Labor shortage, missing buses and trains, and inaccurate trackers

[YoungBusLover]

36 minutes ago, strictures said:

Every day there are 45 minute or longer waits for the 22 Clark now.  None of the other routes out of North Park have this problem.  CTA management appear to be deliberately shorting Clark of drivers, while Broadway continues to have no longer than 15 minute waits.

Or maybe, just maybe as I've stated before in the past several times now. The manpower just isn't there for that particular street. CTA management isn't "Deliberately shorting Clark of drivers." The available manpower for runs to be filled on Clark just isn't there on certain days. Clark is the longest local N/S route out of NP and can wear operators out to the point where they simply call off for the entire run or just the 2nd half of a run. Every route is important out of every garage, some days are worse than others but that's the way things are currently which a good portion of the public needs to accept and adjust to now. The clerks and management out of NP can only do so much to fill those alleged 45 minute gaps you speak of, instead of complaining adjust around those gaps and make the best of it until the manpower is restored on that particular route. 

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, YoungBusLover said:

Or maybe, just maybe as I've stated before in the past several times now. The manpower just isn't there for that particular street. CTA management isn't "Deliberately shorting Clark of drivers." The available manpower for runs to be filled on Clark just isn't there on certain days. Clark is the longest local N/S route out of NP and can wear operators out to the point where they simply call off for the entire run or just the 2nd half of a run. Every route is important out of every garage, some days are worse than others but that's the way things are currently which a good portion of the public needs to accept and adjust to now. The clerks and management out of NP can only do so much to fill those alleged 45 minute gaps you speak of, instead of complaining adjust around those gaps and make the best of it until the manpower is restored on that particular route. 

And to Add to that,  Clark is a traffic nightmare  and that's before adding Wrigley Field Cub traffic to the mix.   At least if you are south of Diversey  you have the 36 as an alternate. 

[strictures]

2 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

Or maybe, just maybe as I've stated before in the past several times now. The manpower just isn't there for that particular street. CTA management isn't "Deliberately shorting Clark of drivers." The available manpower for runs to be filled on Clark just isn't there on certain days. Clark is the longest local N/S route out of NP and can wear operators out to the point where they simply call off for the entire run or just the 2nd half of a run. Every route is important out of every garage, some days are worse than others but that's the way things are currently which a good portion of the public needs to accept and adjust to now. The clerks and management out of NP can only do so much to fill those alleged 45 minute gaps you speak of, instead of complaining adjust around those gaps and make the best of it until the manpower is restored on that particular route. 

They are not alleged 45 minute waits, they are actual 45 + minute waits almost every day.  I sit at my computer looking at Bus Tracker & there isn't a single NB Clark north of North Ave. to Howard many days!  What the NP manager needs to do is cut a couple of Broadway runs & put those drivers on Clark.  I also take Broadway so believe me, if it means a 20 minute wait there, to end the 45+ minute waits on Clark, I'll take it!  And waiting at a stop & using the Ventra app on the phone, the number of ghost buses is appalling.  I'm baffled as to where the ghost buses come from.  Sometimes Ventra shows a bus coming in 5 minutes & when you look 7-8 minutes later, now it's a 30 minute wait!

[YoungBusLover]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

They are not alleged 45 minute waits, they are actual 45 + minute waits almost every day.  I sit at my computer looking at Bus Tracker & there isn't a single NB Clark north of North Ave. to Howard many days!  What the NP manager needs to do is cut a couple of Broadway runs & put those drivers on Clark.  I also take Broadway so believe me, if it means a 20 minute wait there, to end the 45+ minute waits on Clark, I'll take it!  And waiting at a stop & using the Ventra app on the phone, the number of ghost buses is appalling.  I'm baffled as to where the ghost buses come from.  Sometimes Ventra shows a bus coming in 5 minutes & when you look 7-8 minutes later, now it's a 30 minute wait!

