Name your favorite express routes!

[NewFlyerMCI]

31 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

I leave Northwestern on time on 6-7 min headway and magically here come two more buses behind me as soon as I get across Wacker and they'll normally ride behind me until Cermak and fly by me then find a stop further SB to sit at since they're early while I'm doing all the work.

Emphasis on the magically part. Can't count the amount of times I've boarded at 76th because I saw a 3 and not an X3, only for one to show up by Anthony and then ride behind the regular 3 until anywhere from the Green Line to Garfield. Oh, or the worst one, leaving downtown on an X4, only to see an X3 behind at 35th, and you know you won't make that transfer. Maybe it's cause the bus tracker wasn't as easily accessible back then, but the X3 really had some "ghost" buses.

Quote

Oh trust me we make room to pass not matter where were at on 79th. 

Unfortunately, not everyone on that route can drive like you

[NovaHater]

50 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

Now if were thinking of adding the X3 back pre pandemic you have a good argument for it but to me depending on the day of the week you'll have numerous operators play games out there and hardly pick up anyone riding the street 5-10 early behind there leader that is getting killed. Hell some will even sit behind there leader even if there leader is waving them by to pass. I've experienced it as a part timer and full timer, I leave Northwestern on time on 6-7 min headway and magically here come two more buses behind me as soon as I get across Wacker and they'll normally ride behind me until Cermak and fly by me then find a stop further SB to sit at since they're early while I'm doing all the work. King Drive has such a high density of people with so many operators not understanding how to work the street properly. I've had standing loads and hardly ever got more 4-5 mins behind and usually by the time I got to Cermak going NB i'm on time and vice versa going SB once I got past 51st. 

Oh trust me we make room to pass not matter where were at on 79th. 

Man that’s the most frustrating thing about doing King Drive. Luckily this pick I have a follower that will pass me and help work the street. He usually catches up to me when I get to 35th street. 

[YoungBusLover]

3 hours ago, NovaHater said:

Man that’s the most frustrating thing about doing King Drive. Luckily this pick I have a follower that will pass me and help work the street. He usually catches up to me when I get to 35th street. 

See now that's what I wish would happen more often, that's why I stopped picking the 3/4 and went over to the 8 and 87. Even though the 8 is a different animal when it comes to not having help.

[YoungBusLover]

3 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Emphasis on the magically part. Can't count the amount of times I've boarded at 76th because I saw a 3 and not an X3, only for one to show up by Anthony and then ride behind the regular 3 until anywhere from the Green Line to Garfield. Oh, or the worst one, leaving downtown on an X4, only to see an X3 behind at 35th, and you know you won't make that transfer. Maybe it's cause the bus tracker wasn't as easily accessible back then, but the X3 really had some "ghost" buses.

Unfortunately, not everyone on that route can drive like you

Yeah that's true, I can't knock anyone for being to timid to pass when things get tight.

[NovaHater]

9 minutes ago, YoungBusLover said:

See now that's what I wish would happen more often, that's why I stopped pick the 3 and 4 and went over to the 8 and 87. Even though the 8 is a different animal when it comes to not having help.

Yeah that 14 minute headway gets out of hand when you don’t have a leader

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

15 minutes ago, NovaHater said:

Yeah that 14 minute headway gets out of hand when you don’t have a leader

yea the 3 is a animal to do lmao just like @YoungBusLover mentioned you leave northwestern on time and boom you reach lake/randolph you have 3 followers behind you that just fell from the sky 

[YoungBusLover]

2 hours ago, NovaHater said:

Yeah that 14 minute headway gets out of hand when you don’t have a leader

Yeah you're not kidding that's why I stopped doing overtime on the 8 weekdays. What's the point of working a triple Street after your regular run? It's bad enough I deal with that Sundays non stop.

[Sam92]

6 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

Yeah you're not kidding that's why I stopped doing overtime on the 8 weekdays. What's the point of working a triple Street after your regular run? It's bad enough I deal with that Sundays non stop.

Triple street? Dumb question. Is that basically when you’re so understaffed you fall a run or two behind and do triple the work? 

[NovaHater]

6 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

Yeah you're not kidding that's why I stopped doing overtime on the 8 weekdays. What's the point of working a triple Street after your regular run? It's bad enough I deal with that Sundays non stop.

Last Sunday I had 3 buses missing in front of me on 79th. Got caught by the train. By the time I made it to the Redline they pulled a bus off of King Drive to help me work the street. I was grateful!!!

[YoungBusLover]

1 hour ago, NovaHater said:

Last Sunday I had 3 buses missing in front of me on 79th. Got caught by the train. By the time I made it to the Redline they pulled a bus off of King Drive to help me work the street. I was grateful!!!

