Route Changes To Save CTA money or Improve Service

[cta_44499_FG]

If any of you were able to make route adjustments that would save the CTA money or perhaps even improve service, what would they be?

Here are some of mine:

#54A North Cicero/Skokie Blvd- Operate every 30 minutes during service hours instead of every 20.

#56 Milwaukee- provide additional service south of Logan Square during AM rush, and additional reverse direction service during PM rush. Eliminate need of school trips to run in service between Jefferson Park and Addison in order to stage for 10 minutes. Instead have those trips pullout to Addison, stage, and work from there into the loop.

#56A North Milwaukee- cut mid-day and late evening service. Operate only during AM/PM rush from Jefferson Park to Milwaukee/Imlay, eliminate Devon/Avondale trips.

#68 Northwest Highway- eliminate Sunday service completely or reduce service from every 45 minutes to every hour.

#X80 Irving Park Express- operate service to Harlem/Irving Plaza on weekends.

#86 Narragansett/Ridgeland- eliminate service north of Wright College. Instead restore Milwaukee/Imlay trips back to #91 Austin during off peak (except for AM/PM Taft HS trips)

#90 Harlem- eliminate service south of Grand during off-peak, combine with #90N North Harlem extension to Touhy/Overhill. Operate between the Blue Line and Grand on weekends.

#90N North Harlem- eliminate route, combine with #90 service.

#91 Austin- restore Milwaukee/Imlay service during off-peak, replacing need for #86 extension all day. During rush and weekends, run all service to Jefferson Park.

#93 California/Dodge- eliminate Saturday service.

[qwantae]

1. Eliminate #17 Westchester permenately, Pace #317 just need few extra trips during Peak Hours.

2. Eliminate #85A North Central, combine with #85 Central North of Jefferson Park.

[Zol87]

#56A North Milwaukee Cut this route completely and replace with 270 Milwaukee.

#174 U of C Garfield Stations should be discontinued. There is already sufficient service on the #55 Garfield 24 hours a day.

#19 United Center Express this is an easy route to lose because the 20 already is providing good service.

#10 Museum of Science and Industry This is also an easy one to cut because the #6 Jackson Park Express provides more frequent service.

#49A South Western Eliminate route. Pace #349 already offers better service. Improve frequency of #349 during weekday rush hours.

#63W West 63rd Combine with #63 63rd St to make one route. no changes to night service.

#96 Lunt replace with #290 Touhy. 290 should go down Clark to Lunt in order to serve the

Rogers Park Metra and then back up to Touhy on Ridge. The McCormick portion should be replaced by extending the 155 Devon north to the Lincolnwood Town Center.

[Busjack]

Most of these make sense. The ones I have problems with are interlining routes where the passenger loads don't match.

#90N North Harlem- eliminate route, combine with #90 service. Harlem has a productivity of 45.1, North Harlem has a productivity of 15. If one is talking about saving money, it is questionable whether CTA should be running 90N at all. Also, Pace 423 provides hourly service, and approximately 20 minute service during rush hour on the Harlem portion of the route.

qwante: Eliminate #85A North Central, combine with #85 Central North of Jefferson Park. Central is a heavy route with 63.1 productivity, North Central with 36. Central has a rush hour interval of roughly 5 to 12 minutes, 85A about 20 minutes, and 85A can be successfully run with Optimas. As we previously discussed, 85 between Jefferson Park and Bryn Mawr is essentially to serve the Forest Glen bus yard, and if I were to save money, I would restrict 85 north of Jefferson Park to basically shift change runs.

zol87: #63W West 63rd Combine with #63 63rd St to make one route. no changes to night service. 63 productivity 68.9, 63W productivity 25.8.

Now, if those of you advocating combining lines are also saying that 2/3rds of the runs on the main line should short turn at the existing terminal, such as I indicated with regard to 85 at Jefferson Park, it might make more sense, but we had the prior conversations about prospective passengers not understanding destination signs that do not indicate the usual terminal.

On the other hand, what you have suggested that should have been done even a long time ago:

#90 Harlem- eliminate service south of Grand during off-peak--note the frequent discussion about CTA not increasing competition with Pace, on a segment already adequately served by 307 and 318.

qwante: Eliminate #17 Westchester, Pace #317 just need few extra trips during Peak Hours. Keeping 17 is just an anachronism from when the Westchester L stopped running nearly 60 years ago.

