RTA Map Mistakes.

[jesi2282]

Has anyone noticed the mistakes in the lastest RTA map, the map still shows a few PACE routes that have been discontintued like the #228 and the #636.

[Busjack]

It depends what you mean by "latest." If it is the 2004 one, very little of it is correct. On the CTA side, the Hyde Park inset doesn't even match the main map.

[rmadisonwi]

I wouldn't consider the 2004 RTA map to be the latest, since they've issued three versions in 2006.

[Busjack]

The one on the RTA web site, dated September 2006, still has problems, but most of them are on the CTA side. For instance, it still has Pace 228 feeding Harlem Blue Line overlapping 423, and has such whoppers as 411 (a Niles Route) in Glenview. The multicounty one on the back doesn't look so bad. For instance, 228 and 636 are on the CTA side, but not on the multicounty one. The Aurora map on the multicounty side seems to reflect the recent restructuring.

Hence--this map is not as bad as the 2004 one, but my inference is that the CTA side was taken from the CTA map, and CTA and Pace are still not talking. Maybe Metra is talking to the CTA, because the new stations on the North Central are shown.

The legend on the flap says that CTA runs 1-204 and Pace runs 205 and above, but ignores that CTA poached on 205, and 206, which Pace lists as audit numbers for the Schaumburg lunch shuttle. CTA always claimed that Pace ran 208 and above.

Finally, the pictures on the front are essentially the same going back to the "Map of the Millenium," but the artwork on the Pace vehicle has been altered so much that it actually looks like how the EZ Riders might look (except it doesn't have the sloped front, as indicated in the Pace drawings, and might just be a blue Gillig).

[trainman8119]

I have not studied the map in earnest, so I can't really comment on current mistakes. But I can address how it is put together and I will say that if there are mistakes on it, it is because the RTA is not getting cooperation from Pace or CTA.

One of my first duties when I was the Customer Service Supervisor with Pace (when it was truely a Customer Service Department) was to work with the guy at the RTA (whose name escapes me right now) who was putting the map together. He was very proud of what he was doing and also was happy at the time that there was someone who was interested enough to take the time and look over the proofs and pass on mistakes and make general comments. Prior to my time there, his beef was that he never got any cooperation from anyone, that there was no urgency in assisting him with accurate information.

Now my guess is, with the way Pace is structured now, he is back in the same boat...nobody will give him any reliable information....and probably the same response from CTA. So, in order to get a product out, he takes the info he has and goes to print. If you talked to someone at Pace, they probably wouldn't know 228 from 423 (sad isn't it ??), especially on a map. And the CTA is too self centered to really care, especially since they have their own map, and are spending time trashing Pace in daily blogs.

The RTA map is produced by the RTA..CTA, Pace and Metra don't really have too much to do with the production, other than (hopefully) proofing what is sent to them and getting updated info back to the RTA. I think that this is one time that the CTA/Pace feud doesn't come into play.

The North Central info would be provided to the RTA by Metra direct...so I don't think Metra and CTA are doing anything together. CTA is on an island here...they want Metra's share of money...which is, of course, the reason that CTA and Pace are bickering. I don't think Metra is going to bend over too far to do much for the CTA right now. Remember, Pace is working with Metra on a lot of the feeder routes, primarily in the west suburbs (Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Naperville, to name a few) and along the North Shore (Shuttle Bugs). Although, I think Pace could do better in scheduling meets at some stations, there is a communication there and a willingness to work together (at times)...primarily in conjunction with the CMAQ programs.

[Busjack]

But that doesn't really explain why the two sides don't match. If they could take 228 off the back, why not the front (other than the proofreader is dyslexic)?

I guess that my first surmise was wrong, in that the map in the CTA Budget, page 157 of 158, is correct in the near northwest suburban area. Thus, the person with the low acuity must be with the RTA, as trainman says, but apparently can't be too bright, considering all the errors in the 2004 map, and the continuing ones in the 9/2006 one. So, my apologies to the people at CTA and Pace, but not to the payroller at the RTA.