I wish they would do the same on Halsted, I'm usually the only bus out there from 6 pm - 2 am. Almost every Sunday there's at least 4 or 5 busses missing in front of me and behind me. I usually don't have a follower until 10 pm and my leader is hit or miss.

[Busjack]

On 10/23/2022 at 9:17 PM, andrethebusman said:

CTA upper management seemingly refused to admit what was really happening and actually bragged about not cutting service (though in reality some routes like 134-135-136 were cut to the bone and then some). ...

This article gives another reason why express service will stay cut back on LaSalle---office buildings are empty and the city is trying to convert them to residential. No need for 4 bus routes.

[jajuan]

On 12/28/2022 at 9:08 AM, Busjack said:

This article gives another reason why express service will stay cut back on LaSalle---office buildings are empty and the city is trying to convert them to residential. No need for 4 bus routes.

From what I've been seeing, during the time that some workers have returned to work downtown, is that the three LaSalle expresses get a significant amount of their ridership from areas near LaSalle and along Wacker more than they do from LaSalle itself. This seems to have helped each still have some decent bus loads leaving downtown. Artics aren't needed as much as they used to be outside of those operating at what appear to be strategic times. Also what seems to help the 134 in particular is that its riders primarily seem to use it as a quicker alternative to the 156. The only times I've seen buses on the three running light across the board have been the weekdays leading into the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays.

[Tcmetro]

2 minutes ago, jajuan said:

From what I've been seeing, during the time that some workers have returned to work downtown, is that the three LaSalle expresses get a significant amount of their ridership from areas near LaSalle and along Wacker more than they do from LaSalle itself. This seems to have helped each still have some decent bus loads leaving downtown. Artics aren't needed as much as they used to be outside of those operating at what appear to be strategic times. Also what seems to help the 134 in particular is that its riders primarily seem to use it as a quicker alternative to the 156. The only times I've seen buses on the three running light across the board have been the weekdays leading into the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays.

I noticed in the recent ridership reports that the 13x and 14x routes seem to be doing well currently. The service levels dropped off after Covid, but still run every 5-8 mins or so.

CTA should consider new downtown routings for the peak buses. Bank of America and BMO have moved from LaSalle St and Chase is rumored to be looking around as well. 

[jajuan]

15 minutes ago, Tcmetro said:

I noticed in the recent ridership reports that the 13x and 14x routes seem to be doing well currently. The service levels dropped off after Covid, but still run every 5-8 mins or so.

CTA should consider new downtown routings for the peak buses. Bank of America and BMO have moved from LaSalle St and Chase is rumored to be looking around as well. 

Where would they go though? 135 and 136 already have had their express zones pushed southward to begin at Wacker instead of North Ave (134 didn't exist before the August 2003 express restructuring). Michigan Avenue is already handling a lot of bus routes. State Street has the same issue, and operating along there north of the river cancels the benefits gained from the above mentioned restructuring. 

[Busjack]

4 hours ago, Tcmetro said:

CTA should consider new downtown routings for the peak buses. Bank of America and BMO have moved from LaSalle St and Chase is rumored to be looking around as well. 

 

3 hours ago, jajuan said:

Where would they go though? 135 and 136 already have had their express zones pushed southward to begin at Wacker instead of North Ave (134 didn't exist before the August 2003 express restructuring). Michigan Avenue is already handling a lot of bus routes. State Street has the same issue, and operating along there north of the river cancels the benefits gained from the above mentioned restructuring. 

The issue is not the express zones (express buses were not supposed to stop north of Wacker on LaSalle), but what the destination is. if LaSalle (and apparently State and Dearborn) are not the destination, what is? As @Tcmetro implies, it has become the West Loop, maybe due to proximity to Ogilvie and Union Stations.  While the Carroll St. subway proposal didn't seem to make sense then, it might now. Whether or not the bus goes down LaSalle, it should end at Adams and Halsted, or go into the Fulton Market district.

[Tcmetro]

6 minutes ago, jajuan said:

Where would they go though? 135 and 136 already have had their express zones pushed southward to begin at Wacker instead of North Ave (134 didn't exist before the August 2003 express restructuring). Michigan Avenue is already handling a lot of bus routes. State Street has the same issue, and operating along there north of the river cancels the benefits gained from the above mentioned restructuring. 

I was thinking just operating along Wacker instead of the LaSalle-Adams/Jackson routing. Or even along Randolph/Washington to Morgan to extend into the West Loop which is quickly becoming a major office district. 

When I worked downtown, I recall that the turn from LaSalle to Adams in the AM had horrendous congestion. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad now, but if/when office attendance increases a route change should be considered purely for operational reasons.

CTA is currently doing a bus network study, so I hope they are looking into detail about office movements and  considering changes to the downtown bus network.

