cta5658 Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 just asking what are gonna be the 95W run numbers when the moves go into effect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusExpert32 Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 In addition, unless Chicago's few remaining 5300s are retired or moved, Chicago will not be 100% New Flyer 1000s, either. Yes, I've also been seeing quite a few of Chicago's 5300s recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 I drove past Archer garage last night and you can see all Novas there now. Too bad for them that they had the 1000s for a little while now they've been taken away and replaced with older equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 I drove past Archer garage last night and you can see all Novas there now. Too bad for them that they had the 1000s for a little while now they've been taken away and replaced with older equipment. At least they are better off than riders of the #53A,#52A,#47,and #51 which has gone from a #1000 picking them up to a #6400 then on 3/23 to a #6000. Talk about bad luck!! You know I was thinking about the comment about certain neighborhoods being stuck with the oldest equipment. With the 3/23 changes, it actually adds better buses to some of those areas ( maybe CTA is thinking about this too). Engelwood would get #1000's now even some hybrids, the best of the best, on the Halsted route so that should help them out. Also the #6000's would be more spread around like on the #53A or #52A where there are plenty of Novas not far away. But some areas could still complain, like the 55th/ashland area. They are stuck with the #6000's for now. By mid 2009 however they will most likely have #1000's there, that beats Fg and Archer's Novas with some of them pushing 7 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 Probably the scrap heap. Not going to happen until 2010 at the earliest for a few reasons: -Still have good pickup from a stop -Not yet near enough to 18 yrs. of age(CTA retires buses around this age, check the previous series of buses) -Too much money put into them recently(Spent several million rehabbing them in 2005) It seems many people hate the 5800's here. Granted, they have some problems(engine fires, but not recently. The Series-50 Detroits in these buses have been rehabbed). They may creak and squeak, but they do get you from point A to point B more times than not, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted March 4, 2008 Report Share Posted March 4, 2008 I drove past Archer garage last night and you can see all Novas there now. Too bad for them that they had the 1000s for a little while now they've been taken away and replaced with older equipment. CTA5750, What is wrong with the NOVAs? You were at Forest Glen in 2005, correct? From my experience on them, these buses are very reliable and don't break down that often. Now if, for example we had a fleet of NABI 40-LFW's and they were the only buses at Archer, I'd agree with you. NABI= Now Able to Break In less that one year. But the NOVA's have been running since 2001 with not many problems. Several of your former colleagues at the 'Glen have said they are good buses. I'm sure the Archer drivers are ok with a NOVA-only fleet. I haven't asked them because when I board a Western bus, it's around the time for Lane Tech to release 30,000,000 students on that one lone bus at Addison or Western, usually making the driver very irritable and not easy to talk to. Now maybe you're just mentioning that it's bad that the New Flyers have been taken and they now have only NOVAs, but I wish to ask you have you had a problem with them while at the 'Glen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 CTA5750, What is wrong with the NOVAs? You were at Forest Glen in 2005, correct? From my experience on them, these buses are very reliable and don't break down that often. Now if, for example we had a fleet of NABI 40-LFW's and they were the only buses at Archer, I'd agree with you. NABI= Now Able to Break In less that one year. But the NOVA's have been running since 2001 with not many problems. Several of your former colleagues at the 'Glen have said they are good buses. I'm sure the Archer drivers are ok with a NOVA-only fleet. I haven't asked them because when I board a Western bus, it's around the time for Lane Tech to release 30,000,000 students on that one lone bus at Addison or Western, usually making the driver very irritable and not easy to talk to. Now maybe you're just mentioning that it's bad that the New Flyers have been taken and they now have only NOVAs, but I wish to ask you have you had a problem with them while at the 'Glen? I'm guessing he means it's sad for them to to be going to a fleet of all older equipment in general so soon after having the opportunity to have use of new equipment. It's not necessarily a comment on performance as such. 74th can be seen as an example of this. It's now all 6000s and those buses are at least 13 years old if you start with the Cummins powered buses and move back to the lower numbered buses which were delivered earlier. I'm not really a big fan of 6000s outside of the Cummins buses, but I haven't heard of too many problems with them outside of the kneeling function which was permanently deactivated on these buses. So they've run pretty well but they are still aging will soon approach that 18 year age that CTA has been retiring buses recently. Plus you have upper management throwing the service standard of reducing the average bus age per garage out the window. In the case of Archer and especially 74th, you're actually seeing an increase in bus age instead of a decrease. 