Talk:Wilmette Wilbus

Keep the article

This article is up for speedy deletion. Please add your views. It is the story of a successful local bus service, initiated by a suburban town in 1974. Such success is not common. - - Prairieplant (talk) 13:22, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Wilbus was a classic example of local government filling a hole created by the bankruptcy of a private company. Private bus services were failing in the early 1970s. Wilmette and several other Chicago suburbs created bus services to replace what the private sector could not do. The result was the preservation of bus service until the regional service provider was established. Deletion does not make sense for an article that is well documented by local newspapers and government records. Bobbustransit (talk) 13:35, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

This is an important historical story of grass roots efforts to bridge the gap in public provision of transit services. The setting is suburban, where public transit was, and continues to be, a wasteland because resources are limited and directed toward high population density areas and places where it is assumed that auto availability is the lowest. But this suburban market (different in demographics from the location itself) comprises people who largely cannot drive - do not have cars, or access to them, are too young or disabled. A creative service design, coming from transit expert volunteers, filled a critical gap, carried more riders than some medium size city transit operations, and helped show the public sector that quality service could draw a substantial market needing mobility services. Importantly, the key actors were themselves young, committed, and unconstrained. This became a de facto training ground leading to life-long careers for many of those involved. it is a story needing to be told. 2601:246:5F02:2320:F4BD:5A1C:C0EF:491F (talk) 20:21, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I started riding Wilmette Wilbus when I was 12 years old. I rode it to school instead of taking the school bus. In addition, I rode the system every where I needed to go. I got to know the bus operators and management staff. I then became friends with them. These people were my mentors in pursuing a career in Public Transportation Administration.

The bus system was set up very well. The routes were well planned out. The schedule was set up to connect with the Chicago Transit Authority Trains (CTA) at the Linden Station (Now called the Purple Line), The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (Now called the Metra Union Pacific North Line) and the North Suburban Mass Transit District (Nortran) - Now called Pace Northwest Division at Greenbay Road, and Old Orchard. The system also served the Wilmette Public Schools, Regina Dominican High School, Loyola Academy, New Trier East and West. In addition to these factors ridership was very high in the rush hours going in both directions.

The days, hours of operation, and the frequency of the service served the passengers needs. Wilbus had very friendly drivers that knew the system. The written schedules showed connecting services. When you called for information, it would be either the Manager or Assistant Manager answering the phone. All of these factors made Wilmette Wilbus a successful system.

I learned alot from Wilbus, and I use this system as an example when providing technical assistance to the transit agencies that I work with.

People that read this article whether or not they work in the public transit industry or are just interested in in Public transportation would be able to learn about the reasons that a small transit system can be successful. I feel its important to keep this article to preserve transit history. Huskieline (talk) 02:25, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

Nomination of Wilmette Wilbus for deletion

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Wilmette Wilbus is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wilmette Wilbus until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article until the discussion has finished.

scope_creep^Talk 10:01, 18 January 2024 (UTC) Prairieplant (talk) 13:42, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Wilmette Wilbus

Hi @Prairieplant: How goes it? I came across your bus article. It seems to have a lot of excessively intricate detail in the article,almost like a fan page, that is perhaps is not suitable for Wikipedia Do a you have a connection with them? scope_creep^Talk 10:20, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

scope_creep The article is about the success of a local bus system initiated by a small suburban town that really wanted good local bus service after the private bus company was bankrupt. The town attracted interest from recent college grads trained in civil engineering who successfully bid the route design to the Village — rather than a long established consulting firm winning the bid. Not many towns have a success as this one did, success measured in rapidly growing ridership. The elements of that success are what interest me.

About 50 years ago, I had a summer job driving a bus there, no other connection. About 50 years ago in a different summer, I worked as a mail carrier — two good summer jobs prior to my professional career. The story of this suburb has always been of interest to me, long after my summer job.

Transportation, energy and the environment are some of my major interests, though most of my Wikipedia edits thus far are about literature or novels. This article follows from those major interests. I read the article about CyRide bus service in Iowa, used that as a bit of a model or guide as to the infobox and other aspects. I read other Wikipedia articles about large and small transit operators as well, all having the same detail about vehicles, routes, ridership, and fares and subsidies, with photos of the vehicles included. The difference is that the Wilbus routes were taken over by the regional suburban operator formed years later. I am hoping others add more detail, not less, including photos of the vehicles and a map. I have not learned how to add an appropriate map to a Wikipedia article, myself. I feel this is a notable topic, with references from news articles documenting the success. Further, the story is tied to active present day service I have not yet looked for suitable articles in transportation journals concerning bus system success.

Of course others may copy edit, find a clearer or more elegant way to make a point, that is inevitable and welcome.

Large transit agencies across the US have a similar history but on a larger scale. CTA in Chicago, MTA in New York City, among others, bought up failing private bus and rail companies, and then operated the transit service as units of local government in the era when the US turned so aggressively to private cars, public parking lots and large subsidies for streets and interstate highways. The private operators could not make it financially. Subsidy was unbalanced, limiting options. Those are stories I know well, issues of US transportation policy and the choices for travel in urban areas. It is a major topic in the fields of transportation, energy and the environment, how to run a successful transit operation.

What do you consider excessive detail in an article about a bus transit service? The article is up for others to edit, not to delete it, that was my notion. Prairieplant (talk) 12:49, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

I've sent it to Afd because it is ultra-local news and its bus service which comes under WP:NCORP. Wikipedia is not in the business of supporting local bus services. We are not a webhost. scope_creep^Talk 12:54, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Wilbus marked a significant change in the way suburban cities responded to a transportation crisis. A regional option was not available and many suburbs jumped in as the private companies went bankrupt. This is a reasonable documentation of historical events, something that Wikipedia relies on and is in most of the Wikipedia articles. If you delete this one, you should delete the rest of Wikipedia that has any historic content. There is no way wikipedia is supporting local bus service. The service ended in 1985. Bobbustransit (talk) 13:41, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

In January 1995, a long time ago. - - Prairieplant (talk) 14:06, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

This article includes the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune as sources, as well as the Wilmette paper that is tied to the Chicago Tribune through Pioneer Press. The term ultra local means nothing to me. WP:NCORP wants reliable sources, and those are reliable sources. - - Prairieplant (talk) 14:13, 18 January 2024 (UTC)