Two other observations:

• Some of these (such as the Naragansett one) implicate the West Side restructuring project. That is still supposedly experimental. You can probably infer from comments I have made in other places that there is a lot with that restructruring with which I do not agree.
  
• United Center and Museum of Science and Industry buses tap markets where the riders probably would not use the alternative services. Thus, those should rise or fall on whether they are attracting sufficient riders from those markets. (As Roe Conn put it, it is a similar question to whether enough airport express riders would pay for the privilege of not having some normal denizens of the L pee on them.)
  

I really can't comment on most of the others, which suggest tweaking service intervals and the like, since I don't have the ridership information. However, many of these are on troubled routes that get mentioned every time a restructuring or Doomsday plan arises.

[Buslover88]

If any of you were able to make route adjustments that would save the CTA money or perhaps even improve service, what would they be?

Here are some of mine:

#56 Milwaukee- provide additional service south of Logan Square during AM rush, and additional reverse direction service during PM rush. Eliminate need of school trips to run in service between Jefferson Park and Addison in order to stage for 10 minutes. Instead have those trips pullout to Addison, stage, and work from there into the loop.

#68 Northwest Highway- eliminate Sunday service completely or reduce service from every 45 minutes to every hour.

#86 Narragansett/Ridgeland- eliminate service north of Wright College. Instead restore Milwaukee/Imlay trips back to #91 Austin during off peak (except for AM/PM Taft HS trips)

#90 Harlem- eliminate service south of Grand during off-peak, combine with #90N North Harlem extension to Touhy/Overhill. Operate between the Blue Line and Grand on weekends.

#90N North Harlem- eliminate route, combine with #90 service.

#91 Austin- restore Milwaukee/Imlay service during off-peak, replacing need for #86 extension all day. During rush and weekends, run all service to Jefferson Park.

#93 California/Dodge- eliminate Saturday service.

I agree with a few points made here. First, I think that #56 should have additional trips beyond Logan Square both AM and PM; I also think that those school trips should start/end at the high school. #56 should also be extended to Devon, eliminating #56A. Second, I think #68 should be kept the way it is on Sundays. Thrid, I think #90N should be eliminated. #90 should be eliminated completey south of Grand. Finally, I think #93 should be eliminated on Saturday.

I disagree with some ideas here. For example, #86 should be kept the way it is. I think things are better now that #86 replaces #91's old extension because #91 doesn't have to leave Jefferson Park and go on Nagle when the route clearly says Austin. Also, I think some drivers would be tired out going all the way from Roosevelt to Devon.

#10 Museum of Science and Industry This is also an easy one to cut because the #6 Jackson Park Express provides more frequent service.

#49A South Western Eliminate route. Pace #349 already offers better service. Improve frequency of #349 during weekday rush hours.

#63W West 63rd Combine with #63 63rd St to make one route. no changes to night service.

#96 Lunt replace with #290 Touhy. 290 should go down Clark to Lunt in order to serve the Rogers Park Metra and then back up to Touhy on Ridge. The McCormick portion should be replaced by extending the 155 Devon north to the Lincolnwood Town Center.

I agree that #174, #49A and #96 should be eliminated. However, I disagree that #10, #19 and #63W should be eliminated.

For example, on #10, i'm sure people enjoy the service non-stop from 11th/Columbus because it doesn't make those local stops like #6 does. On #19, i'm sure people wouldn't want to miss an event waiting for those #20 buses. #63W should not be combined with #63 because #63W is a much smaller route and i'm sure #63 drivers wouldn't want to travel from Stony Island/64th to Archer.

[Danielsmusic]

1 Indiana-Hyde Park: Should be eliminated. There is already buses on Michigan and Indiana north of 31st. South of 31st, there is #29 State and #3 King Drive. On 51st, #15 Jeffery Local already provides service.

Agreed. A very unnecessary route.

11 Lincoln-Sedgwick: Should be only kept on Lincoln and terminate at North/Clark. On Sedgwick, bring #37 back.

I believe they did that for about a year. Didn't work. There were always transfers between the two routes at Fullerton, and neither route was that profitable by itself. Therefore, to streamline service and hopefully combine ridership to make a profitable route, they were combined.

