Service beyond SP2025 (was: March 25 System Pick)

[TaylorTank1229]

On 3/8/2025 at 5:13 PM, YoungBusLover said:

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I do wonder is why wait for the Fall pick to extend #82 to 31st/Komensky at all times, given #53 will continue south of 31st, and #53A terminating Orange Line at the summer pick. I assume certain trips of the #53 will still end at the 31st terminal, with #82 continuing use for just evening trips until August?

[NewFlyerMCI]

This is a lot of changes at once for the CTA

• N4 to 95th is long overdue, that's always been a huge gap in the network
• Lol @ the 74 Fullerton going to 79th/Western, but in all seriousness, I like this move as well. It'll probably slightly balance passenger loads on the 79 since the 75 will now have a direct transfer to both 49 & 349
• 93 extension is nice
• On one hand, I like the 54 extension, on the other hand, I don't like Pace SW being solely responsible for service on Cicero south of 63rd. Weekend service is going to be abysmal now. 385 is weekday only and 384 only runs from like 10a-5p. Pace also makes no effort to structure their services. SB departures from Midway on Sundays are 12:02p, 12:28p & 12:40p between all 3 routes that run on weekends. Hopefully this new arrangement comes with a proper staggering of the Pace SW routes

[NewFlyerMCI]

23 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

The 75 getting extended to 79th/Western doesn't make much sense with the terminal being that small with 4 other routes counting the Weekday X49s that sit there with the 349.

The terminal being so constrained did make me curious about this extension. The sub-bullet point makes me think that 79 trips ending at will no longer use the middle slip? That presents other issues, but I can't think of another way for it all to work, even if the 75 isn't a bus-heavy route

[TaylorTank1229]

7 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

 

• On one hand, I like the 54 extension, on the other hand, I don't like Pace SW being solely responsible for service on Cicero south of 63rd. Weekend service is going to be abysmal now. 385 is weekday and 384 only runs from like 10a-5p. Pace also makes no effort to structure their services. SB departures from Midway on Sundays are 12:02p, 12:28p & 12:40p between all 3 routes that run on weekends. Hopefully this new arrangement comes with a proper staggering of the Pace SW routes

Well, there is the fact that Pace route #383 has extended hours now across all days now (starting around 6am and ending around 10-11pm… depending on the day), so that’ll definitely help with picking up the slack for bus service south of Cicero/63rd. 

[renardo870]

I was about to ask in the event that 54B South Cicero was to be eliminated, who would replace the 54B school trippers from Midway to St. Laurence High School during the school year? I was looking on the current 54B schedule (8/24) and I only saw one trip in the PM W 3:49 PM (Wednesday only) from Ford City to Midway. Are those trippers still in existence 🤔? I believe 74th operated those trips at one time.

[Sam92]

On 3/8/2025 at 6:35 PM, artthouwill said:

I'm not sure what's going to be gained by extending the 75 to 79th/Western other than ferrying drivers to the 79th/ Western terminal.  The 94 can do the same thing to 69th and Western. 

 

 

40 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

The terminal being so constrained did make me curious about this extension. The sub-bullet point makes me think that 79 trips ending at will no longer use the middle slip? That presents other issues, but I can't think of another way for it all to work, even if the 75 isn't a bus-heavy route

Going off what maths22 has been showing this past few picks most likely penny pinching on an interline. There's quite a few buses that move between those 2 routes so they probably figured they'd count It for revenue purposes. Also some other weird interlines have been made that I managed to catch a pic of

[YoungBusLover]

22 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

I was about to ask in the event that 54B South Cicero was to be eliminated, who would replace the 54B school trippers from Midway to St. Laurence High School during the school year? I was looking on the current 54B schedule (8/24) and I only saw one trip in the PM W 340 PM from Ford City to Midway. Are those trippers still in existence 🤔? I believe 74th operated those trips at one time.

There was a time when 77th use to do trips out of there until 2013.