Cutting runs on one street that has just as much demand as the other will not fix the issue. In response to the ventra app you're better off using these two websites to show you exactly how many buses are on the street in real time. I never cared for arrival times when the tracker map can just show me where the buses are located at. 1.) https://www.ctabustracker.com/map  & 2. https://www.transsee.ca/routelist?a=cta. Transee has quite a plethora of features that can assist you in regards to the estimated time of arrival along with when a bus was last seen in service. Whether it be a ghost bus, break down or no relief at Foster in regards to your gripe about the #22.

 

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

And to Add to that,  Clark is a traffic nightmare  and that's before adding Wrigley Field Cub traffic to the mix.   At least if you are south of Diversey  you have the 36 as an alternate. 

The only other alternatives between those two are the #8, #146, #151 and dare I say Red Line. I always looked at the run numbers of scheduled arrival times of the buses I take along Ashland, Garfield and 87th Street when I was in HS and generally 85% of the time I would catch the same runs every day unless something major happened such as breakdown, traffic, no relief or other incidents. I sometimes tell my passengers when I'm working the #8 to look at the run number when you see me arrive with my bus and if it is the same run number you see at that usual time you normally get picked up, Mark that run number down and along with the time it arrived. So when god forbid an unusual set of circumstances occur when you don't see it and you've waited 20 - 30 minutes for the next bus. Now you know how to adjust accordingly, it takes about 5 - 10 minutes tops to study a route you take daily to understand how things are but 90% who think they're doing it aren't really putting that extra effort to. That then creates a disconnect between the customer and CTA.

[artthouwill]

49 minutes ago, strictures said:

They are not alleged 45 minute waits, they are actual 45 + minute waits almost every day.  I sit at my computer looking at Bus Tracker & there isn't a single NB Clark north of North Ave. to Howard many days!  What the NP manager needs to do is cut a couple of Broadway runs & put those drivers on Clark.  I also take Broadway so believe me, if it means a 20 minute wait there, to end the 45+ minute waits on Clark, I'll take it!  And waiting at a stop & using the Ventra app on the phone, the number of ghost buses is appalling.  I'm baffled as to where the ghost buses come from.  Sometimes Ventra shows a bus coming in 5 minutes & when you look 7-8 minutes later, now it's a 30 minute wait!

To your Ventra App point  I experience that sometimes with Pace too.  It's like the app defaults to the scheduled times unless somehow it is able to actually track a bus    Then it will be accurate even if the bus is running late.   Bur I think the defaults are the scheduled times. 

I've experienced 39 minutes or more wait times in Clark prepandemic with no driver shortages.  While driver shortages don't help, bad traffic along the entire route makes these delays and gaps normal.   I will not ride the 22 unless absolutely necessary.  I will walk to the Red Line  or find an east west route to the Red Line  or take Metra  

Maybe CTA  can extend the 50 north to Howard  or extend the 9 north to Clark and Arthur  to help a little bit. But it seems like a one way trip between Howard and Polk could take 2 hours. 

If CTA wasn't short on drivers maybe I would suggest K run short turns between Polk and Irving Park   

[Mr.NewFlyer1279]

12 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Maybe CTA  can extend the 50 north to Howard  or extend the 9 north to Clark and Arthur  to help a little bit. But it seems like a one way trip between Howard and Polk could take 2 hours. 

the 50 wouldn’t be a bad idea to howard but imo (might be wrong on this one) it would add more wait times to buses? maybe maybe not but the 9 would definitely take 2hrs to even reach polk from howard considering how busy ashland is during rush hour or just any time of weekday (idk bout weekend traffic on that street lol)

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, Mr.NewFlyer1279 said:

the 50 wouldn’t be a bad idea to howard but imo (might be wrong on this one) it would add more wait times to buses? maybe maybe not but the 9 would definitely take 2hrs to even reach polk from howard considering how busy ashland is during rush hour or just any time of weekday (idk bout weekend traffic on that street lol)

He wanted 9 at Clark/Devon but that's kinda a hard sell with Clark being so close at that point 

[strictures]

7 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1279 said:

the 50 wouldn’t be a bad idea to howard but imo (might be wrong on this one) it would add more wait times to buses? maybe maybe not but the 9 would definitely take 2hrs to even reach polk from howard considering how busy ashland is during rush hour or just any time of weekday (idk bout weekend traffic on that street lol)

I'd love the 50 extended to Clark/Arthur.  That would make going to Jewel & Walgreen's easier & take a huge load of the Senn students going home, as few go past Devon.

