Bye Bye X98

[jajuan]

It seems CTA will be following through with elimination of the X98 effective the week starting March 20. They initially posted a public notice announcing a public hearing for the route's elimination. That hearing was scheduled February 21, 11 AM-1 PM. I spotted a notice on a #84 bus this afternoon informing that the route will in fact be eliminated. CTA says that Civic Staffing has ended the subsidy that they were paying. I'm not surprised at this elimination because the cutting back of service being just one SB trip per weeknight pretty much signaled a death knell for the route. I'm actually more surprised it survived this long in its present form before finally facing elimination.

[Busjack]

I watched the video of the public hearing and noted at the time that there were only 3 passengers and no public comment. At the strategic planning subcommittee meeting,  they said there was one written comment. So, it's gone.

It had nothing to do with there only being one trip, but that Civic Staffing pulled the subsidy because no ridership. CTA gave up on competing with Pace 423 about 11 years ago.

[jajuan]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:23 PM, Busjack said:

I watched the video of the public hearing and noted at the time that there were only 3 passengers and no public comment. At the strategic planning subcommittee meeting,  they said there was one written comment. So, it's gone.

It had nothing to do with there only being one trip, but that Civic Staffing pulled the subsidy because no ridership. CTA gave up on competing with Pace 423 about 11 years ago.

No I wasn't saying that the one trip per weeknight in and of itself has anything with the route now being toast. What I was getting at was that it was a big signal that nobody was really riding this route. If I remember correctly, one of our relatively newer members posted a ride video on the route, and the bus was empty outside of him and the operator. That extremely low ridership is why I was surprised that the route lasted this long in that final one trip per night configuration. I basically was voicing surprise that Civic Staffing held out this long before finally saying they were pulling route subsidy.

[Busjack]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, jajuan said:

because the cutting back of service being just one SB trip per weeknight pretty much signaled a death knell for the route.

 

5 hours ago, jajuan said:

No I wasn't saying that the one trip per weeknight in and of itself has anything with the route now being toast. What I was getting at was that it was a big signal that nobody was really riding this route. If I remember correctly, one of our relatively newer members posted a ride video on the route, and the bus was empty outside of him and the operator. That extremely low ridership is why I was surprised that the route lasted this long in that final one trip per night configuration. I basically was voicing surprise that Civic Staffing held out this long before finally saying they were pulling route subsidy.

From the first above, you were saying it was a cause or indicator, and then you said it wasn't. If you want to go back to the days of Pace 424 and 425 (Cermak and Roosevelt to Avon), changing to X98 (supposedly because they needed a bigger bus) to the Crowd Reduction Plan (CTA no longer competing with Pace and no longer subsidizing sponsored routes, but keeping a midnight run because there was no other public transit option, passengers being told to take Pace 208 to Davis at other times, or presumably being able to walk to Harlem to get 423), the purpose of one night trip was clear. The proximate cause was that whoever was left working at Fareva late shift wasn't riding the bus.As you did imply, the only question is why it took Civic Staffing this long to figure it out. At least it should have known if it was sending temp workers there, and if there was a more economical method of transporting them.

 

[jajuan]

20 hours ago, Busjack said:

 

From the first above, you were saying it was a cause or indicator, and then you said it wasn't. If you want to go back to the days of Pace 424 and 425 (Cermak and Roosevelt to Avon), changing to X98 (supposedly because they needed a bigger bus) to the Crowd Reduction Plan (CTA no longer competing with Pace and no longer subsidizing sponsored routes, but keeping a midnight run because there was no other public transit option, passengers being told to take Pace 208 to Davis at other times, or presumably being able to walk to Harlem to get 423), the purpose of one night trip was clear. The proximate cause was that whoever was left working at Fareva late shift wasn't riding the bus.As you did imply, the only question is why it took Civic Staffing this long to figure it out. At least it should have known if it was sending temp workers there, and if there was a more economical method of transporting them.

 

Death knell as in being a SIGNAL THAT NO ONE WAS RIDING THE ROUTE. How many times do I have to clarify my point? Sheesh. ? Anywho, at least you understood my overall point of why it took so long to figure out that ridership levels were showing the route should likely have been axed long before early this week.