Go Lanes and Chicago Cards
Reader jrock sent in an email asking to clarify how to use the "Go Lanes" on CTA buses. The Go Lane pilot project is designed to speed up the boarding process with a dedicated lane for Chicago Card and Chicago Card Plus customers. And Go Lanes are one more reason (as if you needed any more) to switch to the Chicago Card, since most fares for non-Chicago Card users go up January 1.
You can see photos of both rail and bus Go Lanes here. On the rail system Go Lanes are dedicated fare turnstiles, currently located at selected stations with a large number of fare lanes. As Jrock has discovered, it's a little more complicated on the bus system. We moved the Chicago Card "target" on over 600 of our newer buses to the left side of the entrance passage. Chicago Card customers can bypass the line for cash and transit card customers by slipping to the left and touching their Card to the target. Go Lane buses are marked with a tall yellow sign to the left of the bus door and yellow Go Lane stickers on the door windows. Currently 100% of buses on the #20, #3, and #56 routes are Go Lane equipped, with the remaining buses spread throughout the system.
How does this help? How many times have you seen a bus just miss a green light because a long line of customers was boarding? It turns out that cash transactions take more than twice as long to process as Chicago Card transactions, or almost 3 seconds more per boarding. That doesn't sound like a lot, but multiply 3 seconds by a million daily bus boardings and we could save 800 hours of travel each day. On our busiest routes, 3 seconds per boarding amounts to a potential increase in trip speed by 5%. That improves service through shorter travel times and reduced bus bunching, and it saves money through more productive service.
Note: One technical challenge is that the farebox can't read a Chicago Card in the middle of an existing cash transaction (e.g., if coins are being dropped in slowly). That's one more reason to switch away from cash, but please be aware of this issue as you are boarding -- it's best to touch the Chicago Card target just after or just before a cash transaction takes place. We continue to explore ways to improve the Go Lane concept, so please try it and let me know what you think.
You can see photos of both rail and bus Go Lanes here. On the rail system Go Lanes are dedicated fare turnstiles, currently located at selected stations with a large number of fare lanes. As Jrock has discovered, it's a little more complicated on the bus system. We moved the Chicago Card "target" on over 600 of our newer buses to the left side of the entrance passage. Chicago Card customers can bypass the line for cash and transit card customers by slipping to the left and touching their Card to the target. Go Lane buses are marked with a tall yellow sign to the left of the bus door and yellow Go Lane stickers on the door windows. Currently 100% of buses on the #20, #3, and #56 routes are Go Lane equipped, with the remaining buses spread throughout the system.
How does this help? How many times have you seen a bus just miss a green light because a long line of customers was boarding? It turns out that cash transactions take more than twice as long to process as Chicago Card transactions, or almost 3 seconds more per boarding. That doesn't sound like a lot, but multiply 3 seconds by a million daily bus boardings and we could save 800 hours of travel each day. On our busiest routes, 3 seconds per boarding amounts to a potential increase in trip speed by 5%. That improves service through shorter travel times and reduced bus bunching, and it saves money through more productive service.
Note: One technical challenge is that the farebox can't read a Chicago Card in the middle of an existing cash transaction (e.g., if coins are being dropped in slowly). That's one more reason to switch away from cash, but please be aware of this issue as you are boarding -- it's best to touch the Chicago Card target just after or just before a cash transaction takes place. We continue to explore ways to improve the Go Lane concept, so please try it and let me know what you think.
posted by Carole Brown | 12/28/2005 02:27:00 PM
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