33 Magnificent Mile Express - Should be eliminated.

I'm iffy in this one. I mean, the 33 is a nice connection for people who live around the intersection of Goose Island / Old Town / Cabrini, as well as being very convenient for people who connect from the Metra Clybourn station. That said, this isn't that profitable a route. I recently started taking the 33 to work every morning, and I've never seen more than ten people on the bus at one time. In my opinion, there should be two buses created from this route: One that starts at the Clybourn Metra, and stops at North/Elston, North/Sheffield, North/Halsted, and LaSalle between North and Eugenie. Then, it would take the Kennedy right back to the Clybourn Metra station. The other one should do the same kind of thing from the Grand Metra station. However, they should only go in rush direction, and we need to be sure they NEVER run in the evening again

50 Damen - Maybe this route should be eliminated north of Foster.

I disagree. It provides service on north Ashland and it provides a connection with the 22. It used to go down Ravenswood. When it did that, they bit past Foster was unnecessary; today, that is not the case.

71 71st-South Shore: To save money, the route should only run between 69th Red Line to 71st/South Shore. For improving service, this route should be extended to 71st/Pulaski, but eliminated south of 71st (I would bring #27 back).

Personally, I think there should be one bus that runs on 71st. I agree that the 27 should be brought back, but I think the routing should be changed a little to correspond with the 26.

135 Clarendon/LaSalle Express - Should be eliminated.

I don't agree at all. I think it provides an important service for people who work downtown, and the only alternative in the morning is to take the 148 to the inner drive, the 145/146 to Belmont, and then the 156 downtown. That's not convenient.

147 Outer Drive Express - Maybe this route should be eliminated.

Um, no.

148 Clarendon/Michigan Express - Should be eliminated. #145 Wilson/Michigan Express would replace it.

If I'm correct (which I am), they tried this and it didn't work. The 145 got on Lake Shore Drive at Irving Park, and there weren't enough buses between Irving Park and Belmont. And, the 145 doing the old routing clearly didn't work, because it was problematic enough to warrant a major change.

[pace]

3 King Drive extended to King Drive / 115th

(Route 353 operate express to 130th via I-57)

8 TO 95th/Halsted (no room at red line)

8A/108 - DISCONTINUE

54 to Archer no 54B extend X54 to Ford City

62H - DISCONTINUE USE 62 - extend pace route 330 to Midway

63W - DISCONTINUE (use 63) or pace service only on 63rd (307-386-831) more trips may be needed

79 operate some trips to Moraine VC during non-rush and weekends NOTE SOME TRIPS

90 - DISCONTINUE ( change 307 from Blue Line to Midway)

95E/95W =one route

103/106 = one route

[nextstopchicago]

The 52 terminates at about 3500 N. California, where there is a bus turn-around fenced off from the ComEd property.

I think this bus should turn left onto Elston, right onto Albany (or onto Whipple, whose one-way could be reversed), and then right onto Addison, laying over in the little shopping center there that has the Target.

Currently, the 52 has relatively little patronage north of Fullerton. This would give it at least a minor traffic generating terminal, and wouldn't really require much more time. It could be done with the approval of the center, but it could also be done without it, by using on-street space to lay over.

[Buslover88]

The 52 terminates at about 3500 N. California, where there is a bus turn-around fenced off from the ComEd property.

I think this bus should turn left onto Elston, right onto Albany (or onto Whipple, whose one-way could be reversed), and then right onto Addison, laying over in the little shopping center there that has the Target.

Currently, the 52 has relatively little patronage north of Fullerton. This would give it at least a minor traffic generating terminal, and wouldn't really require much more time. It could be done with the approval of the center, but it could also be done without it, by using on-street space to lay over.

I don't think anybody was talking about #52.

[jajuan]

I agree with a few points made here. First, I think that #56 should have additional trips beyond Logan Square both AM and PM; I also think that those school trips should start/end at the high school. #56 should also be extended to Devon, eliminating #56A. Second, I think #68 should be kept the way it is on Sundays. Thrid, I think #90N should be eliminated. #90 should be eliminated completey south of Grand. Finally, I think #93 should be eliminated on Saturday.

I disagree with some ideas here. For example, #86 should be kept the way it is. I think things are better now that #86 replaces #91's old extension because #91 doesn't have to leave Jefferson Park and go on Nagle when the route clearly says Austin. Also, I think some drivers would be tired out going all the way from Roosevelt to Devon.

