#152 Addison Bus

I’m convinced there is a ghost bus on this route.
That is the only plausible explanation that I can come up with for why it will tell me that a bus is approaching and then not showing up for 24 minutes.
Don’t expect to make it to work on time with this bus. You might, but you also might not.
Also it stops early, so if it’s dark out, this bus is probably not running.

After a year of riding the Addison bus, I think the 152 is one of the strangest routes in town. I have had bus drivers miss stops due to speeding and one bus driver was actually pulled over by a police car as she was speeding. The most recent incident put me over the edge. I waited 30 minutes for a bus. I realized as I got on the bus that my transit card has fallen out of my wallet, but I had my kids reduced fare cards that had plenty of money on them. I asked the driver, could I just stick the reduced fare cards in a few times to make up the fare? I did not have any cash on me. He said, «No get off the bus.» Seriously? What does it matter. I did not even care if the reduced fare card was used four times and it was higher than my fare. So I get off the bus and start walking home and within 2 minutes ANOTHER bus goes blowing by. And the other reviewers are right, between Lane Tech and Gordon Tech students, which are really not that bad and really drunk cubs fans? This route sucks.

I have a lot of respect for the folks who ride this bus on a daily basis, especially those unfortunate souls heading west in the morning. During the academic year, you have to jostle with students. There are three high schools within about a two-​mile stretch, one of which, Lane Tech, has a student body 4,000 strong.
Once summer arrives and school lets out, though, the Addison bus regulars get to interact with an even more pleasant bunch heading to and from Wrigley Field. Express buses to the Blue Line and remote parking lots can keep this interaction to a minimum, but you’ll still run into stragglers later in the evening.
The schedule is the other issue. This bus stops running far too early in the evening for any semblance of convenience. I suppose you can always walk down to Belmont, but no one wants to deal with that silliness.

Someone, anyone please explain why in this modern age of digital access, GPS satellites and bureaucratic budget cuts– Why do the #152 Addison busses run in pairs? Two by two, like they are headed for Noah’s Ark.
This is especially perplexing when neither of the mostly-​vacant pair STOP when you are waiting there 30 minutes, in the cold, wildly waving your $ 20+ CTA Chicago Card with numbing fingers at the 6:45am approaching bus, so you can maybe, just maybe get to work 3.5 miles away by 8:15am.
Hey CTA– if you can watch the bus on a busy weekday at Addison and Kedzie you too can experience this for yourself! After the third or fourth pair of busses pass without stopping you understand why I pay for cabs– because unlike your lazy, broke, indebted, irresponsible @sses I NEED to stay employed.
And you know what? I’m not voting for anymore bailouts for you. I’m calling my Senator and My Representative to say «Cut all you want!»
At least it will then be merely one singular bus (as opposed to a half-​dozen) not stopping, passing me by as I’m hailing Flash Taxi. Yet again.