Routes Out Of Garages

[Buslover88]

No, i'm telling the truth, I wouldn't lie about that stuff, at least after the incidents last year.

The bus wasn't smoking, the driver was. If you don't get, i'll say it like this: my two eyes saw a bus driver inside of a #53 Pulaski bus smoking from inside the restuant across the street. I have almost perfect eye sight, so I know what I saw. Also (this is new), a friend of mine was on that bus (I didn't know that until she came over this morning) and she said the driver was smoking. Like my teacher saids, most eyes don't lie. This smoking incident took place June 12 this year, by the way. Again, i'm telling the truth so please stop accusing me as a liar.

Oh, by the way, we're getting off topic I think.

[cta_44499_FG]

No, i'm telling the truth, I wouldn't lie about that stuff, at least after the incidents last year.

The bus wasn't smoking, the driver was. If you don't get, i'll say it like this: my two eyes saw a bus driver inside of a #53 Pulaski bus smoking from inside the restuant across the street. I have almost perfect eye sight, so I know what I saw. Also (this is new), a friend of mine was on that bus (I didn't know that until she came over this morning) and she said the driver was smoking. Like my teacher saids, most eyes don't lie. This smoking incident took place June 12 this year, by the way. Again, i'm telling the truth so please stop accusing me as a liar.

Oh, by the way, we're getting off topic I think.

Three things:

1- as an operator, if the driver was smoking it should of been off the bus and not in it.

2- most eyes don't lie, but many do...i've crossed passengers who i told them one thing because its CTA policy and they go back and call in and say i said something completely different. HOWEVER...I am not saying this is a lie...so don't get the wrong idea.

3- like buslover said, this is off topic. create a new topic like i did if you want to address a different point. keeps things more organized.

[mikeymc77]

:angry: Leave it to BUSJERK to question the integrity of a young kid. I usually read and post very little but being plain ignorant can upset just about anyone. :P

[Busjack]

Leave it to BUSJERK to question the integrity of a young kid. I usually read and post very little but being plain ignorant can upset just about anyone.

Maybe you should go back a couple of years of buslover88's posts. However, it appears that he has matured in the past year.

Also. maybe you should look up the definition of inconsistent.

[busfan4022]

Leave it to BUSJERK to question the integrity of a young kid. I usually read and post very little but being plain ignorant can upset just about anyone.

Yea....uhm, no.

You are too new of a member to know anything about Buslover. Back before you were even here, he lied about alot of things. His rep was diminished badly, and then he got banned. He came back, and now he is a better person. But, that still doesn't mean that he still won't lie. Although, he seems to be telling the truth, it still doesn't hurt to merely check, which is what Busjack is doing. As said before, lets stay on topic.

kthxbai~

(Watch what you say, flaming may result to warning. ;])

[Kevin]

Please stay on topic or this thread will be closed. Thanks.

[Buslover88]

Please stay on topic or this thread will be closed. Thanks.

Thank you, Kevin. If they want to rant about me, they should PM each other then.

Anyway, does anyone know what garage #132 Goose Island is out of? I have yet to know. I hope #132 is out of Archer because the drivers there are the nicest in the system. I have 2 perfect examples why they are, too:

On October 1, 2006, I went with a former friend of mine to ride the #62 to Archer/Neva. The lady driver we had said smling "Good morning, gentleman, how are you today?" so we said we were fine, then the two of us had a very nice conversion with the driver, then when we got to the terminal, she said "Have a very nice day now, be careful." Then when we went back to the terminal (we walked around the area), we got a very nice man driving the bus. I had my video camera on when the bus went by us (we went past the bus to grab something to eat at Archer and Normandy I believe), and the driver waved! When we got on his bus, he told me laughing "Good afternoon, camera-boy! I got on your camera, didn't I?" and I told him "You sure did!" then he laughed and we took our seats. I will never forget that experience and the two very nice drivers I had. I wish Chicago's drivers were like that....

[Guest]

Thank you, Kevin. If they want to rant about me, they should PM each other then.

Anyway, does anyone know what garage #132 Goose Island is out of? I have yet to know. I hope #132 is out of Archer because the drivers there are the nicest in the system. I have 2 perfect examples why they are, too:

On October 1, 2006, I went with a former friend of mine to ride the #62 to Archer/Neva. The lady driver we had said smling "Good morning, gentleman, how are you today?" so we said we were fine, then the two of us had a very nice conversion with the driver, then when we got to the terminal, she said "Have a very nice day now, be careful." Then when we went back to the terminal (we walked around the area), we got a very nice man driving the bus. I had my video camera on when the bus went by us (we went past the bus to grab something to eat at Archer and Normandy I believe), and the driver waved! When we got on his bus, he told me laughing "Good afternoon, camera-boy! I got on your camera, didn't I?" and I told him "You sure did!" then he laughed and we took our seats. I will never forget that experience and the two very nice drivers I had. I wish Chicago's drivers were like that....

