I don't understand... I am not Chicago resident, but https://www.ctabustracker.com/map seems to show all the buses' positions, including unique bus number.

What exactly is a "Ghost Bus" -- does it show on the map, moving from one stop to another? If it does, then this is pretty horrible but also seems like a lot of effort to set up, I would not expect public agency to do this.

If the map does not show the bus, and only the schedules are wrong, then maybe don't look at schedules? I used public transit on both east and west coasts, and map-based bus trackers are always superior to timetables, unless you live right next to the start of the line. Especially for questions like "Should you start walking".

They canceled the TCAT bus that I used to take in the morning but at least they are honest about it.