from the Chicago sun-times

                Latest CTA bus, rail cuts take effect April 26

   April 4, 1998

   BY GILBERT JIMENEZ TRANSPORTATION REPORTER

   The CTA's second round of service cuts and adjustments will take
   effect April 26 with the elimination of weekend and overnight service
   on a variety of bus and rail lines, officials said Friday.

   All Owl service will end on the Green Line and Purple Line/Evanston
   Express. The Blue Line/Cermak (Douglas) branch also loses both
   overnight and all weekend service.

   In addition, 24-hour service will end on 20 weekday bus routes and 12
   Saturday/Sunday routes. An additional eight lines will be shortened,
   while three others will be extended.

   From 1 to 5:30 a.m. weekdays and Saturdays and 2 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday
   the No. 201/Central/Sherman bus will become the N201 with a route
   stretched south to Granville to replace the lost Purple Line Owl
   service.

   Replacement bus service for the lost Blue Line/Douglas branch
   overnight trains could be difficult to find because the No.
   12/Roosevelt bus is also losing its Owl service. The No. 18/16th-18th
   route service ends at 6 p.m. and the 21/Cermak bus stops at midnight.

   CTA officials said the Blue Line/Congress branch and No. 60/Blue
   Island/26th bus could be used as replacements in some cases.

   The No. 16/Lake bus is not available to replace discontinued West Side
   Green Line service because it was eliminated in the last round of
   service cuts. Agency officials recommend displaced riders use the No.
   20/Madison bus, which will be extended west to the Harlem/Lake L
   terminal overnight.

   The other bus routes losing overnight--1 to 4 a.m.--service on
   weekdays and weekends are: Nos. 8/Halsted, 12/Roosevelt, 28/Stony
   Island, 29/State, 35/35th, 47/47th, 52/Kedzie/California, 54/Cicero,
   56/Milwaukee, 72/North, 85/Central and 119/Michigan/119th.

   Agency officials said the adjustments will affect about 3 percent of
   the 1.4 million daily riders and hopefully save $25 million a year.

   Another nine routes were eliminated and numerous routes were altered
   in the first round of adjustments last fall.

   The changes were made necessary by the agency's continuing budget
   squeeze, caused partly by the loss of 40 percent of its ridership in
   the last 15 years, said CTA president Frank Kruesi.

   For information, call 836-7000 from city or suburban area codes.