You havent been around FG drivers alot. There are drivers like you describe at FG, I should know Im one of them. I greet and treated my passengers well. I knew my passengers. Im the same way now at Pace. I start to know my riders and I make sure I wait for them always giving them service with a smile. I had this happen a couple times but I love when a bus fan climbs aboard and wants to talk buses, then we really have lots to talk about.

[Buslover88]

I greet and treated my passengers well. I knew my passengers. Im the same way now at Pace. I start to know my riders and I make sure I wait for them always giving them service with a smile. I had this happen a couple times but I love when a bus fan climbs aboard and wants to talk buses, then we really have lots to talk about.

I like drivers like that alot, but sometimes you'll encounter mean passengers, then it'll be time you have mean to them back, right? Anyways, I know 2 or 3 drivers who are like that as well, but we need more, do I hear any disagreements coming?

[CircleSeven]

It does make a difference with the current contract rules.

In the 151 example, a relief point at Foster & Sheridan still gives you about 12-18 minutes (depending on time of day) of travel from there to the north end, plus layover, and another 12-18 minutes back.

The current rules are that an operator must have a lunch break after no more than 5.5 hours of work, and they must have at least 7 hours of platform (on bus) time in order for a run to be picked. No three-piece runs are allowed.

On long, lopsided routes (8 Halsted is a perfect example right now), a round-trip might be three hours. You can't do two round trips, because that would exceed the 5.5 hour rule. So, you do one round trip then you get relieved. But then your second round trip, after your break, would still only be three hours, so your total platform time is six hours. In some situations, there is simply no way to create a standard run on that route and make it legal.

Prior to last summer, issues like this didn't matter so much, because there was an eight-hour daily minimum guarantee. So, some routes were just lucky, and the driver could work 6 to 6.5 hours and get paid for 8. But that is no longer the case. The daily guarantee is replaced with a weekly guarantee of 40 hours, but that guarantee only applies if 1) the driver is on the extra board (which many don't like), or 2) if they pick at least 38.5 hours of work per week. Even if a six-hour run was pickable, many drivers wouldn't go for it because they couldn't get 38.5 hours per week.

If a driver can't pick 38.5 hours and doesn't want to go on the extra board, he/she must accept pay of less than 40 hours per week for that pick, and hope that there are trippers and/or other overtime available to bring the pay up.

The solution to the problem of these sorts of runs has been to increase the amount of interlining done. While there's nothing in the contract that says interlining can't be done, the drivers union has complained extensively about that practice. The goal is to accommodate that complaint to the extent possible, provided it 1) doesn't increase the cost of the schedule, and 2) maintains the amount of runs that can be picked.

A route like 85 Central, or many Forest Glen routes, are similar in their lopsided relief points, except that in those cases you can do two round trips and still come in under 5.5 hours. The Jefferson Park relief points are also useful because a driver could come off of one route, and spend the two or three hours after the lunch break going back and forth on one of the smaller routes to round out the day.

The 151 at Foster & Sheridan example isn't quite as bad because from Foster northbound to Foster southbound is at least 30 minutes, and depending on the amount of layover on the north end, possibly 45-50 minutes.

Similarly, the 9 Ashland has a problem, but not quite as bad as Halsted. The reason for that is because the 9 travels further south, and 74th to 95th (or, at times 103rd) can provide just enough of an extra cushion to push a run over the seven-hour platform mark, provided the runs are cut just the right way.

Issues like this have always been around, but it wasn't as important back in the days when every full-time run paid at least 8 hours, regardless of the actual amount of work. However, an arbitrator's ruling last year has changed the scope of things in many ways.

One of the options now being looked at is moving routes around between garages (though the Halsted route is the only one that really would be moved purely on the basis of a relief point). That, however, brings up another issue, alluded to previously. The two most logical places to put the 8 for better crewing purposes would be Archer or Kedzie. However, these garages aren't exactly ghost towns waiting for buses to fill the space. Ironically, the garage in the system with the most available space for more buses is 74th, which also has the most inconvenient location for placing more routes there, mostly due to the relief point issue (either the lopsided relief points, such as on the 8 and 9; or because in order to get to that route to relieve, a driver would have to take three buses on a circuitous routing).

Whatever decision is made, the most likely time for a change like that to occur would be next spring.

Thus finishes today's lesson in the importance of relief points.