[jajuan]

On 1/5/2023 at 4:34 PM, Tcmetro said:

I was thinking just operating along Wacker instead of the LaSalle-Adams/Jackson routing. Or even along Randolph/Washington to Morgan to extend into the West Loop which is quickly becoming a major office district. 

When I worked downtown, I recall that the turn from LaSalle to Adams in the AM had horrendous congestion. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad now, but if/when office attendance increases a route change should be considered purely for operational reasons.

CTA is currently doing a bus network study, so I hope they are looking into detail about office movements and  considering changes to the downtown bus network.

Okay valid reasoning though they'd have to get past though who currently do board along LaSalle squawking that their buses are being taken away. But then the question would become would they still need 120 and 121. The light loads on both even before the pandemic hit has me leaning towards no. 

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, jajuan said:

Okay valid reasoning though they'd have to get past though who currently do board along LaSalle squawking that their buses are being taken away. But then the question would become would they still need 120 and 121. The light loads on both even before the pandemic hit has me leaning towards no. 

Since the routes were cut back from Navy Pier, only passenger generator is Union/Ogilvie stations to the Northwestern Hospital area. There might be enough traffic to justify it; otherwise 157 is too slow.

[artthouwill]

On 1/5/2023 at 4:34 PM, Tcmetro said:

I was thinking just operating along Wacker instead of the LaSalle-Adams/Jackson routing. Or even along Randolph/Washington to Morgan to extend into the West Loop which is quickly becoming a major office district. 

When I worked downtown, I recall that the turn from LaSalle to Adams in the AM had horrendous congestion. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad now, but if/when office attendance increases a route change should be considered purely for operational reasons.

CTA is currently doing a bus network study, so I hope they are looking into detail about office movements and  considering changes to the downtown bus network.

I was thinking about cutting the 134 and 143  and replacing those with maybe 156X and 151X service, with limited stops south of Fullerton.    

[jajuan]

18 hours ago, artthouwill said:

I was thinking about cutting the 134 and 143  and replacing those with maybe 156X and 151X service, with limited stops south of Fullerton.    

Hmmm those actually seem to work the way they're currently structured. But let's say they did create X route express versions of the 151 and 156. They would need to reroute them off of Stockton to be of any time savings benefit because of how extremely narrow Stockton is. It's currently barely handling the 151 and 156 especially when it comes to the artics that run on both routes. Whether artics or standard size, buses from both routes have to run at reduced speeds that are sometimes little more than creeping to make sure they don't ding vehicles coming from the opposite direction, even when those other vehicles are cars. And the tightly packed parking vs the space given to bus stops doesn't help matters on that front. That's why that stretch in conjunction to Inner and Marine Drives makes such a poor alternate route for the express runs when things like Bike the Drive and winter storm emergencies force them to be rerouted from the Outer express drive.

[artthouwill]

4 hours ago, jajuan said:

Hmmm those actually seem to work the way they're currently structured. But let's say they did create X route express versions of the 151 and 156. They would need to reroute them off of Stockton to be of any time savings benefit because of how extremely narrow Stockton is. It's currently barely handling the 151 and 156 especially when it comes to the artics that run on both routes. Whether artics or standard size, buses from both routes have to run at reduced speeds that are sometimes little more than creeping to make sure they don't ding vehicles coming from the opposite direction, even when those other vehicles are cars. And the tightly packed parking vs the space given to bus stops doesn't help matters on that front. That's why that stretch in conjunction to Inner and Marine Drives makes such a poor alternate route for the express runs when things like Bike the Drive and winter storm emergencies force them to be rerouted from the Outer express drive.

I get that which is why I stated "south of Fullerton." This probably makes more sense along LaSalle  where it can stop every 1/2 mile between North Ave and the river. U didn't intend to make the entire portion south of Belmont Ave a skip stop service.   I'm sorry I wasn't clearer about this. 

The 134 and 143 do work fine to me as us.  

[jajuan]

On 1/15/2023 at 12:57 PM, artthouwill said:

I get that which is why I stated "south of Fullerton." This probably makes more sense along LaSalle  where it can stop every 1/2 mile between North Ave and the river. U didn't intend to make the entire portion south of Belmont Ave a skip stop service.   I'm sorry I wasn't clearer about this. 

The 134 and 143 do work fine to me as us.  

If not for how tight it is between West LaSalle and Fullerton for current local buses on the current 151 and 156, I could see how a limited stop version of either or both that ended at Belmont could be a cool idea.

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, jajuan said:

If not for how tight it is between West LaSalle and Fullerton for current local buses on the current 151 and 156, I could see how a limited stop version of either or both that ended at Belmont could be a cool idea.

The reason no stop on LaSalle north of the river didn't work was that they couldn't stop passengers from pulling the cord, especially northbound. Maybe the X routes show that skip stops work better.

[Busjack]

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