But I never, ever had more than a 25 minute wait on Clark prior to this year.  Even when the Cubs were playing it never got that bad.   The SB run from Devon to Lake is usually about 65-70 minutes, I've done it many times.  It's NB that's the real disaster & I just don't know why.  I've been on it from Chicago going north to Devon & it took 90+ minutes, because of massive overcrowding.  One problem is all weekday daytime runs should be artics.  For some reason, passenger numbers on the route are extremely erratic.  Some days have light numbers & others have large numbers, there doesn't seem to be any rational reason for it, but since management has access to the load numbers, they should have software than can predict when that happens.  Also the CTA needs to start adding announcements & even getting the drivers to announce to some of the truly stupid passengers, stop standing in the aisle next to the wheel wells at the front.  That slows up everyone.   Another thing that slows things up are all the drivers who won't start moving the bus until the passengers who just boarded have sat down.  The actual reason for that is that the CTA just can't seem to train the drivers on how to start the bus from a standing start to get it moving without a massive jerk that can knock you down, as one driver did to me years ago, even though I was holding on to the stanchions at the time, that's how much of a jerky start that was! .  PACE drivers seem to manage to start their buses without a jerk, why can't CTA drivers do that?  Maybe they get get a software fix to prevent that & make it a nice smooth start from a standing stop?  Also charge people with those huge strollers, $5 a stroller!  I've seen them get on & go just two stops with them, if you can handle that big stroller with a baby in it, you can walk a quarter-mile with it!  And then there are the 20 somethings who pay with their phones & never have enough money in their Ventra account who then spend five minutes trying to add money.  What can't these idiots figure out to do that while eating breakfast? 

[Nitro]

On 9/29/2023 at 7:17 AM, strictures said:

Every day there are 45 minute or longer waits for the 22 Clark now.  None of the other routes out of North Park have this problem.  CTA management appear to be deliberately shorting Clark of drivers, while Broadway continues to have no longer than 15 minute waits.

What do you mean by Broadway?

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, Nitro said:

What do you mean by Broadway?

... The street... ??

[Sam92]

23 hours ago, strictures said:

They are not alleged 45 minute waits, they are actual 45 + minute waits almost every day.  I sit at my computer looking at Bus Tracker & there isn't a single NB Clark north of North Ave. to Howard many days!  What the NP manager needs to do is cut a couple of Broadway runs & put those drivers on Clark.  I also take Broadway so believe me, if it means a 20 minute wait there, to end the 45+ minute waits on Clark, I'll take it!  And waiting at a stop & using the Ventra app on the phone, the number of ghost buses is appalling.  I'm baffled as to where the ghost buses come from.  Sometimes Ventra shows a bus coming in 5 minutes & when you look 7-8 minutes later, now it's a 30 minute wait!

What do you expect an agency SHORT ON DRIVERS EVERYWHERE to do? How do you know they have the supervisors available to intercept and turn back buses/send them to different streets? You think it's bad up there? At least Northside routes tend to run closer to each other and have closer alternatives. You COULD be out here in south shore where you have to run around more to find an alternative. ???

[YoungBusLover]

2 hours ago, strictures said:

I'd love the 50 extended to Clark/Arthur.  That would make going to Jewel & Walgreen's easier & take a huge load of the Senn students going home, as few go past Devon.