I believe there have been a whole lot of things have been said on this topic as to comes to the relief ponts, the routes that come out of garages and the runs that the drivers pick every 4 times a year. But if you remember when North Park and 74th did that dreaded Rostering in June of 2004. where drivers had to pick the position number which listed the whole entire week of work they have to do instead of picking the runs individually? Also going back to what rmadisonwi was saying, ever since they'd been trying to make these crazy runs so they would no longer make runs with an 8.0 is highly because CTA wants to save money. They wanted to have the Rostering to spread into all of the Garages which I heard when the rostering first happend over 3 years ago, this would be a six-month trial which leaded to last until two years. Most of these runs that were made during the rostering and now are to make the runs abbreviated so everyone can get paid for what they work instead of every 6 1/2 hours runs a full 8.

Now about the runs periods. I know some people be obsessed with run numbers like I am. Notice why alot of these runs are integrated with other routes like let's say Halsted for an example. There were some #67 67th-69th-71st runs that started or ended their runs doing a Halsted run even though all they do is one trip on Halsted and maybe 2 & 1/2 or even three trips on 69th Street. I'm really thinking one day that runs will end up being operated by 3 or even 4 routes sort of like Pace. Forest Glen since every route except #X54 come out their, would be a perfect example for making runs that have 3 or more routes in one run.

I believe it was a run on Lincoln Avenue in the morning that was like a three-platform run around in the Fall of 2004 where they do one trip on the 135 and pull in and then hurry up to get to Foster & Lincoln and start doing their second plat on Lincoln which I think that's really tedious because if that driver becomes late pulling in and see their bus already parked on Lincoln, that's would major travesty right there.

Right now, I don't really see any problems with routes coming out of their respective garages or the routes that they make reliefs but some reliefs that are made like late in the night is highly for the safety of the drivers. Garfield & Ashland is one of the dangerous relieving points late at night. That is why after like 9:30pm, buses pullin to the Garage and start their fallback and pullout again from the Garage to start their 2nd half.

But what I do want to see in the future that Kedzie should cover some of Madison like they did some years back including the nightcar since they do only operate one nightcar (#N60 Blue Island).

[renardo870]

B)

Thank you, Kevin. If they want to rant about me, they should PM each other then.

Anyway, does anyone know what garage #132 Goose Island is out of? I have yet to know. I hope #132 is out of Archer because the drivers there are the nicest in the system. I have 2 perfect examples why they are, too:

On October 1, 2006, I went with a former friend of mine to ride the #62 to Archer/Neva. The lady driver we had said smling "Good morning, gentleman, how are you today?" so we said we were fine, then the two of us had a very nice conversion with the driver, then when we got to the terminal, she said "Have a very nice day now, be careful." Then when we went back to the terminal (we walked around the area), we got a very nice man driving the bus. I had my video camera on when the bus went by us (we went past the bus to grab something to eat at Archer and Normandy I believe), and the driver waved! When we got on his bus, he told me laughing "Good afternoon, camera-boy! I got on your camera, didn't I?" and I told him "You sure did!" then he laughed and we took our seats. I will never forget that experience and the two very nice drivers I had. I wish Chicago's drivers were like that....

The 132 Goose Island Express comes from the infamous Chicago Garage. I think they have 100's run #.

[rmadisonwi]

The 132's run numbers are in the 970s.

[Busjack]

I hope #132 is out of Archer because the drivers there are the nicest in the system.

Is there really an internal cultural division among garages or is it like 44499FG suggests that, like other things, there are some nice people and then others at any garage? While you are obviously talking about your experience, could there also be some stereotyping, such as like when there was some job action (I don't remember what it was; it would have been 35 years ago and maybe dealt with mugging bus drivers) and my mother asked if the CTA was being racist in assigning bus drivers to routes, and my reply was that there (were then) 11 garages and they were in the various neighborhoods, so they probably reflected the composition of the areas they served. Probably the same now, except with regard to demeanor. Maybe 44499FG can enlighten us on how easy or hard it is to change garages, with the seniority rules and all that.

[trainman8119]

it would have been 35 years ago and maybe dealt with mugging bus drivers) and my mother asked if the CTA was being racist in assigning bus drivers to routes, and my reply was that there (were then) 11 garages and they were in the various neighborhoods, so they probably reflected the composition of the areas they served. Probably the same now, except with regard to demeanor. Maybe 44499FG can enlighten us on how easy or hard it is to change garages, with the seniority rules and all that.

It is a simple process, and I am sure 44499FG will back me up. CTA has their operators pick runs 4 times a year. Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Every two years, you pick garages, known as station picks. It is all based on seniority. Only time the company assigns a driver is when they hire out.

Pace is different in that you hire out at a garage and stay there and pick your runs when they see fit to make a change. You have no inter-garage movement there, unless you want to give up seniority, quit and then get rehired.

[cta5658]

The 132 Is out of chicago ave.

[Buslover88]

The 132 Is out of chicago ave.

Thanks for letting us know. I'll be going Downtown sometime soon to see how drivers are on some routes (and photographing buses).