54 Lunt
The Chicago Motor Coach (CMC) route 54 Lunt began on June 22, 1925. Over time, traveled over 14 different configurations and is now known as the CTA bus route 96 Lunt.
The CMC’s Lunt Avenue feeder line's original route, began at Morse and Sheridan, tuned North on Sheridan to Lunt and traveled West on Lunt to the Chicago Rapid Transit (CRT’s) Rogers Park “L” Station at Lunt and Glenwood. It then continued traveling West along Lunt in Rogers Park to Francisco in West Ridge, where it turned North on Francisco to Touhy. There it rested before returning. The return trip went East on Touhy to California, South on California to Lunt, East on Lunt to Clark St., South on Clark to Morse, East on Morse to the CRT’s Rogers Park “L” station, and ended back at Sheridan Rd. and Morse.
In October 1929, a proposal was made to make CMC’s Lunt 54 into a “loop.” The suggested route was for the line to start on Lunt at the CRT’s Rogers Park Station and travel Westward to California, North on California to Howard, East on Howard to the elevated station, and back to the CRT’s Rogers Park station via Howard, Sheridan, and Lunt. An additional line was proposed for service on Touhy Ave. It didn’t materialize.
The 1929 proposals for extending the CMC Lunt 54 and creating a new bus service on Touhy Ave. were finally reviewed by the Illinois Commerce Commission (I.C.C.), on June 14, 1935, six years later. At that time, the Commission denied the CMC’s petition to consolidate hearings on both plans. It seems that the Chicago Surface Lines (CSL) had filed its own plan with the I.C.C. for a bus line on Touhy. This was strenuously objected to by the CMC on the basis that Touhy is only two blocks North of Lunt and thus would be “invading” CMC’s territory.
CMC Lunt 54 crossed under the Chicago & North Western Railway’s Rogers Park commuter line station at Lunt and Ravenswood. A transfer plan was introduced in May of 1935 to permit passengers to move between the commuter rail line and the bus line. Ten-ride commuter tickets, good on both, bus and train, were sold. It was reported that by purchasing these tickets, the average commuter could save 3 cents a ride, compared to the purchase of separate tickets for each service. The plan was put into effect on June 1, 1935.
By October 1942, the Bell & Howell Company (B&H) plant in Lincolnwood (originally called "Tessville", it was renamed as Lincolnwood in 1936) was ranked as a “war plant,” and as such, B&H demanded that bus service be extended to it to enable workers to come and go by public transportation. This was so ordered by the I.C.C. The new routing would find some buses traveling West on Touhy from the then-present terminus of the CMC 54 Lunt at Touhy and Sacramento to McCormick, South on McCormick to the plant entrance, then West to the plant. The return trip was East from the plant to McCormick, North on McCormick to Touhy, East on Touhy to California then via the existing CMC 54 Lunt route back to the CRT’s Rogers Park “L” station.
After World War II, and just before the creation of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), several new bus routes were established, including the long-awaited CSL Route 96 line from Touhy and California to the CRT’s Howard Street “L” station. The new CSL Touhy 96 route started at Touhy and California, went North on California to Jarlath, East on Jarlath to Washtenaw, South on Washtenaw to Touhy, East on Touhy to the Touhy, Ridge, and Rogers intersection. There it continued East on Touhy to Greenview, North on Greenview to Howard and West on Howard to Paulina. Of course, this proposal, almost identical to that of the one in 1935, was met, once again, with vigorous opposition by the CMC. Several Rogers Park citizens groups also objected to this routing. The citizens preferred that when the bus reached the Touhy, Rogers and Ridge intersection, it would travel East on Rogers to Hermitage, North on Hermitage to Howard, then West on Howard to Paulina. Returning, the bus was expected to travel West on Howard to Hermitage, South on Hermitage to Rogers, and then retrace the route back to California. This more favorable routing was finally launched as Chicago Surface Line Route Number 96 on November 18, 1946.
On October 1, 1952, former CMC Lunt Route 54 was renamed CTA Lunt Route 154.
The 1954 CTA system map shows Lunt 154 extending from Sacramento and Touhy West to McCormick, South to Devon and East to the terminal at Devon and Kedzie. Returning West on Devon to McCormick, North on McCormick to Touhy and East on Touhy to California. Then South on California to Lunt and East on Lunt, retracing its route to the Morse Ave. “L” station.
The CSL/CTA Touhy 96 and the Lunt CMC 54/CTA 154 routes overlapped at the intersection of Touhy and California. The 96 sat on the Northeast corner on Touhy and 54/154 sat at the Southwest corner on California. The two routes were finally connected by CTA on September 9, 1956. The resulting Lunt-Touhy No. 96 ran from the Howard Street “L” station at Howard and Paulina to the Morse Avenue “L” station via Howard, Hermitage, Rogers, Touhy, California, Lunt, Clark, Morse, Sheridan and Lunt. Returning on Sheridan to Lunt to California and retracing back to the Howard "L" station.
The service still extended to the Bell & Howell plant in Lincolnwood. During rush hours, every other bus coming from the Morse Avenue “L” station turned left (West) onto Touhy from California and travelled West on Touhy to McCormick then South on McCormick where it turned into Bell & Howell’s plant entrance then West into the plant area. Returning, the bus went North on McCormick from the plant’s entrance to Touhy and East on Touhy to California. South on California to Lunt, and thence East on Lunt; retracing the route to the CTA’s Morse Avenue “L” station. When the routes were joined in 1956, the Bell & Howell routing was discontinued.