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.
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