But I never, ever had more than a 25 minute wait on Clark prior to this year.  Even when the Cubs were playing it never got that bad.   The SB run from Devon to Lake is usually about 65-70 minutes, I've done it many times.  It's NB that's the real disaster & I just don't know why.  I've been on it from Chicago going north to Devon & it took 90+ minutes, because of massive overcrowding.  One problem is all weekday daytime runs should be artics.  For some reason, passenger numbers on the route are extremely erratic.  Some days have light numbers & others have large numbers, there doesn't seem to be any rational reason for it, but since management has access to the load numbers, they should have software than can predict when that happens.  Also the CTA needs to start adding announcements & even getting the drivers to announce to some of the truly stupid passengers, stop standing in the aisle next to the wheel wells at the front.  That slows up everyone.   Another thing that slows things up are all the drivers who won't start moving the bus until the passengers who just boarded have sat down.  The actual reason for that is that the CTA just can't seem to train the drivers on how to start the bus from a standing start to get it moving without a massive jerk that can knock you down, as one driver did to me years ago, even though I was holding on to the stanchions at the time, that's how much of a jerky start that was! .  PACE drivers seem to manage to start their buses without a jerk, why can't CTA drivers do that?  Maybe they get get a software fix to prevent that & make it a nice smooth start from a standing stop?  Also charge people with those huge strollers, $5 a stroller!  I've seen them get on & go just two stops with them, if you can handle that big stroller with a baby in it, you can walk a quarter-mile with it!  And then there are the 20 somethings who pay with their phones & never have enough money in their Ventra account who then spend five minutes trying to add money.  What can't these idiots figure out to do that while eating breakfast? 

As artics would help in some ways the problem is the dwell times that comes along them. In response to your other comments.

"For some reason, passenger numbers on the route are extremely erratic.  Some days have light numbers & others have large numbers, there doesn't seem to be any rational reason for it, but since management has access to the load numbers, they should have software than can predict when that happens." 

They do to some degree. However, creating the perfect scenario to run service more efficiently is impossible. You can do all the right things and still have something go wrong to derail it. 

"Also the CTA needs to start adding announcements & even getting the drivers to announce to some of the truly stupid passengers, stop standing in the aisle next to the wheel wells at the front.  That slows up everyone." 

The automated announcement telling Passengers to move to the rear and exit through the rear is already in the Clever Device system, I use it like clock work while working on Halsted and will even yell out to everyone onboard to move to the rear as more people exit the bus and to only exit through the rear. So maybe some operators do need to speak up more and play the announcements more frequently, can't agree with you more on that note. ? 

 

"Another thing that slows things up are all the drivers who won't start moving the bus until the passengers who just boarded have sat down.  The actual reason for that is that the CTA just can't seem to train the drivers on how to start the bus from a standing start to get it moving without a massive jerk that can knock you down, as one driver did to me years ago, even though I was holding on to the stanchions at the time, that's how much of a jerky start that was! ."

This is a tricky one because every New flyer and Nova doesn't operate the same as far as a standing start goes. Some take off smoothly where you hardly feel a harsh jerk as you call it, while others jerk almost violently as soon as you tap the accelerator. These are buses not cars. The 8350s solved that issue you're referring to with the harsh standing start jerk. I had #8458 last night and that bus was taking off smooth as butter versus the bus I had on the #2 which was #1219, that bus had a slight jerk to it but it wasn't that noticeable. The #7900s and buses past #1600 to me at least have some of the harshest standing starts i've ever had to operate on.

3 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

What do you expect an agency SHORT ON DRIVERS EVERYWHERE to do? How do you know they have the supervisors available to intercept and turn back buses/send them to different streets? You think it's bad up there? At least Northside routes tend to run closer to each other and have closer alternatives. You COULD be out here in south shore where you have to run around more to find an alternative. ???

While working the #2 yesterday I had to pick up a boat load of #6 passengers who were tired of waiting for it after 30 minutes, some elected to wait even after I told them about the delays but don't even get me started about routes out of 103rd that service South Shore.

