CHICAGO: Transit Developments - Page 755

SIGSEGV · #**15081** Posted **Mar 31, 2020, 5:24 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I can see the trains very well from my apartment, they are empty. There is no need to run them every 3 or 5 minutes. Social distancing will happen with 10-minute headways.

The south-side Green line is pretty empty under normal circumstances and the orange line is pretty uni-directional in demand. Based on the number of people I see from my apartment waiting for the 12 (or 18), there is some (but not very large) there must be some people riding the trains!

emathias · #**15082** Posted **Mar 31, 2020, 9:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MayorOfChicago

Are other agencies still running full service? From what I saw everyone from NYC to DC to San Fran is cutting back on service, which certainly makes sense during rush hour.

I mean why are they running headways of three minutes on the red and blue lines now when there's no on on them? I've seen the trains, they're all almost entirely empty at rush hour.

Why not just run every 8-10 minutes all day at this point on all lines?

If they have the money for payroll, especially if it's money the Feds have chipped in (I don't know that they do, but if) then it's worth keeping their staff employed, especially if they can work in ways that minimize risk.

VKChaz · #**15083** Posted **Apr 1, 2020, 5:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

The south-side Green line is pretty empty under normal circumstances and the orange line is pretty uni-directional in demand. Based on the number of people I see from my apartment waiting for the 12 (or 18), there is some (but not very large) there must be some people riding the trains!

Am seeing bus after bus run about empty, including rush hr express buses which cater to people who are working remote. NY and elsewhere seem to be reducing service. It definitely should be happening, if it isn't already.

MayorOfChicago · #**15084** Posted **Apr 15, 2020, 2:49 PM**

I looked a bit and I can't find any other city still running at rush hour services except Chicago. During the nice weather I was out in our park almost all day and every single bus I saw go by on Irving Park road had a max of 0-3 people on board.

I go downtown to my office once a week and I actually got stuck on LaSalle because of traffic. People are parking on the sides of the street now and there's really only one solid lane down LaSalle. There is such a crush of rush hour buses still coming down that traffic was backed up pretty bad, and it looked crazy because it was all buses.

I look every time at every bus and I actually never saw more than 2 people on any of the dozens of large accordian or regular buses on LaSalle or passing on any side street. Many of the buses didn't even have their interior lights on because they were never going to have any passengers anyway.

I can see the blue line and hear it from my house, it runs constantly and I never see anyone really on any of the trains.

From a pollution and usage standpoint it's kinda insane they are running as much as they can at this point - almost all entirely empty.

ardecila · #**15085** Posted **Apr 15, 2020, 3:30 PM**

I mean, having 2 people on a bus (or railcar) is really the ideal for social distancing. We'd be polluting the same amount if the pandemic was not occurring.

I'm not sure it makes sense to continue with the rush hour service pattern, though, since the essential workers still using CTA are less likely to be 9-5 and more likely to be shift workers.

VKChaz · #**15086** Posted **Apr 16, 2020, 8:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MayorOfChicago

I looked a bit and I can't find any other city still running at rush hour services except Chicago. During the nice weather I was out in our park almost all day and every single bus I saw go by on Irving Park road had a max of 0-3 people on board.

I go downtown to my office once a week and I actually got stuck on LaSalle because of traffic. People are parking on the sides of the street now and there's really only one solid lane down LaSalle. There is such a crush of rush hour buses still coming down that traffic was backed up pretty bad, and it looked crazy because it was all buses.

I look every time at every bus and I actually never saw more than 2 people on any of the dozens of large accordian or regular buses on LaSalle or passing on any side street. Many of the buses didn't even have their interior lights on because they were never going to have any passengers anyway.

I can see the blue line and hear it from my house, it runs constantly and I never see anyone really on any of the trains.

From a pollution and usage standpoint it's kinda insane they are running as much as they can at this point - almost all entirely empty.

I don't know what the city is saying about this, but it makes no sense to me. CTA announced it expects a $551 mil shortfall this year ($1 bil for all of RTA). The federal government is providing some support, but this shortfall will go on past this year. They need to be thinking long term about how stretch the resources

SIGSEGV · #**15087** Posted **Apr 19, 2020, 9:27 PM**

So buses are no longer collecting fares and requiring people to board via the rear door though. The problem is that many buses don't have a way for the operator to open the rear-door, so people have ot pull it open with their hands. That sounds like a very unsanitary thing to do...

N830MH · #**15088** Posted **Apr 20, 2020, 6:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

So buses are no longer collecting fares and requiring people to board via the rear door though. The problem is that many buses don't have a way for the operator to open the rear-door, so people have ot pull it open with their hands. That sounds like a very unsanitary thing to do...

That is correct. All passengers must go rear doors, not in front door. Wheelchair still have go in front door. No longer collecting fares. You still have take a rail. I don't think you can pay fares for rail.

IrishIllini · #**15089** Posted **Apr 20, 2020, 2:38 PM**

Is there a reason riders are boarding through the rear? Seems counter intuitive.

the urban politician · #**15090** Posted **Apr 20, 2020, 4:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Is there a reason riders are boarding through the rear? Seems counter intuitive.

My best guess is that this is to protect the CTA bus driver from exposure

SIGSEGV · #**15091** Posted **Apr 22, 2020, 2:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician

My best guess is that this is to protect the CTA bus driver from exposure

Yeah, I imagine the CTA union demanded this (along with full service). Terrible for revenue but good for social distancing I guess.

Mr Downtown · #**15092** Posted **Apr 23, 2020, 12:52 AM**

Most urban systems were doing this 10 days before CTA finally gave in.

jtown,man · #**15093** Posted **Apr 24, 2020, 8:13 PM**

Dick Durban just wrote me back lol It was likely auto-generated but whatever.

Does anyone have the amount the RTA will be getting from the first stimulus bill?

Mr Downtown · #**15094** Posted **Apr 25, 2020, 8:22 PM**

$1.4 billion.

SIGSEGV · #**15095** Posted **Apr 25, 2020, 8:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Dick Durban just wrote me back lol It was likely auto-generated but whatever.

Does anyone have the amount the RTA will be getting from the first stimulus bill?

"Durbin" accidentally sent me two identical emails at the same time

Vlajos · #**15096** Posted **Apr 25, 2020, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

$1.4 billion.

Wow, that sounds like quite a bit. Is that split between CTA and Metra, Pace?

jtown,man · #**15097** Posted **Apr 26, 2020, 2:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

"Durbin" accidentally sent me two identical emails at the same time

lol Jesus

So, if they are getting 1.4 billion, that means they are good, right?

Mr Downtown · #**15098** Posted **Apr 26, 2020, 3:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Wow, that sounds like quite a bit. Is that split between CTA and Metra, Pace?

Yes. Not sure if the actual split has been decided yet, but news stories said CTA was expected to get about $800m.

VKChaz · #**15099** Posted **Apr 28, 2020, 3:39 PM**

fwiw: CNN article on transit "reopening." Not much info on Chicago, general info on distancing procedures, financial needs include NYC seeking an additional $4B in emergency aid.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/us/ma...ing/index.html

aaron38 · #**15100** Posted **Apr 30, 2020, 4:17 PM**

Has anyone heard what's happening with road construction? The I-290 bridge over Salt Creek near Addison/Elmhurst is getting rebuilt. They have a whole section with rebar done waiting for concrete. I'm mostly working from home but I still go into my lab in Elmhurst about once a week, and there has been absolutely no progress, no workers on site for weeks now.

I still see local street work happening. Does anyone know if major road construction projects are shut down?