Love the Belmont Bus! (Chicago, Addison: limo, home, neighborhoods)

[Chicagoist123]

Can I just say I love the Belmont Bus?

Honestly, I wish every bus route was as good as this one. In my lifetime, I have probably taken the Belmont bus about 1,000 times in my lifetime. And only 2 times have I ever had to wait more than 5 minutes for the bus.

What gives? Why is the bus route so good and why aren't the other bus routes as good? At least the ones that run on streets like Diversey, Fullerton, California, etc.?

On the contrary I hate the Addison one.

Please rant and rave aboout your favorite bus routes.

[jwaiter]

I've seen the wait between buses on Milwaukee Ave (#56) over 30 minutes! It's ridiculous. Why can't they send buses at regularly spaced intervals all day, every day, I mean, c'mon, it ain't rocket science! CTA sucks ass.

[Jandur]

Actually I never thought of this. The 77 runs non-stop, it's great. The Diversey, Fullerton and North Ave buses all seem to run every 30 minutes.

I do love my morning express bus, it's fast. Takes forever to get home on it though.

[Chicagoist123]

Originally Posted by Jandur

Actually I never thought of this. The 77 runs non-stop, it's great. The Diversey, Fullerton and North Ave buses all seem to run every 30 minutes.

I do love my morning express bus, it's fast. Takes forever to get home on it though.

Yeah the 77 is truly amazing. I think it even runs 24/7? If not I know it runs super late, and then it runs like every 10 minutes or so which is still really good. What I love about the Belmont bus is that if I miss a bus I am totally ok, because I know in 5 minutes or less another one is on the way. Addison it's like if I miss the bus I start cursing because I will now it will be 15 minutes at the very LEAST that I have to wait.

On a side not, why in the hell do Kedzie and Elston not have buses.

[jwaiter]

Originally Posted by Chicagoist123

On a side not, why in the hell do Kedzie and Elston not have buses.

Kedzie, Elston, does Clybourn have a bus?

[Chi-town Native]

The 77 (what I affectionately call the Belmo, as it gives practically door-to-door limo service to Lake View) is excellent, although it can have horrible bunching problems.

I think they just run more of these buses than some other streets, probably due to the fact that the Belmont/Sheffield CTA has 3 trains which stop there, and I do actually routinely see people exiting that station and taking the bus all the way west to the Blue line stop. Belmont is also a really long street, it goes all the way to ~9000W.

Addison and Diversey suck.

the #56 Milwaukee is THE ABSOLUTE WORST, when it shows up I usually assume it's a mirage.

speaking of buses:

CTA Bus Rapid Transit to Cruise Through North Side Neighborhoods - Lake View, IL Patch

[Chicagoist123]

Originally Posted by jwaiter

Kedzie, Elston, does Clybourn have a bus?

What?

[jsk1983]

Originally Posted by Chicagoist123

What?

There is a Kimball bus .25 miles away from Kedzie. The other streets had buses at one time but were cancelled during a budget crisis some years back.

[Chicagoist123]

Originally Posted by jsk1983

There is a Kimball bus .25 miles away from Kedzie. The other streets had buses at one time but were cancelled during a budget crisis some years back.

Must have been a long long time ago. I grew up in the neighborhood (27 year old here) and even when I was a kid Elston did not have a bus, and I think Kedzie was taken away when I was like 9 or so. So at least it's been about 15 years since Kedzie has a bus, and maybe 27+ for Elston.

Oh I was just confused what the poster was saying. I know Kimball has a bus. It's still really annoying though.

For example I live by Belmont and Sacramento. If I want to go North of Addison on the bus I have to got to Western or Kimball, because Kedzie doesn't have one and California only goes up to about Roscoe.

I actually think Elston would be PERFECT for Light Rail. It would certainly start to increase business along it, since most of the industrial companies that are long it are dying out.

I actually thin Light rail would be pefect for Clybourn. I think all diagonal streets should have light rail. Maybe not Milwaukee sinc it's a lot more narrow and congested.

[Gemini1963]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

when it shows up I usually assume it's a mirage.

This made me laugh out loud.