I agree that #174, #49A and #96 should be eliminated. However, I disagree that #10, #19 and #63W should be eliminated.

For example, on #10, i'm sure people enjoy the service non-stop from 11th/Columbus because it doesn't make those local stops like #6 does. On #19, i'm sure people wouldn't want to miss an event waiting for those #20 buses. #63W should not be combined with #63 because #63W is a much smaller route and i'm sure #63 drivers wouldn't want to travel from Stony Island/64th to Archer.

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Here are my suggestions:

1 Indiana-Hyde Park: Should be eliminated. There is already buses on Michigan and Indiana north of 31st. South of 31st, there is #29 State and #3 King Drive. On 51st, #15 Jeffery Local already provides service.

3 King Drive - Should be terminated at 94th/Cottage Grove.

4 Cottage Grove - For improving service only, this route should be extended to 115th/Cottage Grove

11 Lincoln-Sedgwick: Should be only kept on Lincoln and terminate at North/Clark. On Sedgwick, bring #37 back.

17 Westchester - Should be eliminated.

18 18th-16th: East of Canal, this route should be kept on 18th. Eliminate the Cermak portion.

21 Cermak - This route should be eliminated west of 54th/Cermak unless it gives really good benefits or is still in Chicago west of there. Also, this route's number should be changed to 22 and Clark's would be 21.

24 Wentworth - Trips going into Grand Blvd Shopping Plaza should be eliminated.

33 Magnificent Mile Express - Should be eliminated.

44 Wallace-Racine: Should be eliminated on Root and Halsted. It would go down Wallace to 47th then to Racine. Alternative: stay on Racine only.

49B North Western - Should be eliminated south of Berwyn.

50 Damen - Maybe this route should be eliminated north of Foster.

52A S. Kedzie - Service to Evergreen Plaza should be eliminated.

53AL S. Pulaski Limited - Service should be eliminated.

57 Laramie - For improving service only: should be extended to Jefferson Park. Service would go via Laramie, Wilson and Milwaukee to the terminal.

64 Foster-Canfield: Should be eliminated.

67 67th-69th-71st: Service on 69th and 71st should be eliminated. This route would stay on 67th (Marquette) to Cicero, then go either to Midway or Ford City. Trips to 67th/South Shore should be eliminated (I would have all trips go to LaRabida Hospital). Trips going via Western, Marquette and Damen to 69th would be eliminated also.

69 Cumberland/East River - Should be eliminated. If service is really needed on 69th, this route should be 69 69th and go from 69th Red Line to Holy Cross Hospital.

71 71st-South Shore: To save money, the route should only run between 69th Red Line to 71st/South Shore. For improving service, this route should be extended to 71st/Pulaski, but eliminated south of 71st (I would bring #27 back).

82 Kimball-Homan: Service to 31st/Komensky would be eliminated.

92 Foster - For improving service only, the route should run to Harlem/Foster.

108 Halsted-95th: Should be eliminated.

111 Pullman-111th-115th: Should only stay on 111th and run to Pulaski.

112 Vincennes-111th: If the #111 extension I put above should be put in effect, this route would be eliminated.

119 Michigan-119th: Should only be kept on 119th.

135 Clarendon/LaSalle Express - Should be eliminated.

147 Outer Drive Express - Maybe this route should be eliminated.

148 Clarendon/Michigan Express - Should be eliminated. #145 Wilson/Michigan Express would replace it.

165 West 65th - Should be eliminated.

I'll have to disagree with you about the 21 Cermak. The current configuration is alot better than when the 25 W Cermak was around. Plenty of people use it now to get to North Riverside Mall. It made no sense to have everyone get off at 54/Cermak just to get on another bus for such a short distance to the mall. The way it's routed now it's more of a convenience and less of a nuisance to be able to make the trip on one bus. Using the reason that there's some encroachment within suburban territory doesn't wash. The bigger concern should be convenience to the riders, not should there be any crossing from city to suburb on CTA or Pace's part. You're going to have some cross service between the two at the borders between city and suburb to maintain some level of convenience for the riders which is as it should be. So what you may have a CTA route operate some into a bordering suburb or a local Pace route comes a little ways into the city. If that helps keep convenient connections between the two, then so be it. I think most riders care less about either staying within a set border than they do being able to have those convenient connections between the two. One region working together guys, not against each other.

[Danielsmusic]

Why can't CTA just create a #9A North Ashland then (of course, if Doomsday doesn't happen)?

