Routes 10 and 15

[Danielsmusic]

A few people have mentioned that there used to be a 10 and a 15 during the lunch periods. What were the 10 and 15, and where did they go?

[BusExpert32]

A few people have mentioned that there used to be a 10 and a 15 during the lunch periods. What were the 10 and 15, and where did they go?

If you're not talking about route #10 Museum of Science and Industry and route #15 Jeffery Local, then I have no idea about any prior bus routes with the same route numbers as these current ones.

[Busjack]

There were a couple of lunch time shuttles between State Street and North Michigan Ave. Before the time of the 10 Museum bus. Also, if I remember correctly, they were Flxs, and a special sign was placed over the usual programmable front destination sign.

[Guest]

There were a couple of lunch time shuttles between State Street and North Michigan Ave. Before the time of the 10 Museum bus. Also, if I remember correctly, they were Flxs, and a special sign was placed over the usual programmable front destination sign.

The routes were

#10 Lunch Loop

# 15 Shopping Express

[Busjack]

According to posts in other groups, the 10 was a West Loop-N Michigan bus. I remember the 15, and it was as described, from State to N. Michigan, and is reflected on a 1995 map I have.

[brucejdetw]

The #10 Lunch Loop and #15 Shopping Loop were two weekday, midday only shuttle routes added shortly after the huge downtown flood back in the early 90's. Due to parking restrictions in the loop as a result of cleanup from the flood, CTA instituted these two routes to give downtown workers a way to get around during the lunch hour. Both routes had a 50 cent fare and were run with Flxible 5300's out of Archer Garage. They had a special signage on the front of the bus advertising the fare and the fact that it was a "lunch or shopping" shuttle. I don't recall much about the #10, except that it ran in a east-west loop from Michigan avenue to Halsted?. The #15 ran from Water Tower down Michigan avenue to Wacker, then Wacker to State and State to Congress where it then turned around to go back.

Intersting note about the #15 - the times I rode it, I noticed that the buses that were on the route (usually the #5700 Flxibles - I recall #5764 on that route a lot) never seemed to have etched windows. Long time CTA riders remember that back in the 90's, CTA had a real problem with etched windows on all its buses. It wasn't until the video cameras and new windows with peel-off plastic protectors on them were installed that this problem finally disappeared. But it seemed that Archer had a few buses that were only used on certain routes that didn't have this problem, hence why these buses didn't have the etched windows.

It should be noted that both routes had the potential of doing well, however, the #10 didn't last very long, but the #15 hung on for a few years. The #15 would have done better if the headways were shorter (they were 15 minutes apart). Also, from what I have heard, the drivers of this route may have had something to do with its low ridership. Since there are so many buses going down Michigan and State, the #15 drivers would sometimes wait for a #146 to get in front of them and let that bus pick up the passengers, since it would go the same way. It was a good idea at the time, but never enjoyed the success that other shuttle routes in other cities have had (such as Denver's downtown mall shuttle).

[BusExpert32]

There's a photo of a 5300 working the #15 shuttle route back in the mid 90s at http://hometown.aol.com/ctapacefan/rosctapa.html. The bus was advertising Chicago Bears sportswear at the time.