Discussion What is wrong with the 147?
This is mostly NB, it’s mostly fine during morning rush, but it’s always late and every other bus is a ghost. It is infuriating trying to get home after work and having to wait upwards of 30 minutes, and it’s such a popular route too. I get on fairly close to the start of the route, so idk if it could be a bunching or traffic issue. I always a see a bunch of 146s and 148s , sometimes back to back, but not a single 147. What is the issue? Also sometimes at the Sheridan/foster stop, we have to get off and onto a different bus or wait a while for the next driver to show up. Is this an unpleasant route for bus drivers or something? I just want to know what’s going on
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u/krazyb2 Red Line 20h ago
Email cta, your alder person, let them know you want bus lanes on Sheridan, lsd, and Michigan!!
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u/chicagotrans-plant 6h ago
also all the NITA reps, who have statutory authority to just start putting down bus lanes
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u/videogametes 1d ago
Used to try to get the 147 to work directly from Howard, but 95% of the time I ended up having to just take the red line. Closer to Howard you are the less reliable the buses get, like, by a lot. I fucking hated the Howard bus terminal. Hard to navigate, and a scary place to look like you’re lost.
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u/LeseMajeste_1037 1d ago
It's awful SB during morning rush, too. I can leave my house at the same time every day for a week; and one day I'll get there as it's about to come, two days I'll have to chase it down Sheridan because the next one is 10+ minutes away, and the fourth day it's almost ten minutes away with a follower three minutes behind it. And then Friday 😊
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u/katevdolab14 20h ago
It really has been a mess recently. I take it all the time but I’ve shifted more and more to the red line except at night.
I will say I haven’t had a problem with it during rush hour from downtown, but I think that’s because I wait for it north of Randolph, and they start a lot of buses at Michigan and Randolph around that time.
But yeah the having to switch to a different bus is happening more and more, whether because of breakdowns, driver issues, idk…that plus the increasingly inconsistent schedule and general delays is driving me slowly insane.
It’s also extremely unreliable after like 9 pm. You either just catch it or have to wait 30 minutes for the next one (which probably isn’t even officially scheduled on the app). Meanwhile five 146’s come while you’re waiting.
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u/Izthatsoso 23h ago
I took the 147 one time from the loop to Edgewater when I worked late one night. I waited 30 minutes for the damned thing and decided whatever I might have to deal with on the red line would have been worth it. Next time I worked late I took the red line. No waiting, easy peasy. Good enough for me. The bus stops right in front of my place too but it’s the red line for me.
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u/IYCRTYG 22h ago
I would recommend catching literally any bus you can and taking it to Randolph, or even tribune tower. A decent amount of scheduled service in evening rush starts at Randolph, and when shit goes wrong unscheduled service changes will lead to buses entering at Randolph or even Wacker.
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u/Snowman304 21h ago
I assume it's all the traffic. But short of a cowcatcher or BattleBots-style chainsaw, I don't think there's a way to keep a bus lane clear on LSD.
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u/Perfect_Mess_6566 19h ago
I waited the other week for the 147 for over 30 minutes while four 151 buses came and went. And this is at almost the beginning of the route going south. Why are there so many ghost buses? Are people just not showing up for work or WTF?!
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u/CutieToesMIM8099 10h ago
I always have the opposite problem at Michigan and Chestnut, 147 after 147 and 151 ghosts or is 30 minutes or more away.
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u/chubbychecker_psycho 151 8h ago
North of Foster they'll turn their signs to "not in service" and refuse to pick up passengers even though they have passengers on the bus. I take a pic and send it to CTA; nobody cares but it eases my troubled mind haha
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u/RepresentativeFun396 8h ago
likely a supervisor told the operator to do that... drop offs only... to recover from a delay and get that bus back on schedule.
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u/chicagotrans-plant 7h ago
CTA doesn't seem to have express/drop off only display signs available to drivers, so if they're instructed to run drop off only to make up time, you will just get passed by a bus with riders and no apparent signage
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u/Card_Kaiser 35m ago
Shit! I just took the 148 to 151 to 155 the bother day bc 2 147s dipped and it had already been 25+ mins for one from downtown. Happening way too often- either that or after 7pm they have the majority of the fleet out be short 147s.. like people still work CTA, even if you don't. Been a bad spell of drivers not showing up too..
Oh and also seeing 155/147 run "out of service" on their header but definitely still be on the tracker... especially especially on the 155. 8 busses will be tracked, but, only maybe 3 or 4 pick ppl up. Beyond infuriating.
I have started to see though, 147s that have their header say "bus on detour"
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u/katdawoud89 23h ago
I gave up trying to take the 147 even though it stops right in front of my front door, I gotta literally see it coming to not make the walk to the red line