[renardo870]

53 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

This is a lot of changes at once for the CTA

• N4 to 95th is long overdue, that's always been a huge gap in the network
• Lol @ the 74 Fullerton going to 79th/Western, but in all seriousness, I like this move as well. It'll probably slightly balance passenger loads on the 79 since the 75 will now have a direct transfer to both 49 & 349
• 93 extension is nice
• On one hand, I like the 54 extension, on the other hand, I don't like Pace SW being solely responsible for service on Cicero south of 63rd. Weekend service is going to be abysmal now. 385 is weekday and 384 only runs from like 10a-5p. Pace also makes no effort to structure their services. SB departures from Midway on Sundays are 12:02p, 12:28p & 12:40p between all 3 routes that run on weekends. Hopefully this new arrangement comes with a proper staggering of the Pace SW routes

The Night Owl 🦉 Service had plenty of routes running between 12am - 5am. I remember State/Washington was a big transfer point for routes N4, *N12, N20, N22, *N29, *N56, N60, N62, N66, *N72 and *N151. (*NXX = no longer an Owl Route.

The other Night Owl 🦉 Service routes in service outside of the Loop are N5, N9, N34, N49 N53, N55, N79 N87 and Pace 352

I believe system-wide there were plenty more Night Owl 🦉 routes outside of the Loop but those routes no longer provide owl services. I believe they were Routes 8, 28, 35, 47, 52, 54, 108, 119 and N201.

Some of these routes should return back to service. Uber and Lyft are making a killing overnight. I'm happy that N4 will be extended to 95th. N87 should be next going east to 91st and Commercial. But we will see what Operations Planning propose next. I always thought that N55 should go full route to Midway all night.

 

[YoungBusLover]

10 hours ago, sht6131 said:

This is interesting. Any chance of viewing the missing pages?

 

The other pages were just miscellaneous items related to the picking schedule for the rest of the year.  

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, TaylorTank1229 said:

Well, there is the fact that Pace route #383 has extended hours now across all days now (starting around 6am and ending around 10-11pm… depending on the day), so that’ll definitely help with picking up the slack for bus service south of Cicero/63rd. 

Extended hours are nice, but less meaningful than being able to count on a consistent frequency. I don't want to walk out to discover two buses departed in 10 mins and now there's not another one for 25.

[NewFlyerMCI]

6 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

 

 

That 73 service hour extension will be liked, I've heard a lot of folks complain about that.

I have my own guesses and speculations, but I'd love to look at the stop-level data to see what's pushing the 4 for full-time service to 115th. I was curious when it started and more curious now. Anecdotally, I know my mother and grandmother use it to get to the 111A, but I'd love to know the other use cases for it.

At the risk of sounding greedy, I wish the N87 could now be extended to Cottage Grove.

[NewFlyerMCI]

46 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

 

Going off what maths22 has been showing this past few picks most likely penny pinching on an interline. There's quite a few buses that move between those 2 routes so they probably figured they'd count It for revenue purposes. Also some other weird interlines have been made that I managed to catch a pic of

In which case, layover space likely becomes less of a concern; I imagine 75 to 49 can wait at 74th/Damen and just pick up at 79th/Western and 49 to 75 can drop off at 79th/Western and wait at 74th/Damen

[renardo870]

5 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

That 73 service hour extension will be liked, I've heard a lot of folks complain about that.

I have my own guesses and speculations, but I'd love to look at the stop-level data to see what's pushing the 4 for full-time service to 115th. I was curious when it started and more curious now. Anecdotally, I know my mother and grandmother use it to get to the 111A, but I'd love to know the other use cases for it.

At the risk of sounding greedy, I wish the N87 could now be extended to Cottage Grove.

@NewFlyerMCI The added service times for the 73 is going to be really great because I always felt it ended too early for weekend service.

I'm surprised that the 4 or X4 isn't being shared with 3 for those trips to 95th and 115th. I'm sure 3 could help out nicely.

As far as N87 being extended, I'm really greedy then because I want N87 to go all the way east to Commercial to connect with the N5. 😎😎😂😂

[YoungBusLover]

29 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

That 73 service hour extension will be liked, I've heard a lot of folks complain about that.

I have my own guesses and speculations, but I'd love to look at the stop-level data to see what's pushing the 4 for full-time service to 115th. I was curious when it started and more curious now. Anecdotally, I know my mother and grandmother use it to get to the 111A, but I'd love to know the other use cases for it.

At the risk of sounding greedy, I wish the N87 could now be extended to Cottage Grove.

The amount of people not wanting to transfer to the 115 is the main reason believe it or not. They want a long single seat ride to 115th believe it or not and having worked the X4 during the mornings and so many passengers ask me if I'm going to 115th and all I can do is stare in amazement. 😅

[NewFlyerMCI]

Just now, YoungBusLover said:

The amount of people not wanting to transfer to the 115 is the main reason believe it or not.

