West Side Bus Service Improvements Begin Sunday, June 18th
- By Kevin Zolkiewicz
On Sunday, June 18, 2006, the CTA will implement five new bus routes and enhance service on eight bus routes as part of service improvements for the West Side and near West Suburbs.
Three new express routes will be created: #X9 Ashland Express, #X20 Washington/Madison Express, and #X54 Cicero Express. Two new local routes, the #38 Ogden/Taylor and the #127 Madison/Roosevelt Circulator, will also be created.
A recently installed bus stop sign at Archer & Kedzie for the #52 Kedzie/California route shows the extension of service to 63rd Place and notes a connection to the Pink Line.
In addition to the new routes, service will be modified on the #7 Harrison, #21 Cermak, #37 Sedgwick, #52 Kedzie/California, #52A South Kedzie, #86 Narragansett/Ridgeland, #90 Harlem, and #91 Austin.
The bus route changes will go into effect a week prior to the introduction of the Pink Line rapid transit line on June 25, 2006. The Pink Line will provide direct service between 54th/Cermak and the Loop via the recently renovated Paulina Connector and the Lake Street branch of the Green Line. (More information regarding the Pink Line can be found at “Chicago-L.org”:http://www.chicago-l.org/operations/lines/pink.html.)
Over the past two weeks, the CTA has been installing new bus stops signs on routes affected by the service changes. Customer Alert notices have been placed below many of the signs, providing greater detail about the changes specific to that route.
On bus routes affected by service modifications, frequent audio announcements are being made which detail the upcoming changes. Announcements are also being made on all bus routes in the system regarding the introduction of Pink Line service.
The CTA has made available on its Web site a “brochure”:http://www.transitchicago.com/welcome/brochures.html#westside which details all of the upcoming service improvements.