As the CTA rolls out the bulk of its bus service overhaul Tuesday, some regular riders say they’ll be getting to the bus stop earlier just in case the reshuffling of routes doesn’t work to their advantage.
“I probably will get up earlier the first week,” Heather West, 27, of Wrigleyville said Monday. “They say that there are more 146 [buses] that are supposed to be going, but you can never believe that–it just makes the buses more crowded anyway.”
Less crowding and faster express service are the CTA’s goals of the route changes, the first major overhaul of lakeshore service in about 20 years. The plan focuses on getting express buses onto Lake Shore Drive earlier in their routes.
The rerouting will affect about 75,000 CTA customers, or 150,000 trips each weekday, mostly on high-volume rush-hour routes to downtown Chicago via North and South Lake Shore Drive.
Such a major change affecting so many routes will pose a challenge to commuters and their bus drivers, especially on the first day back to work after a long Labor Day weekend. In some cases, route names were changed and street routings redrawn to shorten trips. Some changes began Sunday.
Service on other routes is being increased to compensate for buses that no longer serve some of the local stops because of the new routings.
For instance, service is being expanded about 50 percent on the No. 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express to accommodate riders who no longer can board the No. 145 Wilson/Michigan Express between Irving Park Road and Belmont Avenue. The No. 145 now enters southbound Lake Shore Drive at Irving Park instead of Belmont.
The anticipated lack of buses between Irving Park and Belmont has some riders concerned.
“People want the 145 to go to Belmont–that’s what they’re complaining about,” said CTA operator Jugundi Singleton, who drives the 146 route.
Singleton said he heard a few complaints about the changes from weekend riders.
But not everyone sees the route changes as a hassle.
“[The new 145] would be a plus for me, because I get on at Irving Park,” said 146 rider Scott Courtney. “Stopping at Belmont added about 10 to 15 minutes onto my commute.”
While CTA bus ridership has grown 1 percent annually in recent years, bus routes on or near North Lake Shore Drive have experienced a 25 percent rider gain in the last five years. Ridership has grown 7 percent on routes along or near South Lake Shore Drive.
CTA officials promise riders will like the new bus service on 24 routes, including five new express routes to the Loop. Richard Winston, CTA executive vice president for transit operations, said he knows “people will vote with their feet,” but Winston is betting that means 25,000 more riders stepping aboard CTA buses each week.
CTA officials have said introducing shorter routes with fewer stops in some cases should help reduce delays and minimize bus bunching. But they offered no guarantees since buses share the road with other vehicles.
CTA critics have accused the agency of ignoring communities such as Pilsen and Lawndale while enhancing transit operations on what they called the already adequately served North and South Sides.
The bus service plan initially will be implemented for six months and then modified to smooth out problems, CTA officials said.
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Full details on the route changes are posted on the CTA’s Web site, www.transitchicago.com. Or call 836-7000 (all local area codes).