74th has seen no new equipment since getting their delivery of 6000s back in 1995 and 1996. From that point of view, it's not a good thing. CTA management doesn't want to fall into that trap of just because older equipment in one garage or so is still working good, it can keep delaying replacing that equipment in that garage. Neglecting to replace equipment in a garage for almost 15 years and then making moves of consolidating older equipment are poor decisions regardless of how well that equipment may still run and how much money in maintenance costs is supposedly saved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 5, 2008 Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 CTA5750, What is wrong with the NOVAs? You were at Forest Glen in 2005, correct? From my experience on them, these buses are very reliable and don't break down that often. Now if, for example we had a fleet of NABI 40-LFW's and they were the only buses at Archer, I'd agree with you. NABI= Now Able to Break In less that one year. But the NOVA's have been running since 2001 with not many problems. Several of your former colleagues at the 'Glen have said they are good buses. I'm sure the Archer drivers are ok with a NOVA-only fleet. I haven't asked them because when I board a Western bus, it's around the time for Lane Tech to release 30,000,000 students on that one lone bus at Addison or Western, usually making the driver very irritable and not easy to talk to. Now maybe you're just mentioning that it's bad that the New Flyers have been taken and they now have only NOVAs, but I wish to ask you have you had a problem with them while at the 'Glen? Dont get me wrong, I never meant the Novas were bad to start with. I drove the Novas since theyre arrival at the Glen in 2002 and IMO with those large round headlights they are ugly looking buses, if they had the more familiar rectangular headlamps I probably would have a better opinion of them. Also I am not a particular fan of the low floor concept but the Novas do have advantages over other models. For one the large single piece front windshield which gives much better visibilty as well as the double stream doors. But the Novas also have their faults in the braking and acceleration. Ask any operator and they will tell you how the bus jerks when you step on the accelerator, passengers were prone to falls if theyre not holding on tight. You really had to have the skill to operate a Nova. When I worked at the Glen particularly on the 54A for a pull out I would request a Flxible 6000 because I had many seniors who would board and I couldnt trust operating a Nova and risk having a passenger injured. But you would have to drive one for yourself and come up with your own conclusions. The Novas are not bad buses, but they arent the best either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 On Today's press release from CTA's Website, from the 2nd to last paragraph is self-explainatory. All I have to say is Sunday will be a Historical moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 WGN tv this evening reported on the new hybrid artics coming. they had their cameras at Kedzie Garage along with NF 801 and 802 in the background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geneking7320 Posted March 20, 2008 Report Share Posted March 20, 2008 On Today's press release from CTA's Website, from the 2nd to last paragraph is self-explainatory. All I have to say is Sunday will be a Historical moment. When I skimmed the release I noticed a line mentioning a switch from stainless steel to carbon steel in the bus chasis. Given Chicago winters and salting, do you folks think that is a good idea? Gene King Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cta5658 Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 the picks are in effect as of now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 the picks are in effect as of now So how is the transition of the owl routes changing garages handled? Is it that as buses from the former garage are scheduled to pull in the next scheduled pullout comes from the new garage? I guess what I'm getting at is does this overnight transition to the new garage happen as soon after midnight that that route's schedule permit? The nonowl routes' assignment change times are self explanatory. I'm just curious how this works for overnight routes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 The one thing I saw when I was walking down Roosevelt last night, it was about 8:30 and I saw one of the last bus run on the 60 Blue Island. I think that run was 428 and the bus was I think it was 1163. I knew it was one of the last Kedzie runs on Blue Island since Archer will be taking over on Sunday (which is Today). Whenever those runs that start before 12:01am, it would still be on yesterday (or today's) schedule. Afterwards it would fall on today's (or tomorrow's) schedule. So, many of the first runs schedule would start rolling in at about 3am. I remember back almost 5 years ago, the CTA website post the next pick schedule on the Friday before the Sunday's new bus assignments go in effect. They would also post on their press releases or on the customer alerts that which bus route