6/20/03
Service improvements on eight bus routes will become effective Sunday, June 22. The route modifications are designed to better serve employment, shopping and recreational destinations, reduce travel time and are in compliance with the Service Standards adopted by the CTA in 2001. The changes were approved by the Chicago Transit Board at its April meeting.
Weekend service on the #3 King Drive route will be improved by operating all Saturday buses after 6 a.m. and all Sunday buses after 9 a.m. from 95th to Fairbanks/Ontario. The increased frequency of service will provide trips downtown every 7? minutes from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturdays, and every 10 minutes from 8 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. on Sundays. Currently, every other #3 bus terminates northbound at 29th, and buses to downtown operate 12 minutes apart on Saturdays and every 15 minutes on Sundays. Service to downtown will continue to operate from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturdays and from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Sundays.
More trips to Midway Airport will be provided on the #55 Garfield route as part of a 180-day experimental plan to operate buses along the entire route from the Museum of Science and Industry to Midway from 5 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. daily. Currently, #55 buses serve Midway until 11 p.m., and later trips terminate at St. Louis Avenue (3500 West). Besides serving growing activity in and around the airport, the change will provide better connections with #53A South Pulaski buses, which operate southbound on weeknights until 1:35 a.m., and will improve Sunday service to the airport, where the first #55 bus currently arrives at 8:45 a.m.
An experimental 180-day service modification will provide new routing and daily service to Navy Pier on the #124 Navy Pier Express route, replacing service east of Michigan on the #56 Milwaukee route which will no longer travel to Navy Pier. #124 buses currently operate nonstop to Navy Pier from Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center for special events and on summer weekends. #124 buses will now serve Navy Pier from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m. daily (midnight during summer), operating north on Canal from Adams, east through downtown on Washington to Michigan and then via Michigan, South Water, Columbus and Illinois to Navy Pier. Return trips will use Grand, Columbus, South Water, Michigan, Madison and Clinton to Jackson.
#56 buses will end trips east on Washington at Michigan before returning west on Madison. CTA surveys indicate that very few #56 customers travel to Navy Pier from the Northwest Side. Most customers with destinations east of Michigan start their trips at the Ogilvie Transportation Center or at stops farther east, which #124 buses will now serve. #56 customers traveling to Navy Pier can transfer to #66 Chicago, #65 Grand or #124 buses to complete their trips.
#120 North Western Express routes serving the Ogilvie Transportation Center (North Western Station) will be modified as a result from improvements from the reconstruction of Wacker Drive. #120 buses to Navy Pier will enter Lower Wacker at Post Place via Lake Street and on their return from Navy Pier will exit at Lower Wacker at Randolph.
The #62 Archer route, which operates 24 hours daily, will serve the Midway Orange Line terminal during all hours that Orange Line trains are not operating. Certain late-night and early-morning #62 buses that currently operate between downtown and Archer/Harlem Terminal will now travel via Midway before continuing to downtown or the Archer/Harlem Terminal.
Additionally, more frequent weekday service will be provided on #20 Madison and #34 South Michigan buses. Between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. #20 buses will operate every 8 to 9 minutes instead of every 11 to 12 minutes. Between 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. #34 buses will operate every 15 minutes instead of every 20 minutes.
# # #