Oh, I can easily believe that lol, especially with the difference in frequency. My mother and grandmother go to Pullman, Beverly & Evergreen Park now way more than they used since the 4 got extended & the 95 got combined. That aside, I feel like the CTA has usually made route planning decisions that favor a one-seat ride.

3 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

I work the X4 during the mornings and so many passengers ask me if I'm going to 115th and all I can do is stare in amazement. 😅

I see that despite being closer to the passenger, the headsign text is apparently no easier to read 😂

[Busjack]

Quote

2 new interesting things here:

• They ARE doing something about 22 Clark.
• Why no reliefs at K after 2200?

[renardo870]

9 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

The amount of people not wanting to transfer to the 115 is the main reason believe it or not. I work the X4 during the mornings and so many passengers ask me if I'm going to 115th and all I can do is stare in amazement. 😅

I'm sure those passengers wished the X4 would start on 115th going to the Loop. They don't want to transfer to the 115 or the Red Line, either. 🤷🏾‍♂️😂

[TaylorTank1229]

27 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Extended hours are nice, but less meaningful than being able to count on a consistent frequency. I don't want to walk out to discover two buses departed in 10 mins and now there's not another one for 25.

That’s right, forget about the frequency. I believe buses now run every 30 minutes on weekdays, 35 minutes on Saturdays & 65 minutes on Sundays. And in my experience with Pace, some buses will tend to drag or worse, one or two buses may be “cancelled” depending on certain circumstances. So I can see your point there… 

[YoungBusLover]

9 minutes ago, Busjack said:

2 new interesting things here:

• They ARE doing something about 22 Clark.
• Why no reliefs at K after 2200?

Whatever they decide to do about the 22 I hope they find a way to work with CDOT on implementing bus priority signaling and enforcing double parking that seems to plague the route along with the 36.

[YoungBusLover]

19 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Oh, I can easily believe that lol, especially with the difference in frequency. My mother and grandmother go to Pullman, Beverly & Evergreen Park now way more than they used since the 4 got extended & the 95 got combined. That aside, I feel like the CTA has usually made route planning decisions that favor a one-seat ride.

I see that despite being closer to the passenger, the headsign text is apparently no easier to read 😂

Yeah the left aligned signs are a pain to look at still and have yet to help everyone else that isn't visually impaired. 😅 

8 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

I'm sure those passengers wished the X4 would start on 115th going to the Loop. They don't want to transfer to the 115 or the Red Line, either. 🤷🏾‍♂️😂

Once the Red line gets extended i'm sure the X4 will start running out of 115th.

[TaylorTank1229]

23 minutes ago, renardo870 said:

@NewFlyerMCI The added service times for the 73 is going to be really great because I always felt it ended too early for weekend service.

I'm surprised that the 4 or X4 isn't being shared with 3 for those trips to 95th and 115th. I'm sure 3 could help out nicely.

As far as N87 being extended, I'm really greedy then because I want N87 to go all the way east to Commercial to connect with the N5. 😎😎😂😂

Definitely agree with the 73 getting longer hours on weekends. Something my aunt been wanting for many years living along Armitage for about 2 decades, she was happy when the route got later weekday hours and even today still saying they need later service on weekends too. Looks like she’ll be getting what she wants soon ✨👌

[NewFlyerMCI]

22 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

Whatever they decide to do about the 22 I hope they find a way to work with CDOT on implementing bus priority signaling and enforcing double parking that seems to plague the route along with the 36.

Clark could use more bus bulb-outs/in-lane stops so the bus isn't having to pull in and out of traffic. Moving stops far-side will also help, we've done both in DC along many corridors in 1-2 mile segments and seen a corresponding increase in bus speeds

[sht6131]

1 hour ago, YoungBusLover said:

The other pages were just miscellaneous items related to the picking schedule for the rest of the year.  

Thanks for the info.

[YoungBusLover]

8 hours ago, sht6131 said:

Thanks for the info.

You're welcome.

[MetroShadow]

20 hours ago, Busjack said:

2 new interesting things here:

• They ARE doing something about 22 Clark.
• Why no reliefs at K after 2200?

I'd argue safety in case of missing late buses. You can program the work paddles backwards, if that's the intent (have any PM runs that end later start before then, anything after 2000 hours requires probably a FT driver)

Edited Monday at 11:18 PM by MetroShadow
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