3 Track Bus Changes

[trainman8119]

Some of our discussions are getting lost in other topics. Figured I'd start a new

one to isolate a topic.

On Saturday I saw a Chicago Ave Flxible (5456) parked on Lincoln south of

Peterson. A bus definitely in a foreign territory. It was definitely a training

bus of some sort as I saw about 10 drivers walking around, headed to

assorted fast food places for a lunch stop (Mc Donalds, KFC, etc). These

were all uniformed operators roaming around, so I don't think these were

newbies practicing driving, rather established operators (albeit, probably

extra boarders) getting familiar with a route or area. My first thought was

that perhaps, 11 was getting transferred to Chicago Ave. Kind of odd

but possible. I also thought perhaps, that the group was being shown the

Pulaski-Peterson Loop and maybe they couldn't get into terminal to turn around,

so they just went east on Peterson to turn around and found the food places

and took a break, parking on Lincoln. There were at least 8-10, so I am not

sure this was a new class, and the idea that this was some sort of route/garage

adjustment taking place made more sense, and that the 11 may be on the move

with the upcoming changes.

[Busjack]

11 is supposed to be beefed up south of Paulina station for the three track. Whether the additional runs are from Chicago, or the remaining serviceable 5400s are being transferred, I don't know. New Flyer's recent posts, especially 4286 seem to shed some light on this.

[rmadisonwi]

Chicago Garage will be operating the extra runs (from Addison to downtown) on 11. North Park will still be operating the regular service on the route.

For anyone's curiosity:

Chicago Garage will be operating afternoon extras on Clark from downtown to Belmont, and Forest Glen will have afternoon extras on 147.

North Park's extras will be on routes normally operated by that garage, so nothing new or exciting there.

[ryanbytes]

I saw New Flyers on 49B and 11 today. They had stickers from 77th. I didn't catch the bus numbers though.

[sw4400]

They seem to turn from Addison onto SB Lincoln. The Other day I saw a NOVABus (6717?) with a "5" Run Number with the Destination "11 Lincoln/Sedgewick to Clinton Blue Line". The same with a 1000 series New Flyer(same garage run number). Both stopped before turning to get instructions from a yellow vested supervisor.

[trainman8119]

They seem to turn from Addison onto SB Lincoln. The Other day I saw a NOVABus (6717?) with a "5" Run Number with the Destination "11 Lincoln/Sedgewick to Clinton Blue Line". The same with a 1000 series New Flyer(same garage run number). Both stopped before turning to get instructions from a yellow vested supervisor.

This would indicate a Chicago Garage bus, which, as mentioned, are

running the extra trips on the 11 south of Addison.

[sw4400]

This would indicate a Chicago Garage bus, which, as mentioned, are

running the extra trips on the 11 south of Addison.

I do understand what you are telling me, mostly trainman8119. But you say the extras only run from Addison south to North/Clark or Clinton/Blue Line, correct? What gets me is these same "extra" buses I usually see are also going all the way north to Howard/McCormick. If I am missing something here(I strongly believe I am), please elaborate. I do apologize if it seems I am nitpicking to the following posters, Busjack, trainman8119, and rmadisonwi. I'll tell you what I do understand now, based on previous posts, and maybe you can help me shed light on the "extra" issue here.

-Chicago Garage is doing extras(they have 5300-Series Flxibles, 1000-Series New Flyers, NOVAs, and the 800-Series New Flyer Hybrids), all of which may be seen at some point on a North Park run.

-In the last post by trainman8119 here, quoted above, states that the Chicago Buses are extras going from Addison south.

[rmadisonwi]

None of the Chicago Garage runs are scheduled to go to Howard. The schedule has them ending at Addison in the afternoon. Occasionally, one might be instructed to continue north as far as Western. I don't know of any going all the way to Howard.

Some of the North Park extras may go to either Foster or Howard if operating on Lincoln, but, if they are three-track buses, they would be the reserve buses that a supervisor instructed to go north, as North Park doesn't have any "extra" runs on Lincoln.

If a Chicago Garage bus was actually going to Howard, I couldn't say exactly how or why that happened. However, North Park has been putting the 1000s on Lincoln a lot (considering they only have 11 of them), and if you only saw that it was a 1000, but didn't note the run number, then it could really have been a North Park bus.

[ryanbytes]

Quick question about the Lincoln destination sign. They still say Howard/Red when running northbound. When did they stop running to the red line? Why wasn't the sign changed when they were programmed for the Sedgwick change so it just reads as Howard?

[rmadisonwi]

They don't say "Howard/Red." They say "Howard/Ked" as in Howard/Kedzie. Technically, they turn around at McCormick. It could be confusing to someone to see Howard/Ked, though, as they might think it means Howard/Red and conclude that the bus serves Howard Station.

Perhaps something that needs to be changed in the future.

[ryanbytes]

That's a funky K then. I've been seeing it forever and a day and I always read it as Red and not Ked. I'm definitely going to have mission today. Will the entertainment with the CTA ever stop?

[ryanbytes]

It's a K and I'm a dork! Learn something about the world and yourself every day! :P