Because the CTA doesn't go out of their way to waste money in every possible way.

I for one believe that bus routes that are named for a street, neighborhood, etc. should stay on that street(s), neighborhood, etc.

Good idea. So the 6 Jackson Park Express will be a "limited stop" bus only in Jackson Park. The 4 Cottage Grove bus will end as soon as Cottage Grove does. The 147 Outer Drive Express will be a "limited stop" bus on the Outer Drive. The 151 Sheridan will run between Devon and the Inner Drive. Once the Inner Drive turns into Sheridan south of Belomont, the bus will magically reappear and run to Diversey. The 136 Sheridan/LaSalle Express will fly from Foster to LaSalle. The 2 Hyde Park Express will make circles around Hyde Park. What you are saying makes absolutely no sense.

I believe #147 should be eliminated because it almost copycats #151 Sheridan through its whole route.

No, it is provided for the people who don't want to sit on the bus for a million hours. It has the highest patronage of any North Side express route. People take the 147 precisely because they live where it stops on Sheridan. People take the 151 because they live where it stops on Sheridan. Two buses, one express and one local, which stop on the same street. So what? Using your logic, we have to eliminate the X3, X4, X9, 14, X20, 26, X28, X49, 53AL, X54, X55, X80, 100, 124, 125, 134, 143, 144, 147, 148, 157, and 170. That makes a lot of sense (sarcasm).

Looking at #148's schedule again, you are somewhat right. However, I think that #148 (except from Belmont to Irving) is a duplicate of #145.

Yes, it was created so that people would be able to get to work in the morning. It follows the same routing in certain places, but it only runs down Wilson when the 145 doesn't.

[BusExpert32]

Good idea. So the 6 Jackson Park Express will be a "limited stop" bus only in Jackson Park. The 4 Cottage Grove bus will end as soon as Cottage Grove does. The 147 Outer Drive Express will be a "limited stop" bus on the Outer Drive. The 151 Sheridan will run between Devon and the Inner Drive. Once the Inner Drive turns into Sheridan south of Belmont, the bus will magically reappear and run to Diversey. The 136 Sheridan/LaSalle Express will fly from Foster to LaSalle. The 2 Hyde Park Express will make circles around Hyde Park. What you are saying makes absolutely no sense.

That is very true. None of the CTA's routes stay exactly on the same street or neighborhood as named after. The route "name" is just to express the main portion of the route, not all of it. And if they did do that, it would be a joke.

No, it is provided for the people who don't want to sit on the bus for a million hours. It has the highest patronage of any North Side express route. People take the 147 precisely because they live where it stops on Sheridan. People take the 151 because they live where it stops on Sheridan. Two buses, one express and one local, which stop on the same street. So what? Using your logic, we have to eliminate the X3, X4, X9, 14, X20, 26, X28, X49, 53AL, X54, X55, X80, 100, 124, 125, 134, 143, 144, 147, 148, 157, and 170. That makes a lot of sense (sarcasm).

Never in a million years would the #147 be cut for restructuring reasons. Just never. It wouldn't make sense- the #147 is one of the most heavily rode routes in the system. This idea really came out of the blue.

[BusExpert32]

I disagree with some ideas here. For example, #86 should be kept the way it is. I think things are better now that #86 replaces #91's old extension because #91 doesn't have to leave Jefferson Park and go on Nagle when the route clearly says Austin. Also, I think some drivers would be tired out going all the way from Roosevelt to Devon.

I don't think it matters what the drivers think. And how would you explain the thoughts of the drivers on the 49, X49, 9, and X9? Also, it's their job, complaining about the distance of each route would be pointless- and I don't think that any driver does.

[Busjack]

63W - DISCONTINUE (use 63) or pace service only on 63rd (307-386-831) more trips may be needed

You forget that the South-Cook Will Restructuring (which the legislation will mandate if it is upheld) calls for limiting 831 to Joliet-Orland Square and reroutes 386 to via Clearing, eliminating the portion in Chicago and Pace route 382. Since you are no better at coordinating service than CTA and Pace, this would result in removing all service from West 63rd.

[jajuan]

' i'm just saying that if it's assigned to a street or neighborhood, it should serve it instead of going all over the damn place!'

