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The Return Of The 31st Street Bus Now Has A Date

By Ed Komenda | August 30, 2016 5:20am
 The CTA is running a 6-month experiment for a 31st Street bus route that connects with the 35th Street bus.
The CTA is running a 6-month experiment for a 31st Street bus route that connects with the 35th Street bus.
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DNAinfo/Casey Cora

BRIDGEPORT — The Chicago Transit Authority has set a date for the return of the 31st Street bus.

Beginning Sept. 6, the No. 31 bus will run every 30 minutes from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. between Ashland and King Drive.

"CTA informed us that the start that would be late September but I am glad that the date has been pushed up," said Debbie Lui, community development coordinator with the Coalition for A Better Chinese American Community, one of the neighborhood groups that fought to bring back the bus. "Just in time for CPS's back-to-school."

During a six-month pilot program, the CTA plans to monitor ridership. If enough people ride the bus, the CTA will restore the route permanently. The target is 830 rides per day.

"We hope that during the six-month pilot that CTA will solicit in-language feedback from the advocacy organizations who have supported this and its beneficiaries in addition to the aldermanic offices to ensure the route's success and permanence," Lui said.

The Chicago Transit Authority recently installed new bus stop signs along 31st Street for the launch of the long-awaited return of the No. 31 bus.

In November, after 18 years, the CTA approved a pilot program to reinstate the route.

In 2012, the CTA restored part of the route as part of a six-month test program and extension of the No. 35 bus to 31st Street west of Kedzie Avenue to Cicero Avenue in Little Village.

During the first four months of the test, the CTA said, ridership was up — with an average of 570 rides on weekdays, 386 on Saturdays and 271 on Sundays — but the numbers were still short of its projections.

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