Agency agrees to restore 1 bus route, create another after complaints
Acknowledging that its riders know best, the Chicago Transit Authority board voted Wednesday to restore a heavily used North Lake Shore Drive express bus to its former route in the spring.
In addition to going back to the original route for the No. 145 Wilson/Michigan Express, the board voted to create a new route in the spring–No. 148 Clarendon/Michigan Express–because changes made in September to ease crowding and delays haven’t worked.
The new express route will provide service along the lakefront high-rise corridor during rush hours to better serve the crush of commuters going between the North Side and downtown.
“I’m happy, but I just wish they didn’t make the changes in the first place. It has been a hardship on a lot of people,” said Kevin Stanley, a real estate market researcher who lives in Wrigleyville.
Rerouting the No. 145 to Lake Shore Drive at Irving Park Road was designed to shorten travel times between neighborhoods and the Loop and to reduce overcrowding.
But passengers complained the move created a gap in service between Belmont Avenue and Irving Park, even though the CTA added buses on the No. 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express route.
The CTA board also voted to put the No. X21 Cermak Express, operating from North Riverside Park Mall and the South Loop, back on its original route and hours. All the changes will begin in late March or early April, CTA officials said.
Meanwhile, marking a new spirit of openness with its customers initiated by CTA chairman Carole Brown, the board set aside almost the first half-hour of its monthly meeting to hear from passengers. Comments about safety and security issues dominated the public session. Public comment will be heard each month.
The board voted unanimously to return the No. 145 to its original North Side routing–entering and exiting Lake Shore Drive at Belmont instead of farther north at Irving Park–after receiving a flood of complaints from riders since the reroute was made in September.
The No. 145 will start in spring to operate express from Belmont on the Drive, resuming local stops at Michigan and Delaware Place through to Wells Street and Congress Parkway.
The change in September was part of a six-month experiment involving 24 bus routes serving North and South Lake Shore Drive–the first major changes in CTA bus service along the lakefront since 1982.
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Edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and alBerto Trevino (atrevino@tribune.com)
