X3 KING DRIVE EXPRESS

This one involved quite the maneuvering. Because in the morning it only goes north; in the evening only south. Only weekdays. And even though it covers the exact same route as the plain ole #3, I thought a different time and day, even over the same ground, might provide a different experience.

In the evening, which is when I planned to start, it leaves the same ole place right by that Panera, from 3:30pm to 5:55 pm. So I boarded the bus at 4:10. It is nice when you board at the jumping off place, because you have your choice of seats. This was on Monday, Sept. 15th.

This time, for the first time, I noticed an emergency exit, clearly marked, in the roof of the bus right over the ticket stand. I have not seen that on any of the myriad other buses I have been taking. Once again, I was able to take in the beauty of Michigan Avenue with all the flower-filled planters, but, alas, the windows of this bus were fairly dirty, so I did not take many pictures. And express it was, as it just barreled down Boul Mich, scary sometimes, we were so close to other cars and buses.
But let me say right here how much I have come to admire these drivers, their skill in navigating horrendous traffic, and taxis, a bane unto themselves, and always being helpful and courteous. I am sure they answer the same questions over and over, yet they are always patient and polite.

In front of Tiffany's

A note to Tommy Helfinger - whatever made you think that those men's underwear ads in the Michigan Avenue bus shelters were a good idea? They are tasteless at best. Perhaps in a magazine spread, OK, but looming larger than life at the end of the shelter? noooooooooooo

It was a grey, cloudy, threatening evening, and the air was on in the bus. I was cold the whole way. The day after our record-setting rains.

For this express, there were actually less people than on the Sunday afternoon #3. Which did surprise me, this being rush hour and all. I got another chance to gawk at all the nifty benches at the bus stops south of 33rd Street. These must have been some sort of Chicago public art project, as they line both sides of the street for four or five blocks south. (See pictures for the #3 blog)

And if I could only take a running video of all those great mansions lining the boulevard part on Martine Luther King Drive. I never tire of seeing them. Imagining the world they came from. The fancy dresses, the carriages, servants, balls, a world so long gone, For better or worse. You can see the difference in bus windows here. One clean, one dirty.

I noticed this time that at 47th, there are four sculptures, one on each corner, representing jazz music. A sax player, a trumpet player, a guitar player, and a jazz singer with a mike. Worth going to see. And that man on a horse at 51st is definitely George Washington.

Way further down, almost to the end, a very nicely dressed woman got on the bus, sat almost opposite me, with what looked like a file case or CD case on her lap. Black cloth. And proceeded to read out loud the names off of whatever was in this case, mostly I thought current movie titles. Quite out loud. At first I looked for an ear piece for a phone, but no, her hair was short and I could have easily seen one. Bizarre. She only rode for six blocks, tops. Talking all the while. Another woman had on a really cool black leather jacket emblazoned with Betty Boop.

I got to thinking on this ride of how different the world is at Erie and Fairbanks from the world at 95th and MLK Drive. Different color people, different looking buildings (homes rather than high-rises), different buildings (Walgreen's and Popeye's rather than Panera, and all sorts of expensive restaurants). Narrow crowded streets versus a wide intersection. Clean versus littered, the trash can at the bus stop at MLK Drive going north sorely needs some person to empty it. You can't fault the citizens, they do use it, but then the city needs to empty it. All this difference in one bus ride.Houses way down south on MLK Drive.

We arrived at the end of the route at 5:15, which was only 10 minutes shorter than the Sunday ride on the regular #3. I'm not sure I think 10 minutes worthy of being called an "eXpress".

Now here's the kicker. I cannot take an express #3 back, because the north bound ones don't run in the evening. So I took a regular #3 back to 67th, and went east to those relatives to spend the nite, so I can get up ridiculously early get back to MLK Drive, go south to 95th, so I can get an express bus back up north. Silly, huh?
But's that exactly what I did. At the first bus stop before 8. And boarded the #3 express from 95th and MLK Drive at 8:27 am. I stuck my pass in the wrong slot at first, and the very nice driver (didn't I say how nice they all are?) said, "That's OK, they keep moving those things all over the place, so I understand. Don't worry about it." He's right; they do. Sometimes you put it in on the left, sometimes on the right. Why isn't it all the same in every bus?

It was an absolutely breathtaking morning; I was glad I had gotten up and out, although it has been an age since I've been out the door that early. Up yes, dressed and out, probably years. But because it was slightly chilly, the bus had the heat on, and didn't I just sit down right next to the hot heater? Later on, around Michigan Avenue, the air conditioning came on, and I was cold. Go figure.
The bus came so quick, I couldn't get a picture. Sorry. At 79th, at 8:37, the drivers changed. And I noticed for the first time that the driver has a seat belt. Why don't we? A sudden stop, and we're all hurled forward.
This bus was more crowded than yesterday's, but that didn't prevent a woman with a rather large baby buggy getting on and then parking it right in the aisle, almost blocking the entrance on other riders. They had to squeeze past this buggy to get on and off. Surely there is a better way to accomodate these things. They seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days. People were not as nicely dressed as on Sunday, either. Workaday clothes.

And if I thought the bus barreled along yesterday, "you ain't seen nothin' yet baby". I swear it seemed like we were going 50 mph sometimes, although that couldn't possibly be. (I hope)
I saw coming from the other way a bus that said #3 to 81st Street. Now what the heck is that? Where does it start from? It's not listed in my CTA bus guide. Many people at the #3 bus stops on the way north wondered why this bus did not stop for them; they waved and probably hollered, to no avail. But it doesn't stop at every stop between 79th and 18th, and the signs clearly reflect that, if they had only looked, either at the sign, or at the bus title, or both. It just keeps barreling along.

There was never anyone standing though. Only on that Hyde Park Express in the evening were there standees. At that very same corner of 47th Street, I noticed, not for the first time, but it fits with the sculptures, a club named "Jokes and Notes". Clever. On the east side.

A building I like on the east side somewhere.

There is so much for sale along this route, like everywhere else in the city and suburbs right now, fire sales going on all over. (pigeons on the boulevard.)

Unlike the bus going south the nite before, this bus did do that odd one block detour, going north on Indiana instead of Michigan, and then after one block, at 21st, heading west to Michigan. I did look around to see if there was anything in that one block, but nada, no obstruction or construction of any kind. Still odd.
At 1723 South Michigan there is one of the famous Chicago Cows, of which I have a personal picture of each and every one, taken in 1999, their year. This is the construction one, with the hard hat on.
View from inside the bus looking north up Michigan.
Heading up Michigan, in the right hand lane, is truly an experience in terms of jolting and jarring. The poor bus! And winter hasn't even started yet.
Past the Bean, the bandshell that reminds me of nothing so much as a bunch of garbage can lids in the sky. Sorry Gehry. And past an interesting window in the Tribune's McCormick Freedom Museum (I think), big poster that read "When should the needs of many infringe on the rights of one?". "The discussion starts inside." (I never noticed the great lamp poles along Michigan before.
Arrived at the end of the route at 9:30, considerably shorter, but not at the place where the guide says it should end, that is, at Fairbanks and Huron. No, the driver at Michigan and Delaware says this is the end. What? Way north of Huron. But I got off without questioning him. I should have. Walking back to Panera to get some breakfast (I simply cannot eat until a few hours have elapsed after getting up), I distinctly noticed the bus signs on the west side of Fairbanks with #3 express on them. Has something changed? Because the bus would have turned east at Erie to enter a parking garage which allows it to go south for a block, and turn around to head back north. A mystery not to be solved, I fear.

Fourth one down.