 

8 hours ago, Sam92 said:

He wanted 9 at Clark/Devon but that's kinda a hard sell with Clark being so close at that point 

I'd probably say go for it as a test run but NP will have to supply some short- liners to either the Orange Line or maybe 63rd/Ashland Green Line for it to work. 

[Sam92]

3 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

As artics would help in some ways the problem is the dwell times that comes along them. In response to your other comments.

"For some reason, passenger numbers on the route are extremely erratic.  Some days have light numbers & others have large numbers, there doesn't seem to be any rational reason for it, but since management has access to the load numbers, they should have software than can predict when that happens." 

They do to some degree. However, creating the perfect scenario to run service more efficiently is impossible. You can do all the right things and still have something go wrong to derail it. 

"Also the CTA needs to start adding announcements & even getting the drivers to announce to some of the truly stupid passengers, stop standing in the aisle next to the wheel wells at the front.  That slows up everyone." 

The automated announcement telling Passengers to move to the rear and exit through the rear is already in the Clever Device system, I use it like clock work while working on Halsted and will even yell out to everyone onboard to move to the rear as more people exit the bus and to only exit through the rear. So maybe some operators do need to speak up more and play the announcements more frequently, can't agree with you more on that note. ? 

 

"Another thing that slows things up are all the drivers who won't start moving the bus until the passengers who just boarded have sat down.  The actual reason for that is that the CTA just can't seem to train the drivers on how to start the bus from a standing start to get it moving without a massive jerk that can knock you down, as one driver did to me years ago, even though I was holding on to the stanchions at the time, that's how much of a jerky start that was! ."

This is a tricky one because every New flyer and Nova doesn't operate the same as far as a standing start goes. Some take off smoothly where you hardly feel a harsh jerk as you call it, while others jerk almost violently as soon as you tap the accelerator. These are buses not cars. The 8350s solved that issue you're referring to with the harsh standing start jerk. I had #8458 last night and that bus was taking off smooth as butter versus the bus I had on the #2 which was #1219, that bus had a slight jerk to it but it wasn't that noticeable. The #7900s and buses past #1600 to me at least have some of the harshest standing starts i've ever had to operate on.

While working the #2 yesterday I had to pick up a boat load of #6 passengers who were tired of waiting for it after 30 minutes, some elected to wait even after I told them about the delays but don't even get me started about routes out of 103rd that service South Shore.

 

I'd probably say go for it as a test run but NP will have to supply some short- liners to either the Orange Line or maybe 63rd/Ashland Green Line for it to work. 

I think Devon would be a tight fit with 36/151 there so I think the short terminal should be Irving if it were to happen. 

[artthouwill]

4 hours ago, strictures said:

I'd love the 50 extended to Clark/Arthur.  That would make going to Jewel & Walgreen's easier & take a huge load of the Senn students going home, as few go past Devon.

But I never, ever had more than a 25 minute wait on Clark prior to this year.  Even when the Cubs were playing it never got that bad.   The SB run from Devon to Lake is usually about 65-70 minutes, I've done it many times.  It's NB that's the real disaster & I just don't know why.  I've been on it from Chicago going north to Devon & it took 90+ minutes, because of massive overcrowding.  One problem is all weekday daytime runs should be artics.  For some reason, passenger numbers on the route are extremely erratic.  Some days have light numbers & others have large numbers, there doesn't seem to be any rational reason for it, but since management has access to the load numbers, they should have software than can predict when that happens.  Also the CTA needs to start adding announcements & even getting the drivers to announce to some of the truly stupid passengers, stop standing in the aisle next to the wheel wells at the front.  That slows up everyone.   Another thing that slows things up are all the drivers who won't start moving the bus until the passengers who just boarded have sat down.  The actual reason for that is that the CTA just can't seem to train the drivers on how to start the bus from a standing start to get it moving without a massive jerk that can knock you down, as one driver did to me years ago, even though I was holding on to the stanchions at the time, that's how much of a jerky start that was! .  PACE drivers seem to manage to start their buses without a jerk, why can't CTA drivers do that?  Maybe they get get a software fix to prevent that & make it a nice smooth start from a standing stop?  Also charge people with those huge strollers, $5 a stroller!  I've seen them get on & go just two stops with them, if you can handle that big stroller with a baby in it, you can walk a quarter-mile with it!  And then there are the 20 somethings who pay with their phones & never have enough money in their Ventra account who then spend five minutes trying to add money.  What can't these idiots figure out to do that while eating breakfast? 

