished. 

[Busjack]

9 hours ago, OneofthewillsNW said:

ya, safety is running the pulse dempster training starting next week. so I will know more about how they want it done, but from what I can tell, they have added pulse purple signs for all the pulse stops. even where the platforms have not been finished. 

Correct. What threw me off was that the "Pulse Dempster Line" was only on the side of the sign facing the driver. The back is just a Pace sign that is blank where the number usually is, which is all I saw from a cross street.

[TGP01]

On the first day of Pulse Dempster line testing (8/13/23 or the day of this post) The units I saw were: 

6510, 6511, 6518, 6519, 6521, 6562, 6564

6562 was not wrapped.

I have no Idea if I saw all buses that were on it, but I know for sure that I saw most of them.

[jajuan]

Unlike as was the case when the Pulse Milwaukee Line started, Pulse Dempster Line isn't yet showing on Pace's BusTracker on its website. However, the route's scheduled times are appearing in the BusTracker that's on the Ventra app though I haven't seen evidence that buses are tracking on the route. 

[Railguy]

Pulse Dempster is shown  Ventra and Pace transit app

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, TGP01 said:

6562 was not wrapped.

I saw 6568 on it, also unwrapped.

Amber LED signs, no PULSE flag, sign sequences were

PULSE DEMPSTER LINE

PULSE DAVIS CTA

PULSE DAVIS METRA.

================

PULSE DEMPSTER LINE

PULSE OHARE MMF

Later i saw 6519, with the multicolor signs just red, with the same format.

[Tcmetro]

Gave it a ride yesterday. 

Driver made the regular 250 stops as a courtesy. There was a similar amount of activity at both Pulse and non-Pulse stops, and I feel like the stops on Dempster are further apart than those on Milwaukee.

The bus was wrapped, but there weren't any brochores available to inform people of the changes. Hopefully they have that kind of stuff at full rollout.

Only 12 of the 29 new platforms are complete. Most of the others didn't even seem to be under construction. I feel like these might drag on into 2024. Des Plaines wasted no time in getting the old stop by the Metra ripped up.

The new stops at the Yellow Line are on Dempster. Saves time, but also had the most boardings of any stop on my trip.

[jajuan]

2 hours ago, Tcmetro said:

Gave it a ride yesterday. 

Driver made the regular 250 stops as a courtesy. There was a similar amount of activity at both Pulse and non-Pulse stops, and I feel like the stops on Dempster are further apart than those on Milwaukee.

The bus was wrapped, but there weren't any brochores available to inform people of the changes. Hopefully they have that kind of stuff at full rollout.

Only 12 of the 29 new platforms are complete. Most of the others didn't even seem to be under construction. I feel like these might drag on into 2024. Des Plaines wasted no time in getting the old stop by the Metra ripped up.

The new stops at the Yellow Line are on Dempster. Saves time, but also had the most boardings of any stop on my trip.

Stops on the Dempster Line being farther apart than those on the Milwaukee Line is likely a function of the Milwaukee Line operating on a diagonal and getting to intersect with more streets that has a bus route in operation. It's intersecting with both E-W routes and N-S routes, while the Dempster Line being primarily an E-W route, is intersecting with mostly N-S aligned routes. Also there is the factor that the routes that the Dempster Line intersects are spaced farther apart than those intersecting the Milwaukee Line.

[TGP01]

2 hours ago, Tcmetro said:

The bus was wrapped, but there weren't any brochores available to inform people of the changes. Hopefully they have that kind of stuff at full rollout.

I also noticed that there were no brochures available on the buses, but what I did notice is that there were pace employees staged at Davis (Purple Line), and Dempster-Skokie (Yellow Line) handing out brochures and informing passengers about the new service. We can also assume that they were at the Des Plaines Metra station and MMF, but I didn't personally ride to those last two so I don't know for sure.

[Busjack]

5 hours ago, Tcmetro said:

Gave it a ride yesterday. 

Driver made the regular 250 stops as a courtesy. There was a similar amount of activity at both Pulse and non-Pulse stops, and I feel like the stops on Dempster are further apart than those on Milwaukee.

...

Only 12 of the 29 new platforms are complete. Most of the others didn't even seem to be under construction....

The new stops at the Yellow Line are on Dempster. Saves time, but also had the most boardings of any stop on my trip.

• I saw 6408 making local stops, and it wasn't displaying any electronic signs, so n I assumed it was a 250, but I don't know.
• Construction seems especially slow on the north side of Dempster east of about Lutheran General.
• The eastbound Yellow Line stop is close enough to the CTA station, but I would think that most of the transfers would be to the west, and the inconvenience of having to cross Dempster outweighs any time saved.

3 hours ago, jajuan said:

Stops on the Dempster Line being farther apart than those on the Milwaukee Line is likely a function of the Milwaukee Line operating on a diagonal and getting to intersect with more streets that has a bus route in operation. It's intersecting with both E-W routes and N-S routes, while the Dempster Line being primarily an E-W route, is intersecting with mostly N-S aligned routes. Also there is the factor that the routes that the Dempster Line intersects are spaced farther apart than those intersecting the Milwaukee Line.

I don't think that's it. The stops seem especially spaced east of the Yellow Line, and the only stop in Evanston (other than the Davis terminal) is at Dodge. I would have thought that there would be stops at Asbury and maybe Fowler, but Evanston, which usually complains, didn't, and there probably isn't enough parkway to build platforms.

For that matter, there isn't any cross route at Milwaukee and Main, but there are platforms there. There is a stop at Dempster and St. Louis, which is basically supported that it is a half mile from Crawford.