And again with that thinking, you may as well be eliminating a whole slew of express routes as mentioned above, or have some routes ending at one point and magically reappearing miles away on their other leg of service (151 example given above or 36).

'I don't like more then one route on a street if it doesn't say the street's name on the route, have a problem with it?'

Hmm. I guess those Orange line riders on the 44 should find another way to get to S Racine with that logic since it shares a portion of 47th with the 47, a portion of Halsted with the 8 and a portion of Archer with the 62, though it's only stop on Archer is the Orange line station at Halsted and Archer. Or those who live on S. California should find another connection to the Orange Line since the 94 has to operate on 47th, Western and 51st to serve it, encroaching on 47, 49, X49 and 51's turf. Better yet, let's just reconfigure just about every route that operates in the downtown area since the streets there have multiple routes operating on them, few of which has those streets' names in their route names. And a few of the streets may have upwards of a dozen routes or more operating on different stretches through downtown. Sorry but not very realistic.

'You're right on all of this except for the region working together. If they are two companies, they should be against each other.'

I see. Even though they're two companies serving one region as a whole. I guess they should make their fares totally incompatible with each other too and make connections between each other impossible. Why bother to worry about the convenience to your customer bases as a whole considering so many riders travel from the burbs to the city to work and vice versa? Hey why bother to ask the state to reinvest some of our tax dollars back into public transit so that a very vital area of the state's economy just goes bust. Again not realistic given economies have become so intertwined. That's the type of thinking that helped keep transit funding in limbo for a whole year because the thinking in state government was it's downstate against Chicago, Chicago against the suburbs, Chicago against the rest of the state, etc.

[pace]

You forget that the South-Cook Will Restructuring (which the legislation will mandate if it is upheld) calls for limiting 831 to Joliet-Orland Square and reroutes 386 to via Clearing, eliminating the portion in Chicago and Pace route 382. Since you are no better at coordinating service than CTA and Pace, this would result in removing all service from West 63rd.

I'm not talking about the South-Cook Will Restructuring. I'm basing my opinion on 307-386-831 the way the route currently runs not the way it might be changed into.

[Buslover88]

I decided to delete all my posts from this thread as nobody seems to like my suggestions. If I can't share my suggestions, then stop making your's too. If you guys are going to stupid about all of this, why do I even bother making posts? I'm sick of all this crap of everyone picking on me, it's going to stop right now. Delete my quotes.

Busjack: I don't care if I was quoted either.

[Busjack]

I'm not talking about the South-Cook Will Restructuring. I'm basing my opinion on 307-386-831 the way the route currently runs not the way it might be changed into.

But that shows the kind of planning shortsightedness so common with CTA and Pace. Fortunately, what we are doing here has no actual effect.

[Busjack]

I decided to delete all my posts from this thread as nobody seems to like my suggestions. If I can't share my suggestions, then stop making your's too. If you guys are going to stupid about all of this, why do I even bother making posts? I'm sick of all this crap of everyone picking on me, it's going to stop right now. Delete my quotes.

Busjack: I don't care if I was quoted either.

It isn't picking on you. In fact I said some of your suggestions may have a point.

Remember, the premise was

If any of you were able to make route adjustments that would save the CTA money or perhaps even improve service, what would they be?

Hence, anyone can make a suggestion, but it is open to analysis, such as where a suggestion leaves the riders a mile short of the established point for connection with other services. One proper point of analysis is whether what's left actually serves passengers. For instance, whatever one thinks about the X9 duplicating 9, the Ridership Report shows that it was instantly successful in attracting riders, so that is sufficient.

If you will note, I analyzed FG's suggestions based on what his criteria were: whether they would save CTA money or possibly improve service. You should also note that I used the save money criterion when I said certain interlinings wouldn't work, if that implied running essentially empty buses on the main line's frequency into the extension route, or asked if the proposers contemplated short turning those routes.

Similarly, one of your criteria was whether the bus stayed on the same place on the grid. While that is essentially how CTA services are organized, there are other criteria. For instance, on the North Lake Shore Drive and South Lake Shore Drive restructurings, one of the goals was to split up the boarding areas, so that, for instance, people in Lakeview would be able to board a bus instead of contend with an already loaded 146 or 151, or so that not everyone on the far south side would be forced to transfer onto the crowded 14 bus, by splitting the boarding areas among the reconfigured 6 and 26, and putting local traffic on the 15.

