10 proposed CTA bus rapid transit routes
 

The Metropolitan Planning Council has developed a plan to bring bus rapid transit to Chicago:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...612559.graphic

http://chicago.everyblock.com/announ...forms-4186225/


Looks like people are finally starting to pay attention to the fact the platforms on the Brown Line are completely falling apart just a few short years after they were finished. I'd noticed them replacing disintegrating boards at Sedgwick the summer after it was completed, and now it appears the stations that were the first ones done are now the ones where people are already putting their feet through the boards and they're all starting to split at once.

Good work CTA! God forbid we use strong wood and SEAL it against the weather.

Does it really cost 13.3 million per mile for BRT?

Portland paid about $26 million a mile for small streetcars. I think $13 million a mile for buses in physically separated lanes seems reasonable.

IIRC, it’s roughly what Eugene paid for their system, which mostly one-way tracks in a grassy median with passing areas at stops. Cleveland’s BRT was more expensive—I think it was around $30 million per mile, but it also included a full do-over of their streetscape. $13 million per mile in Chicago sounds like a pretty good deal to me, though only if they include physically-separated lanes.

I haven’t read it yet, but the full report is downloadable here.

If you have physically separated lanes, will they be wide enough for snow plow trucks to push snow far enough out of the way that it won't pile up on the side and prevent the buses from being able to travel in the lane?

Some of the renders in the pdf look weird. For example, what's up with the buses running on the left?

Some of the bus routes look pretty ambitious, for US-style BRT anyway.

Snow removal and drainage is definitely a concern with any of these proposals (most established BRT systems have so far been in climates without a lot of snow).

I'm guessing that instead of a low curb, they could just paint a solid yellow line and then mill rumble strips into the road surface. That combined with a solid color fill in the bus lane should be enough to keep motorists out. They could also use the removable plastic bollards like the Kinzie cycle track has, although those would need to be removed before any plowing.

The actual solution will probably be much simpler: A bus is no skinnier than a snowplow so they'll just run normal snowplows (probably using the side street blades, not the LSD/arterial blades) down the bus lane and keep it clear like that. This isn't exactly rocket science, the city clears one-lane stretches of side street all the time that are often even skinnier than the bus lanes would likely have to be to allow the buses some wiggle room.

^^^ I was recently in Toronto. They have some lanes that are dedicated to street cars and buses. They get their fair share of snow and they seem to run their system just fine. I don't see any practical (i.e. not political) reason why this can't be done here.

Yup, I noticed this starting a couple years ago, and now it seems every other board is in some state of decay. If theres a more inept transit agency in this country, Id love to see it. It seems no matter what infrastructure upgrade takes place, it is almost assuredly done half assed. This quote on Better Gov illustrates just how un-coordinated and and blindly these projects get carried out:

So here you have TWO different CEOs saying their products aren't being used as intended by the CTA. Things as basic as not reading the application instructions on the back of the can. Why is no one held responsible for these never ending fuck-ups? Its not like this is the first time wood has ever been installed in an outdoor environment.

Chicago is really embarrassing sometimes. The more I travel, the more I realize Chicago is falling behind in many transit and other infrastructure issues.

Personally I would have skipped the fire-retardant material and used a super-duty sealant. Screw the fire code - I'm fairly sure there's never been a serious fire on a CTA platform.

There are also plenty of denser woods than southern yellow pine that would have been more appropriate, as well as many artificial/wood-aggregate products like Trex and EverGrain.

^^^ Yeah and if it's going to happen it won't be at a brand new Brown Line Station, it would be in some tinderbox platform like Sheridan where you have a roof covered in 50 years worth of garbage below 100 year old dry ass planks right next to a huge curve in the tracks just waiting to shower sparks or hot grease down below.

It was the first time CTA wasn't allowed to just go to its default creosote treatment, however. I don't remember the specifics of the ruling, but basically CTA can't use creosote on new wooden platforms, but those already treated with it are grandfathered in.

It's all because of the historic-preservation aspect of the project, though. Most new stations are using precast segments for the platform.

For future "historic" platforms, CTA should seriously consider the artificial products.

RTA to spend more than $400,000 on customer survey
 

Daily Herald | 8/18/11:

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2...ews/708189752/

The Regional Transportation Authority will spend up to $435,000 to see how satisfied riders are with transit service.

RTA board directors approved the expense Thursday, hiring Vermont-based Resource Systems Group (RSG) for one year. The questionnaire will cover just Metra and CTA users as Pace is doing its own survey.


“You can never do enough of asking customers what they think of your service,” RTA Chief Financial Officer Grace Gallucci said when asked about the cost at a time when Metra is contemplating fare hikes to balance its budget.

“Private firms do these things very frequently and spend a lot of money to do them.”


The survey has been a long time in the making. The RTA started planning in 2009. In January, it hired RSG to come up with a methodology for the study, paying the company $83,000 through a Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning grant.

In the past, the CTA, Metra and Pace conducted independent surveys. It’s more efficient and informative to evaluate customer feelings on a regional basis, Gallucci said.

Riders will be asked a range of questions on topics including fares, cleanliness of buses, trains and stations, and on-time performance.

“This will help us focus funding in the right areas,” Gallucci said.
The surveys will go out in the fall. It should take RSG four months to analyze the data and write a report.

Pace’s survey will conform to the RTA methodology, officials said.

North Suburban transportation news.

^^ I've been following this debate closely but I didn't think to post it after the transit-centric discussion we've been having lately.

I agree with the Lake County speakers at the meeting... the 53 project needs to happen sooner rather than later. Congestion in Lake County is awful, which is a shame since most of Lake County has excellent train access to downtown. The congestion in this area is pushing residents and families into places like Algonquin and McHenry where transit service is much less convenient. That means an even greater percentage of people driving to work, and less ridership on Metra.

I'd be in favor of reducing the scope of the Addams project to allow enough room in the budget for construction of 53. $8.3 billion is one hell of a project. Addams really only needs to be eight lanes between O'Hare and Schaumburg. Further west, the project should be limited to a rebuild of the 6-lane existing, coupled with some new access points and ramps, as well as a redesign of the existing, outdated ramps. Space could be left in the middle for a future bus lane project, or they could build wider left shoulders at little added cost and run the buses there.

---

Greg Hinz also raised a point that most media outlets have been ignoring. Bill Morris, who is the primary opposition to the 45-cent plan, has an alternative 15-cent plan. He's not suggesting that the construction projects can be done more cheaply, but he wants alternative funding sources to cover the gap, most notably a value-capture scheme for Bensenville, Elk Grove Village, and the other communities that will see billions in investment due to the Elgin-O'Hare-West Bypass project. I love this idea... why should drivers on 88 or 294 have to pay the full cost of an expressway that doesn't really benefit them, when a feasible alternative exists to place the costs more squarely on those who benefit?

The inside baseball, of course, is that the EOWB project is a bone thrown to those communities in exchange for their support of O'Hare expansion. They'd be kicking and screaming if they had to give up some of that juicy tax revenue to pay for the road.

I'd be more interested in space for a Metra line (probably connect from the MD-W line near Big Timber) in the restructured Addams into Rockford than bus lanes.