by MACTRAXX
Everyone:
After long thoughts I decided to post about my plan to refer to CTA routes by number instead of color names.
I have never cared for the CTA color NAMES of the 8 routes - even though the colors should be kept along with
the numbers with color-coding emphasized as much or even more than it is presently.
When I first joined Railroad.Net one of my first topics in the Chicagoland Forum was about the color names:
https://www.railroad.net/cta-i-just-can ... 10794.html
(2/9/2005 to 8/24/2008)
I came up with this idea from noting how the TTC in Toronto adopted numbers along with shortened names
for their four major rail routes:
1 (yellow): Yonge-University ("Spadina" was dropped)
2 (green): Bloor-Danforth
3 (blue): Scarborough Line ("LRT" was dropped)
4 (purple): Sheppard Line
The idea about numbering the CTA's eight rapid transit routes did come up during the earlier discussion
-in this case I decided to number the routes in order of ridership and importance to the system and re-instate
a shortened line name that describes the route better than only the color name does.
The numbers would be in circles the same as New York City Transit's IRT routes and the four TTC Subway
lines use. They would be white or black numerals on the line color background.
My choice for #1 is easy: The Howard-Dan Ryan (Red) Line. This is the line with the highest CTA rail ridership
and is literally the "backbone" of the CTA Rapid Transit system.
#2: The O'Hare-Eisenhower (Blue) Line. This is the line with the second highest ridership in the system.
I think that "Eisenhower" makes more sense to use than "Forest Park Branch" does. I wondered why
the CTA did not re-name the Congress Line (The original name of the Eisenhower Expressway was the
Congress Expressway before it was re-named in tribute to the former US President in the early 1970s)
the Eisenhower Line back then when it made perfect sense to do so.
#3: Kimball (Brown) Line - new name change - to me it makes more sense than bringing back the original
"Ravenswood" name - which is a neighborhood along the routing. In this case using the line terminal name
makes this change logical.
#4: Lake-Englewood-East 63rd (Green) Line(s). The easy-to-remember "Lake" would be retained. The tough
part is referring to the two South Side terminals: "Englewood" would make sense for the 63/Ashland branch
being the original name. The name "Woodlawn" for the route to E. 63/Cottage Grove is better to use than
"Jackson Park" for the directly-served neighborhood since the line was cut back westward from JP.
The #4 circles in green destinations could read: 4L (or plain #4) Lake; 4a-Englewood or 63/Ashland;
4c Woodlawn or E63/Cottage Grove.
#5: Midway (Orange) Line. A simple short name that is easy to remember. This would have been the
obvious route name when the line opened back in 1993 had the CTA not gone with the color names.
#6: Cicero or Cermak (Pink) Line. Either one makes sense and would be perhaps better than bringing
back the "Douglas" name (for a neighborhood and park along the route). Cicero would be for where
the line terminates - but could be confused for Cicero Avenue (IL-50) a major N/S Chicago highway.
#7: Evanston Express or Local (Purple) Line. The Evanston Express through trains to Downtown
Chicago could use the "7x" designation along with a square or diamond shape to identify them.
#8: Skokie (Swift) (Yellow) Line. This could either use the #8 or the "bird" logo by itself on destination
signs. I always thought retaining the Skokie Swift bird logo on a yellow background was a good move.
Looking back I would liked to have submitted this plan in 1993 when CTA was planning changes to
the identification of the rapid transit routes. I do think that route numbers would have made more
sense than the color names - in the case of Toronto they have - along with a shortened route name
either retained from the older name(s) or a new one introduced along with further color coding.
Does anyone have their own thoughts and feedback? I will thank all in advance...MACTRAXX
After long thoughts I decided to post about my plan to refer to CTA routes by number instead of color names.
I have never cared for the CTA color NAMES of the 8 routes - even though the colors should be kept along with
the numbers with color-coding emphasized as much or even more than it is presently.
When I first joined Railroad.Net one of my first topics in the Chicagoland Forum was about the color names:
https://www.railroad.net/cta-i-just-can ... 10794.html
(2/9/2005 to 8/24/2008)
I came up with this idea from noting how the TTC in Toronto adopted numbers along with shortened names
for their four major rail routes:
1 (yellow): Yonge-University ("Spadina" was dropped)
2 (green): Bloor-Danforth
3 (blue): Scarborough Line ("LRT" was dropped)
4 (purple): Sheppard Line
The idea about numbering the CTA's eight rapid transit routes did come up during the earlier discussion
-in this case I decided to number the routes in order of ridership and importance to the system and re-instate
a shortened line name that describes the route better than only the color name does.
The numbers would be in circles the same as New York City Transit's IRT routes and the four TTC Subway
lines use. They would be white or black numerals on the line color background.
My choice for #1 is easy: The Howard-Dan Ryan (Red) Line. This is the line with the highest CTA rail ridership
and is literally the "backbone" of the CTA Rapid Transit system.
#2: The O'Hare-Eisenhower (Blue) Line. This is the line with the second highest ridership in the system.
I think that "Eisenhower" makes more sense to use than "Forest Park Branch" does. I wondered why
the CTA did not re-name the Congress Line (The original name of the Eisenhower Expressway was the
Congress Expressway before it was re-named in tribute to the former US President in the early 1970s)
the Eisenhower Line back then when it made perfect sense to do so.
#3: Kimball (Brown) Line - new name change - to me it makes more sense than bringing back the original
"Ravenswood" name - which is a neighborhood along the routing. In this case using the line terminal name
makes this change logical.
#4: Lake-Englewood-East 63rd (Green) Line(s). The easy-to-remember "Lake" would be retained. The tough
part is referring to the two South Side terminals: "Englewood" would make sense for the 63/Ashland branch
being the original name. The name "Woodlawn" for the route to E. 63/Cottage Grove is better to use than
"Jackson Park" for the directly-served neighborhood since the line was cut back westward from JP.
The #4 circles in green destinations could read: 4L (or plain #4) Lake; 4a-Englewood or 63/Ashland;
4c Woodlawn or E63/Cottage Grove.
#5: Midway (Orange) Line. A simple short name that is easy to remember. This would have been the
obvious route name when the line opened back in 1993 had the CTA not gone with the color names.
#6: Cicero or Cermak (Pink) Line. Either one makes sense and would be perhaps better than bringing
back the "Douglas" name (for a neighborhood and park along the route). Cicero would be for where
the line terminates - but could be confused for Cicero Avenue (IL-50) a major N/S Chicago highway.
#7: Evanston Express or Local (Purple) Line. The Evanston Express through trains to Downtown
Chicago could use the "7x" designation along with a square or diamond shape to identify them.
#8: Skokie (Swift) (Yellow) Line. This could either use the #8 or the "bird" logo by itself on destination
signs. I always thought retaining the Skokie Swift bird logo on a yellow background was a good move.
Looking back I would liked to have submitted this plan in 1993 when CTA was planning changes to
the identification of the rapid transit routes. I do think that route numbers would have made more
sense than the color names - in the case of Toronto they have - along with a shortened route name
either retained from the older name(s) or a new one introduced along with further color coding.
Does anyone have their own thoughts and feedback? I will thank all in advance...MACTRAXX
EXPRESS TRAIN TO NEW YORK PENN STATION-NO JAMAICA ON THIS TRAIN-PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING TRAIN DOORS