Brown Line shuttle bus campaign
Cheryl notes in a comment that the North River Commission is leading an effort to convince Mayor Daley and the CTA introduce some new shuttle buses to help handle transportation problems caused by the Brown Line closures. to wit:
- We strongly urge you to support Alderman Mell’s request to immediately restore bus service on Kedzie Avenue from Milwaukee Avenue on the south to Chicago Public Schools’ North Side Preparatory High School on the north.
- We request that you strongly urge the CTA to route a bus to connect our major employers and institutions with the Western Avenue Brown Line and the Kedzie Blue Line stops during Ravenswood Brown Line reconstruction. Stops should include Northeastern Illinois University, North Park University, Roosevelt High School, Von Steuben High School, Northside College Prep High School & Swedish Covenant Hospital, which includes more than 1,000 employees and over 15,000 students.
- We request that you move the CTA to pursue parking options for contractors that do not block major thoroughfares, and add drop-off "Kiss 'N' Ride" locations and new temporary parking facilities at area stations to offer necessary relief during reconstruction.
Join the battle here.
It looks as though the North River Commission is using the Brown Line station closures to push an independent agenda. The closure of the Rockwell and Kedzie stations could be addressed by having a van or paratransit bus go from them to the next available station (which CTA should do to help the affected business areas).
I don't see what any of this has to do with reinstating the Kedzie bus or a bus from the Western Brown line to an undetermined "Kedzie Blue Line" stop. There is no Kedzie stop on the O'Hare Branch (maybe they mean Logan Square), and they can't mean on the Congress or Douglas branches.
Also, directing this to Mayor Daley may reflect the reality that the CTA Board is just the mayor's tool. Apparently this also indicates that Ald. Mell doesn't have any clout anymore (he certainly doesn't with the Gov.).
Finally, their web site didn't work too well. I clicked 3 or 4 different places before I found the link that opened the form letter.
Posted by: jackonthebus | February 21, 2006 at 08:40 PM
I have no idea who/what this North River Comission is, btw. That was passed onto me by the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood association.
Posted by: Cheryl | February 22, 2006 at 10:04 AM
There's already a bus that runs 2 blocks to the north on Kimball and a bus that runs 2 blocks to the south on California. The Kimball bus already starts a run at Northside College Prep after school gets out. Von Stuben, Roosevelt and Northeastern (a block north) are on Kimball, which has bus service already.
Who exactly would this benefit?
Posted by: Coollead | February 23, 2006 at 10:24 PM
The California bus stops at Addison, which is more like 10 blocks south of the Brown Line.
Posted by: Cheryl | February 27, 2006 at 10:40 AM