The way I understood this was that the 22 ran artics during off peak times and 40fts during peak times because LSD WAS the priority for artics during the rush periods.  Now mix in the few artics on the BL Shuttle,  abd driver shortages abd you have a mess.  The other sat something happened on the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line that disrupted service to the point Shuttle buses were needed.   I don't know where they got those from but if North Park was part of the mix...

[Sam92]

On 9/30/2023 at 10:50 AM, artthouwill said:

The way I understood this was that the 22 ran artics during off peak times and 40fts during peak times because LSD WAS the priority for artics during the rush periods.  Now mix in the few artics on the BL Shuttle,  abd driver shortages abd you have a mess.  The other sat something happened on the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line that disrupted service to the point Shuttle buses were needed.   I don't know where they got those from but if North Park was part of the mix...

Actually 22 gets artics in the peak and 40fts off peak. 135/136 used to get all artics in the PM but those went to 22 in the PM rush instead of making Clark wait for extra 147s to interline late evening. I think now it's something like AM rush, artics get sent on Clark, then 40s from 148 replace the artics that pull in. Those 40s go to 135/136 replaced by artics in the PM. @jajuan knows more than I do though

[YoungBusLover]

On 9/30/2023 at 10:50 AM, artthouwill said:

The way I understood this was that the 22 ran artics during off peak times and 40fts during peak times because LSD WAS the priority for artics during the rush periods.  Now mix in the few artics on the BL Shuttle,  abd driver shortages abd you have a mess.  The other sat something happened on the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line that disrupted service to the point Shuttle buses were needed.   I don't know where they got those from but if North Park was part of the mix...

I always thought that would be the case to but I guess not. 

32 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

Actually 22 gets artics in the peak and 40fts off peak. 135/136 used to get all artics in the PM but those went to 22 in the PM rush instead of making Clark wait for extra 147s to interline late evening. I think now it's something like AM rush, artics get sent on Clark, then 40s from 148 replace the artics that pull in. Those 40s go to 135/136 replaced by artics in the PM. @jajuan knows more than I do though

From what I've been seeing there's a bit of a mixture on Clark on certain days. You're correct with the interline part. Quite a few of those runs are deadheads from Howard to Harrison others come from the routes you've mentioned. 

On 9/30/2023 at 9:26 AM, Sam92 said:

I think Devon would be a tight fit with 36/151 there so I think the short terminal should be Irving if it were to happen. 

Where would the available space come from on Irving Park? East of Broadway? 

[Sam92]

4 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

I always thought that would be the case to but I guess not. 

From what I've been seeing there's a bit of a mixture on Clark on certain days. You're correct with the interline part. Quite a few of those runs are deadheads from Howard to Harrison others come from the routes you've mentioned. 

Where would the available space come from on Irving Park? East of Broadway? 

It's already there. Lol and with short turns now you have half of the 9 turning at Irving but I don't think extending the 9 to Devon is worth the headache to solve the labor shortage on 22. Bigger question would be where is the space for the 9 at Devon? 

[Busjack]

On 9/30/2023 at 9:26 AM, Sam92 said:

I think Devon would be a tight fit with 36/151 there so I think the short terminal should be Irving if it were to happen. 

The Arthur Loop is pretty large, and one could short 151 at Broadway Rosemont or at the Granville station (as they used to do).

