Friday, August 24, 2012

CTA Plans To Cut Uptown Bus Service

We may be getting a lot of good news on the "L" side of the CTA service here in Uptown, but the "bus" side isn't as sunny.

As part of its service cuts, the CTA is planning on eliminating two of Uptown's bus routes, the #144 (Marine/Michigan Express) and the #145 (Wilson/Michigan Express). It says it will add more buses to the #148 and #146 routes to make up for the eliminated routes.

Our first thought is, what about the elderly and handicapped who depend on those bus routes? Walking even an extra block can be very tough when every step is painful, and the 50 or so stairs to the platforms of the CTA's non-ADA-compliant L stations means the trains provide no alternative.

A reader points out another downside: "This makes no sense and is especially bad news for people like me who work hours other than 9-5. The CTA plans to increase service during rush hour with the #148 route (well, there will only be buses going downtown in the morning and Uptown in the evening), completely eliminating service along the route during other times. And folks who use the bus to get from Uptown to anywhere between Irving Park and Belmont will be SOL."

You can read about it in RedEye or in the CTA's documents.

Don't like the change?  Tell the CTA!  You can vent here, but it won't make any difference in the outcome.  Tell the decision-makers about your feelings.

You can attend a public forum at CTA headquarters (September 4, 2012, 567 W. Lake St., at 6 p.m.) or you can contact the CTA by email here.

10 comments:

  1. So many people use this bus. What a nightmare. I just wrote and complained.

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  2. I really can't believe they are shutting down the 144. We started taking this bus because the 147 is extremly overcrowded. Although they are upping 146 & 148, what about us folk north of Irving Park?

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  3. As an elderly women I cannot climb all those Wilson El stairs. They are often slippery & simply dangerous. I depend on the 145 to get around. First they took my free bus pass away & now this.

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  4. In my experience/opinion, they need more 148's even without cutting the 144. Or at least switch the 148 to the long accordion buses in the morning - the regular ones get overcrowded all the time.

    Both 145s and 146s get ridiculously crowded when I see them downtown in the evenings. Simply making them all be 146s isn't enough, they still need more of them.

    I would really hate to lose the 145 on weekends.

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  5. I once raised concerns about fencing off an informal pathway that lots of elderly ladies and schoolkids took across publically-owned property. An elected official we know actually told us that he walked the alternative route himself and it ONLY took an extra two minutes. Sure, for a healthy elected official, but not for elderly ladies with painful arthritis and schoolkids trying to avoid gang recruiters.

    Forget playing the sympathy for the elderly card...it only works if you're donating money to retire campaign debt, otherwise, you won't get the time of day.

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  6. bear60640, you tell me that you wanted the elderly to walk on an isolated grass path behind Truman College that has poor lighting because it's a quicker route to Target? What a perfect place for a robber to stake out an elderly victim. Does that path even have a security camera? What police officer would ever think that's a practical plan?

    Now that mean alderman is forcing you to walk an extra 2 minutes down an already paved and well lit sidewalk that has lots of foot traffic from students and lots of security cameras. Really bear60640? Really?

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  7. Bear, Jesus, you whine about everything... now you are couching it under the "Little Old Ladies" defense? Do something useful for a change instead of just being a sucking vortex doom...it gets old after a year or so... LOL

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  8. I left a msg but my complaint is the service of the 147. It can take multiple buses for those of us who get on at the end of the route. I have taken the 144 at times becaus I at least know I can get on and have the bonus of a seat.

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  9. @unknown...the 147 is one of the lines listed for services increases.

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  10. Service on the 147 was cut in June which I don't remember them doing in the past. So an increase will probably just get it back to school year service.

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