would provide more buses or adjustment of headways on some bus routes (since some routes go on different schedules every pick like 63rd Street). Now they'll post the new schedules on the following Monday or maybe a few days after the pick goes in effect. Also I remember back during the June 22nd, 2003 pick, they use to post the routes that have significant schedule changes one by one posted on their bus schedule pages. Also, what is so interesting about this new bus assignment period is that not only many buses will be either moving to other locations or some of those older buses will be laid to rest, I'm highly interested in the new run number system since twenty-eight bus routes are moving to other garages today. I really love to see how the drivers at Kedzie are feeling with their new additions of the 8, 145/148 & a handful of Downtown bus routes. I will also miss the lovely 29 from 77th. I always loved those Nova driving by State Street and it's sad to see it go because they had that street almost forever. Now Novas will overflow Damen, 26th & Cermak accompanied by Archer. Also since 103rd is acquiring the 95W & 29, you will see more drivers from 103rd making their reliefs at the 95th/State Red Line station and taking the 106 East 103rd almost frequently. I hope that CTA will unveil their new maps on either April or during June when the new bus assignments period with the Changes with the west side bus routes. But nevertheless today is a historical moment for the CTA and hopefully these changes will save money on fuel. Yet some runs might have longer deadheads like the 145/148. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Im glad the 206 Evanston no longer runs out of FG. That was a waste from the beginning, NP should be stuck with all the Evanston routes. Evanston routes are too far from FG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Well while I'm out later today for my birthday, I'll get to observe some of the changes that happened in my part of town, NOVAs on the 50 and 60, Flyers and TMCs on the 8, and maybe some of what Kedzie got for its transferred or retired 5300 Flxibles to name some of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buslover88 Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Well while I'm out later today for my birthday, I'll get to observe some of the changes that happened in my part of town, NOVAs on the 50 and 60, Flyers and TMCs on the 8, and maybe some of what Kedzie got for its transferred or retired 5300 Flxibles to name some of them. I hope you really get to see the changes, i'm not able to. And happy birthday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nflyer22 Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Well while I'm out later today for my birthday, I'll get to observe some of the changes that happened in my part of town, NOVAs on the 50 and 60, Flyers and TMCs on the 8, and maybe some of what Kedzie got for its transferred or retired 5300 Flxibles to name some of them. Happy Birthday by the way! Just out of curiosity, when will the new run numbers be posted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Just out of curiosity, when will the new run numbers be posted? I'm currently working on adding them to the site. Check back later this afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nflyer22 Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 I'm currently working on adding them to the site. Check back later this afternoon. Wow, that fast? I didn't expect them until maybe next week or 2; thanks so much for all your hard work! By the way, saw 6689 and 6553 on 21 Cermak today. What surprises me is that both didn't have any way of showing it was a 21 (visually). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Spring pick run numbers are now online in the expanded garages section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendo26 Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Rode the 8 today all New Flyers. The southbound 8 I was one had a driver change at the blue line station. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Only change I've gotten to see so far was the run number change of the 12 Roosevelt as mentioned by Kevin in the garage section. The bus I saw had run number K627. I shall keep you all posted later on what else I see while I'm out. And Happy Birthday to Busjack as well. It's his birthday too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Happy Birthday to both our fellow busfans! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 New schedules effective today for the 2 and the 29 are posted on the CTA website for those who were interested in when new spring pick schedules would be out. Those were the only two that I saw posted so far. Not many of the others were posted yet from what I could see. Although I only did a quick skim through and not a detailed search. As a side note, it's interesting to see that the CTA's old original web address www.yourcta.com still works right along with the current transitchicago.com. These days when agencies and companies change web addresses, a lot of the time they redirect from the old address to the new or deactivate the old address altogether. UPDATE: 52A can be added to that short list. I just checked and saw it had a new schedule posted too. So that's three so far. No others yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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