Planes, Trains, and Automo-ubers (and bikes and buses) : Getting Around Chicago

I had considered bringing my car, and I probably could have here in Roger's Park. Since I’m on the beach there are a lot of paid parking spots in the lot that are free from 8pm to 8 am. All the streets nearby are free parking, but there is occasional street cleaning and you have to be on the lookout for posted signs so you know when to move your car. My boyfriend came out with his car for a week and had no trouble finding free parking.

Parking in the loop, however, is not the best idea. It’s tough to find street parking and garages are outrageous. Street parking is only free on Sunday. If you’re there during certain times in the winter, they don’t even have street parking. SAIC’s campus is right along the park and there are tons of events and festivals all summer that make parking even more of a hassle. So just take the train.

The train system is so easy. I’m on the red line north which is a pretty safe, clean ride. The CTA uses the Ventra system. You “purchase” a credit card looking thing (Ventra card) for $5 from a vending machine at the el (elevated train) entrance. Once you register it online with Ventra, they credit you the $5 in train fare. Registering is a good idea because if your card is lost or stolen, you can have your balance transferred to a new card. The card is a swipeless card. You just tap it at the train turnstile or kiosk on the bus for entrance.

Full time fall/spring SAIC students have the option of paying SAIC $100 for a UPass which is unlimited riding trains and buses for the whole semester. Awesome deal, but low res and summer students do not get this option yet, nor do we qualify for reduced fares. 

Since we are a six week program with class pretty much every day, even weekends, the best option for daily riders for our 6 weeks is to buy one 30 day pass ($100 in 2014) and two 7 day passes ($28 each). This works out if you are using the train to and from school every day. You save even more if you’re an explorer taking the train multiple times a day. If you figure train fare is $4.50 round trip ($2.25 each way on train, $2.00 on bus, .25 for transfers) and you do that once a day for a week, that’s $31.50. So you save $3.50 per week with a 7 day pass ($28) and $35 per month for the 30 day pass if you only averaged one ride a day. More riding would save more money.

Sorry, I just geeked out on that math. I like to save money.

So bus v. train? Some people recommend taking the bus after dark instead of the train because you never have to worry about being alone on a train car or alone with a creepo on a train car since the bus driver is always there. I much prefer the train because it’s faster and stops at every stop, every time. With the bus you have to pull the cord for your stop or they might pass it. I’ve ridden the train as late as 1:00 in the morning from Chinatown to Roger’s Park with no issue, but that was on a weekend when there are more people out. Busses stop running around 10:30/11. The Red Line runs 24 hours.

As far as what other lines are like, I haven’t ridden them all, but I hear it can be a little scarier going south or west. I rode the green, pink, brown, and blue. They were all fine, but the trains were noticeably older.

Plenty of people bike as an alternative. If you live near the water, you can pretty much take the bike path along the parks until you get to Millennium Park and have to go into town. You can also take bikes on the el or the bus. I heard through the grapevine that there are some bike shops that will rent bikes for longer periods of time. 

There are also Divvy bike stations all over the loop (similar to citi bikes in NYC) if you are taking quick trips. You can get a $7/24 hr pass by swiping your credit card at the the kiosk. This gives you unlimited 30 minute rides all day, kiosk to kiosk. It would be good for an exploring/touristy day or a quick trip. If you live close to a a Divvy bike station that is less than a 30 minute ride to campus, this would work out well for you also since you could park at the Divvy station along the park. You could get the$75 pass and take the bike instead of the train. Anything over 30 minutes adds a couple bucks per half hour; so if you're more than a 30 minute bike ride, it wouldn't work out to save money.  You can get a yearly membership for something like $75 which gives unlimited 30 minute rides and smaller fees for longer trips.

If you’re ever considering a cab for one of those areas that’s harder to get to by train (cough…Pilsen), consider using Uber which is pretty much a social media cab. You can download the app, type in your destination, and get a price for a fare. If you accept, the transaction goes through paypal, no money is actually exchanged. You are sent the cabbie’s license plate number (he’s in a regular, unmarked car)and wait for him to pick you up. From main campus, 4 of us took an Uber to Pilsen for $7. Our friends who took a regular cab were charged $15. I suppose the big question people have about Uber is safety. The drivers undergo an extensive background check to be a part of Uber, but if you’re skeptical skip it or go in a big group.

If you need to rent a car for the day, check out zip cars. There are stations all over the city and you can rent by the hour. This might be handy if you are hauling some large materials from one end of town to the other.

If you’re flying in, there are trains to O’Hare (blue line) and Midway (orange line).

It’s pretty easy to get around Chicago. I was comfortable with trains already, but if you’re not used to it, do a little research. You’ll be fine after a few days.