16 Feb 2008 1548H

The 62 Archer Bus

I think the 62 Bus is possibly one of the most interesting and diverse bus routes in the entire city. It stretches all the way from the Southwest side near Midway, up through Latino and Polish neighborhoods into Chinese, Latino ones in Bridgeport, Chinatown, then through some African American and increasingly gentrified neighborhoods of the South Loop, then wends its way up the entirely gentrified Printers Row neighborhood along Dearborn, and through the central business district, before looping it’s way back down State St and returning down Archer Ave again. It is usually not too, too crowded when I board. I feel it is a nicer, slower way to get downtown. Once on board, it takes usually 20 minutes to get from Chinatown to Madison St, but only 8 minutes on the El.

Too bad it is one of the most chronically late buses in the city. I am sure this is owing to the heavy traffic along Archer Ave, but I am given to wonder sometimes. Often times I see two or three southbound buses pass back down on Archer Ave., and two or three El trains on the Red line go by, before a northbound 62 shows up. At that point, usually two or three 62s show up at one time. In fact, the other day in the frigid cold of an early Chicago February morning I mentioned to an old African American woman also waiting for the 62 that the first bus looked packed but not to worry since another one was likely about 20 seconds behind. I was wrong. It was only 10 seconds behind. And there was a third bus behind that one.

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