They said it couldn't be done! Some "Not In My Backyard"-style North Side residents previously opposed the extension of the CTA's 9 Ashland bus north of Irving Park Road to the Ravenswood Metra station. They cited dubious concerns about buses that replace car trips making congestion/pollution worse, damaging building foundations, and even attracting crime to their neighborhoods.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, with large numbers of transit advocates and non-NIMBY neighbors (NNNs) showing up to meetings to voice enthusiasm for the project. Ultimately, the City decided to move forward with the route upgrade, which was championed by sustainable transportation-friendly local alderperson Matt Martin (47th).
"The extension will reach an additional 21,000 residents and 15,000 jobs (within ½ mile) as compared to the current routing," the transit agency stated in a recent news release. "The new routing also provides additional connections for riders – connecting customers to the Metra UP-North [Metra] line and two more major bus routes, #78 Montrose and #81 Lawrence. The #9 Ashland service starts as far south as 104th Street, and this extension will provide benefits not just to the Ravenswood neighborhood, but to a wide cross section of the city."
"I am proud to help expand access to public transit for thousands of residents," stated Ald. Martin. "We have already heard from neighbors – including parents of young children and people with disabilities – celebrating their increased access to work, friends, school, and local businesses. We will continue to push for access to high-quality transit in the 47th Ward and around Chicago."
The new 9 Ashland timetable indicated, and a CTA spokesperson confirmed, that the first northbound bus to complete the new itinerary was scheduled to arrive at the Cortland Avenue stop at 4:03 a.m. today.
So I got up early today and biked a mile from Streetsblog Chicago HQ in Uptown to the 24-hour Diner Grill (try the "Slinger"!), 1365. W. Irving Park Rd., to buy some coffee around 3:30 a.m. Even in the wee hours, the place was pretty lively.
Once caffeinated, I headed half a block east to the northbound Irving Park/Ashland bus stop.
The #9 showed up at 4:14 a.m., right on time to fulfill its scheduled arrival time. Take a virtual ride in the video below.
I was the only passenger at the time I boarded. The driver was friendly, and seemed to do a good job of navigating the new route, which includes a slightly tricky right turn at Wilson and Ravenswood avenues.
Another person, perhaps a non-CTA employee or reporter, got on the 9 Ashland bus at Leland and Ravenswood avenues, next to the Metra stop, so he might have been the first civilian to ride the new segment.
I exited at Lawrence and Ravenswood avenues. "Well this is pretty cool that you [got] to be the first [northbound] bus driver to make this route," you can hear me say to the operator at the end of this video. "So you just made history." He seemed mildly amused.
Kudos to the CTA, the Chicago Department of Transportation, Ald. Martin, the advocates, and the local NNNs for getting this done. The 9 Ashland bus just got a lot more useful!
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