#49 Western Bus

Bus never comes

Gross buses and nasty people. Odd frequency in timing between buses as well!

If swearing was allowed on reviews, that’s all this one would consist of. Since technically, I can’t, I’ll keep it classy…
I despise this bus. I work on Western and Fullerton and this is one of the two buses I take to get to work in the morning. I just recently switched over to taking three buses so I can avoid this route. My work hours happen to run parallel to Lane Tech school hours + extracurriculars or sports so when I get on in the morning, it’s usually the second or third bus that I see, and then when I get off at night I have to wrestle through the crowd of smelly teenagers and their 10-​book-​filled backpacks.
And don’t even get me started with the kids that get on at Irving Park, Grace, or Waveland in the morning. Why can’t they just walk 5 blocks max? ESPECIALLY when they will wait there with me for 15 minutes for a bus. You could have been at school already!!! Or the ones who get off at the second Lane Tech stop which is literally 20 feet from the first one. If there was one in the middle, they could eliminate the other two and save us taxpayers some time. I just don’t get it, Chicago!
I also don’t understand why high school kids think everything is so damn important. «Like OMG she said wuuuuut!!!» I don’t even think Xanax or coffee would help with this one, especially at 7:30am. Chicago needs to find somewhere to put these kids or either run an express Lane Tech bus or something during these hours. It’s like going to war every day during school months. You always know when they don’t have school too. You will end up getting to work about an hour earlier than usual.

The model of buses that run on #49 Western drive me crazy. The ones with seats facing every which way and seem completely inefficient for seating.
The drivers are alright but the buses tend to bunch up so I’m waiting forever for a bus and then BAM there are three in a row. Gah.
And OH MY GOD the crazies that ride on this bus route. Talking to themselves or smelling up the entire bus, ghetto girls screaming on their phone about their baby daddy or creepers that stare at me until I make my escape at my stop. I’m glad I ride this route only occasionally.

Dear #49,X49 and 49B,
I remember when you used to run so frequently. I didn’t have to «bustrack» you because you’d always be at my door ready to scoop me up. We had such a great professional relationship. As a bike rider, I don’t take you too often, but now when I do you are a pain in the ass. I said it, «Pain In The Ass.» I will still take you places because I have no choice at times, but I am asking you to find it in your heart to scoop me up outside my door as frequent as you used to. Can you do it for me, do it for an old friend? With much sincerity.
–Casey

it used to rock. i have to take it everyday. now with these budget cuts it’s similiar to a cattle car. i hate it. it never comes anymore.
(writing this after a very bad experience)

I was trying to figure out how Unilocalers get more than a few hundred reviews and then: SMACK: I realized it — they review every little thing under the sun. Their phone. The lint in the belly button. The bus!
The bus! I ride the bus! I ride the train, too! Like, a lot. Since we got rid of our car last summer, I ride the bus and the train everywhere. I would go so far as to say I am a CTA POWER USER. I scrapped my CTA card in favor of a thirty day pass, I use my web-​enabled mobile device to track the busses, and I know most of the stops on most of the lines.
So let me begin my CTA tour with the #49 Western Ave. bus.
This is the first bus I ever rode because I lived within three blocks of the Western Ave. blue line stop for four years. This is the bus that began or ended most of our outings as a family to conduct the errands of our lives.
I still ride this route from Pilsen to Bucktown every day. I can always tell where I am at when the notifier is broken just by looking at my fellow passengers.
–Consistent Schedule: Yes, although busses will stack during rush hour.
–Drivers: Usually very nice and helpful, but with three high schools and a few hospitals on the route, not to mention the Metra and El stops, they can get cranky if you act up on a full bus.
One thing — this bus always smells. Always. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes like the inside of a Pine Sol factory, but it always, always smells like something.
This bus route is absolutely the most bizarre in terms of passengers, neighborhoods, and quality of the driver and bus itself.

Thanks to this bus route, it saves me from having to go to Union Station on my inbound work commute. For some reason I avoid Union like the plague.
So I can hop off the Metra train on 18^th and Western, walk a few blocks up to the Pink Line station, and wait only a few minutes before the bus shows up. I love the express version. Especially the one that deadheads straight to Archer, getting me there in record timing. And on the weekends, even though there are no expresses, the buses still run like clockwork. Gotta love it.

very reliable at all hours of the day.
when i am staggering around between the hours of 2am and 5am on a weekend, cursing the heavens, i can always count on the western bus to magically appear and safely take me home.
this bus is even better now that CTA Bus Tracker accurately tells me when it will arrive. hooray for technology!

Ohh the 49. Every 10 minutes or so I hear your rear tires thump through that pothole that keeps popping up in front of my unit. I’m so glad you have GPS now so I can wait until the last possible second before running to your stop.

So the boyfriend has been taking measuring trips down to Hyde Park 2 – 3 days a week for the last couple of months, which leaves me sans car from time to time. So, I’ve been taking the bus to work. Occasionally I’ll take the blue line to the Western stop and then hop on the bus there, but more often than not I’ll have the bf drop me off right at the bus, or I’ll just walk there (I am not a fan of transferring). I’d have to say, it’s a pretty easy commute. Sure, it takes twice as long as driving, but I’ve found that I can typically get the back door of my building to the front (or back) door of the shop. Construction on Western tends to slow things down, but the bus itself is usually on time or running frequently. So, it’s not so bad.
See, it’s easy to get to Sweet Collective! I live in West Town and I can do it!

One of the only decent and proven CTA bus routes that doesn’t seem to be prone to delays and/​or bus bunching as much as other routes. I can attest to this, since I’ve riden the whole route from north to south. Think this is also why despite the longer walk, I rode the #49 south to the recent Belmont Arts + Music Festival, and not the #50 bus.
Plus, ²⁴⁄₇ on the WHOLE route, and not just part of the route (i.e. the #9 Ashland, or #53 Pulaski). What more do I need to say?

This bus is amazingly clean/​safe for the sheer amount crazies that ride and ‘hoods it goes through. I’ve taken it late at night and felt pretty cool.

I have good memories of this crazy bus line. It’s a 24 hour bus that normally has decent, clean buses. The bus line goes very far along Western Avenue. For a true Chicago bus line experience, take the 49.

This bus really has some freaks on it late at night. I once had this guy who smelled like pee try to kiss me when I was riding it. I’ve also been privy to a two-​woman race riot.
However, it’s been a while since anything «interesting» has happened to me on the #49 and, like everyone says, it runs more frequently than any other bus in town thus keeping me from having to stand out in the cold very long which is really what matters.

Thank god for the Western bus.
So much more reliable than other major bus routes.

this bus route is the bees knees.
nothing more to say!

This is the only bus in Chicago I can say with certainty that I’ve taken from start to finish. I’ve ridden up to the north terminus point at Berwyn and down to the terminal at 79^th Street. It’s pretty reliable and is 24 hours.
Even better, there’s a North Western bus and a South Western bus that take up where this one leaves off on both ends. There’s also an express bus that works quite well too, like Ashland to the east.
It provides the masses access to so many neighborhoods with good connections. You can really get anywhere in the city from this route.
Unfortunately, I’ve been more reliant on it lately and this bitch is late A LOT. Western bus, you’ve started to piss me off royally.