(Northwestern University Transportation Library)
LOGAN SQUARE – The CTA announced on Wednesday that several bus routes will see increased service in the coming weeks. The 82 Kimball/Homan bus is one such route. In a press release, the CTA stated that the increase is part of “an aggressive recruitment and hiring effort to add the staff needed to provide more service.” The Blue Line is slated to see increased service later this spring.
The 82 is a north-south route which runs through the heart of Logan Square. It moves north from Humboldt Park into a large residential section of the neighborhood with stops next to Armitage Produce and the Fullerton Walgreens. It continues north and has a stop at Wrightwood, just a few blocks from the Logan Square Blue Line entrance. It stops at the Belmont Blue Line entrance. Moving south through Humboldt Park and Garfield Park, it intercepts the Green Line. It is thus a crucial line which connects many working-class Chicagoans to the L. Without it, many people would have no way of accessing the trains.
CTA president Dorval Carter Jr. has been under intense pressure since the pandemic to improve the agency’s reliability, or to step down. The issue of “ghost buses” has become a defining feature of his tenure, as well as a mobilizing issue for organizations including Commuters Take Action and the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. According to the website ghostbuses.com, a collaboration between the organizations Ghost Bus and Chi Hack Night, the 82 bus sees 12,102 riders per weekday. It ranks 84th in reliability out of 124 bus lines. The site estimates that one out of every ten buses “ghosts” riders.
Commuters Take Action told LLL that the 82 is currently operating within 2% of its pre-pandemic schedule. This is a significant improvement from December 2023, when the bus was experiencing a 22% service cut on weekdays compared to 2019. “Other buses in the Logan Square area are not doing so well,” we were told. According to the group, compared to 2019, the 49 has been cut 10%, the 56 has been cut 18%, the 73 has been cut 20%, the 74 has been cut 16%, the 76 has been cut 20%, the 77 has been cut 22%, and the 94 has been cut 16%.
CTA workers have described grueling conditions at the agency, which result in less service and also fewer employees. “It’s a manpower problem because people are not attracted to want to work here,” veteran bus driver Aundra Thompson told South Side Weekly last year. The staff shortage means that more operators must work overtime, which raises questions about safety—do you really want to be on a bus driven by someone who has been working for 15 hours straight?
At a February City Council hearing, Carter stated that 1,003 bus drivers had been hired last year, along with 101 bus mechanics and 90 train operators. He aims to hire 200 more bus drivers and 150 more train operators this year. CBS reports that in 2019, the CTA provided 455.7 million bus and train rides. In 2022, that number was down to 243.5 million. In 2023, ridership is estimated to have increased 15%.
The 82 is, in our opinion, one of Chicago’s finest bus lines. Imagine a warm spring day. You begin at Joong Boo, where you pick up a bunch of snacks and drinks. You hop on the 82 and ride south. Want a sandwich? No problem. Hop off at Fullerton and grab one at Jibaritos Y Mas. Get back on and ride to the Potomac stop. Take a stroll through the lagoons of Humboldt Park. Get back on, and ride to the Fulton stop. Exit and walk a few blocks to the Garfield Park Conservatory. If you play your cards right, this entire itinerary will cost less than $20, and honey, in this economy, you can’t beat that.
—LLL, 21 March 2024
Logan’s Loose Lips 