The bigger question is that Clark is so narrow that routing 9 on it and a disruption on it would mess up service all the way to 95th or 104th. Maybe a better solution would be to route 22 on Ashland between the split with Clark (near Bryn Mawr) to Irving Park.

[jajuan]

On 10/1/2023 at 12:27 PM, Sam92 said:

Actually 22 gets artics in the peak and 40fts off peak. 135/136 used to get all artics in the PM but those went to 22 in the PM rush instead of making Clark wait for extra 147s to interline late evening. I think now it's something like AM rush, artics get sent on Clark, then 40s from 148 replace the artics that pull in. Those 40s go to 135/136 replaced by artics in the PM. @jajuan knows more than I do though

Yes that's pretty much been it though a few things have changed due to the labor shortage causing the big systemwide schedule change and 148 sometimes having seen more artics in the AM rush. Artics on the 22 in the AM peak. Then 40 footers with some artics during the midday off-peak, and back to artics in the PM peak as the 40 footers become primarily PM 136s and a few of the PM 135s. Morning 22s have still been coming from the 148 but they've been accounting for artics seen in the midday as well as 40 foot buses. Also BusTracker in conjunction with Maths22's tracker have been revealing that 40-foot buses on midday 22 have also come from AM 147 SB trips to Michigan/Balbo.

[Busjack]

Various media outlets reported, based on this CTA Press Release, that more service will be available at various times on CTA L lines, starting Nov. 13, "as the scheduled service reflects the available workforce."

[Busjack]

@strictures previously said:

Quote

It's not the media's fault that the online Bustracker that I use on my computer doesn't match the phone app based Ventra, which constantly shows ghost buses that don't exist, while the online Bustracker is apparently, always correct!

The real question is why is Ventra showing ghost buses?  Why isn't it using the same data as the online Bustracker?  100% the CTA's fault!  Just where is the data showing the ghost buses coming from & why?

That's a good question, to which I don't have an answer. CTA publishes a public interface, so theoretically everything should match.

I don't have any use for Ventra because

• Integrated farebox solutions (those that vend passes and read them) seem to do a better job.
• There are too many apps. Pace just started using Transit, because the could integrate On Demand in it, but since it is a door-to-door solution, CTA and Metra are also on it. Since I now live "at the apex of regional coordination,"  I get all 3, but I don't know if it is accurate.

[Busjack]

Sun-Times WBEZ survey that maybe the "ghost" situation is better but the labor shortage persists and overcrowding on the trains has come back.
""

[strictures]

On 11/23/2023 at 11:31 AM, Busjack said:

@strictures previously said:

That's a good question, to which I don't have an answer. CTA publishes a public interface, so theoretically everything should match.

I don't have any use for Ventra because

• Integrated farebox solutions (those that vend passes and read them) seem to do a better job.
• There are too many apps. Pace just started using Transit, because the could integrate On Demand in it, but since it is a door-to-door solution, CTA and Metra are also on it. Since I now live "at the apex of regional coordination,"  I get all 3, but I don't know if it is accurate.

I only use Ventra for bus arrivals when I'm out of the house.  It is accurate for Pace buses & have never had a Pace ghost bus.

[Busjack]

20 minutes ago, strictures said:

I only use Ventra for bus arrivals when I'm out of the house.  It is accurate for Pace buses & have never had a Pace ghost bus.

Pace seems to run on schedule, but it really cut at the beginning of COVID, including frequency on some core routes.

You didn't say if you are using the Ventra app for fare payment management, but if you are using it away from home only for tracking, I would chuck it and use Transit.

[strictures]

3 hours ago, Busjack said:

Pace seems to run on schedule, but it really cut at the beginning of COVID, including frequency on some core routes.

You didn't say if you are using the Ventra app for fare payment management, but if you are using it away from home only for tracking, I would chuck it and use Transit.

Does Transit also have the ghost bus problem?  Otherwise, why change.  I don't use Ventra to pay.