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CHICAGO SURFACE ROUTES HISTORY
Detailed information on current CTA bus routes is available at the official CTA Web site.
Chicago's first numbered routes were "Through Routes" 1 through 23. These routes were ordered created by a 1908 city ordinance, and would operate over trackage of more than one streetcar company. Later, all streetcar and bus routes were assigned numbers, originally for internal accounting purposes.
Other than the Through Routes, the first vehicles with signs displaying route numbers were trolleybuses, introduced in 1930. Motor buses began displaying route numbers in 1935. PCC streetcars displayed route numbers upon their introduction in 1936, while signs with route numbers were installed on older streetcars after the CTA takeover in 1947.
Most routes listed survive today as CTA bus routes. Also listed are most of the discontinued bus and streetcar routes.
Former Chicago Motor Coach Routes
Concise Route Histories
Concise list of nearly all CTA bus and streetcar routes, past and present, on one page.
Included are present and former bus and streetcar routes, along with the significant dates and events throughout the history of each route. As route changes were made occasionally, some route segments were transferred from one route to another.
Omitted are certain temporary, experimental or seasonal routes. Also omitted are minor route changes and extensions, especially changes in downtown routings. Many routes were gradually extended in stages, before reaching the maximum length.
Not included are hours of operation for the routes.
In 1973, CTA began operating four bus routes in Evanston, after the Evanston Bus Company ceased operations, and CTA was the only agency suited to operate such a service. Routes are numbered in the low 200's.
Significant Dates In CTA Route History
Key dates with many route changes, mostly because of rapid transit extensions or because of public funding problems.
CTA Route Numbering System
Route numbers became widely used by CTA during the 1950's.
Trolleybus Routes
CSL and CTA.
Evidence of Chicago's streetcar system still exists at a few places, including at the intersection of 92nd Street and Commercial Avenue in 1998. But this area has since been paved over.
Many dates on this page are from the book "Chicago Surface Lines, an Illustrated History", by Alan R. Lind, and from various issues of "Motor Coach Age", and from CTA information.