Northwestern students now have a new way to travel through campus — a Chicago Transit Authority bus.
But some Evanston residents remain concerned that last spring’s changes to a CTA bus route, which now runs through the Evanston Campus, leave senior citizens and other residents along the old route underserved.
CTA altered the path of its 201 Central/Ridge line in April. The route, which still runs from the Howard El station north to Evanston Northwestern Hospital and then west to Old Orchard Mall in Skokie, now runs along Sheridan Road between Church and Central streets, rather than along Sherman Avenue, Foster Street and Noyes Street.
At a public hearing CTA held in July at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., several residents argued that the new line is unlikely to attract interest from NU students or faculty.
Many students own their own cars, or have friends who do.
“I used a bus once and it was pretty easy, so I guess I’d use it again,” Medill sophomore Brent Swails said. But he added that he usually gets a ride in a friend’s car when he wants to go to Old Orchard Mall.
“That’s just way easier,” he said.
Several apartment buildings are located along or near the segment of Sherman Avenue no longer served by the 201, including two subsidized housing complexes at 1900 Sherman Ave. and 2300 Noyes Court. Seniors occupy most of the 200 total apartments in the two facilities. Many seniors don’t use the El because they have difficulty climbing the stairs at the stations and rely on buses for much of their transportation, said Nancy Flowers, Evanston’s long-term care ombudsman.
Since the change, Flowers said residents have told her they increasingly rely on Evanston’s subsidized taxi program, which allows seniors to purchase vouchers for taxi rides within Evanston at a $2 flat rate.
The new 201 route was designed in part to “better serve Northwestern,” CTA spokeswoman Anne McCarthy wrote in an e-mail to The Daily. So far there has been little publicity about the new route aimed at NU students or faculty.
“I think what (CTA needs) to do is market that route a little better, because I don’t even know how they’re marketing it,” said Director of University Services Brian Peters, whose department coordinates on-campus shuttles.
Flowers said some residents living along Sherman Avenue are organizing to lobby CTA to restore the 201 to its previous route, but many are resigned to the changes.
“They’re seeing that this might be an inevitable change that they’re not happy about,” Flowers said.
Reach Michael Beder at [email protected].
Quick facts:
CTA route 201 now runs through NU’s Evanston campus, along Sheridan Road, between Central and Clark streets.
Many senior residents of Evanston use CTA buses as their primary transportation and are arguing that the route change hurts them more than it helps NU students.
Since the bus route changed, many seniors increasingly rely on the city’s subsidized taxi service, which allows seniors to purchase vouchers for taxi rides within Evanston at a $2 flat rate.
NU officials have no plans to publicize the new route.