I sometimes mention historical traffic patterns, but, like the 155 Superdawg Feeder, to illustrate not historic knowledge, but to establish that if the line didn't work before, there has to be some evidence that passenger demand has changed. I also mentioned some anachronisms that should be changed, like the 17 and 67-110 (others have previously discussed the Kedzie bus on California, although again North Kedzie has been a historically troubled area in generating sufficient ridership, and the Kimball-Homan bus seems adequate).

As my preceding reply indicates, fortunately the transit authorities have planning agencies and what we discuss here is probably of little effect. I also noted that I don't have the ridership information to comment on certain proposals, presumably CTA does (I know Pace does). So, one should not get hot just because someone has given an opinion whether a change meets the criteria of the topic. I also said that I didn't agree with some of the restructuring by the CTA.

[Danielsmusic]

I decided to delete all my posts from this thread as nobody seems to like my suggestions. If I can't share my suggestions, then stop making your's too. If you guys are going to stupid about all of this, why do I even bother making posts? I'm sick of all this crap of everyone picking on me, it's going to stop right now. Delete my quotes.

It might be due to the fact that you're a highschooler, but I don't know why you think people are picking on you. Nobody's picking on you, people just dissect eachother's ideas. Just like you think you're allowed to post your suggestions, people are allowed to disagree.

[geneking7320]

#56A North Milwaukee Cut this route completely and replace with 270 Milwaukee.

#174 U of C Garfield Stations should be discontinued. There is already sufficient service on the #55 Garfield 24 hours a day.

#19 United Center Express this is an easy route to lose because the 20 already is providing good service.

#10 Museum of Science and Industry This is also an easy one to cut because the #6 Jackson Park Express provides more frequent service.

#49A South Western Eliminate route. Pace #349 already offers better service. Improve frequency of #349 during weekday rush hours.

#63W West 63rd Combine with #63 63rd St to make one route. no changes to night service.

#96 Lunt replace with #290 Touhy. 290 should go down Clark to Lunt in order to serve the

Rogers Park Metra and then back up to Touhy on Ridge. The McCormick portion should be replaced by extending the 155 Devon north to the Lincolnwood Town Center.

One small problem - #290 presently goes right past my building [i live near Rogers and Damen] and you'd force me to walk more. :lol:

[geneking7320]

My suggestions for route 3 King Drive:

1) If the present "terminal routing" at 95th St continues place those streets "in service".

That is, pick up and drop off passengers along 95th, Michigan, 98th and State streets.

2) Have those buses which presently terminate northbound at Michael Reese [29th Pl and Cottage Grove]

terminate at Illinois Center.

[Busjack]

My suggestions for route 3 King Drive:

2) Have those buses which presently terminate northbound at Michael Reese [29th Pl and Cottage Grove]

terminate at Illinois Center.

The midday frequency downtown doesn't seem sufficient (especially if there is something at McCormick Place), so I would tend to agree with this. I doubt I will go to the Auto Show again, if I have to go through the hassles using CTA I did coming on 3 years ago (127s (or whatever they are now) packed, and a 3 every 15-20 minutes).

[Guest]

Blago better pray his ridiculous gamble pays off otherwise he may be looking for a new job when he is voted out of office. Where does Mayor Daley get off acting like the cheerleader in all of this? He has done nothing to show his support except get in front of a camera and make the citizens of Chicago think he cares. In my opinion they all screwed up Blago, Daley, Kreusi, and all the people in Springfield. Everyone shares the blame in this. But Blago, Daley and Kreusi share most of the blame.

[Buslover88]

It might be due to the fact that you're a highschooler, but I don't know why you think people are picking on you. Nobody's picking on you, people just dissect eachother's ideas. Just like you think you're allowed to post your suggestions, people are allowed to disagree.

I'm not a high schooler, i'm in my last year of elementary school. Also, a few posts made here don't just "disagree" with me. One more thing, I won't be making anymore suggestions for a while.

Blago better pray his ridiculous gamble pays off otherwise he may be looking for a new job when he is voted out of office. Where does Mayor Daley get off acting like the cheerleader in all of this? He has done nothing to show his support except get in front of a camera and make the citizens of Chicago think he cares. In my opinion they all screwed up Blago, Daley, Kreusi, and all the people in Springfield. Everyone shares the blame in this. But Blago, Daley and Kreusi share most of the blame.

I think this is off topic.