Chicago Transportation Tips by Dabs Top 5 Page for this destination

Using the El (subway) to get around Chicago CTA (city trains & buses, the EL) Review

Visitors to Chicago may find it convenient to use the el or buses to get around, especially if they are traveling to and from the airports or going outside of the city center frequently.

You can purchase a Chicago Card or a transit card which makes each ride $2.25 on the train, $2 on the bus. The 1st transfer is 25 cents and the 2nd transfer is free within a 2 hour period. The only ride that costs more is from O'Hare which is $5. Getting a transit card is much easier for a non local. You can see more about these options here.

If you pay cash, the fare is $2.25 on the train or the bus, no free transfers.

Or if you plan on using the El and/or buses frequently while you are here, you can look into getting a visitor pass good for 1, 3 or 7 days or a monthly pass and save some money. Every so often I see them offered at a discount on Groupon or Living Social, most recently a 3 day discounted from $20 to $9. If you are arriving at an airport, you can buy a day or multi day pass at either one, they are not sold at all stations, you can find where to buy one on the Transit Chicago website

Mode: AROUND

Phone: 1-888-YOUR-CTA

Type: Subway/Metro

Website: http://www.transitchicago.com/

Parking Driving/Parking Review

Parking rates increased as of 1/1/13, rates have increased annually since 2008 when the city of Chicago leased the meters to an outside contractor

Parking is expensive in Chicago, the most expensive being hotel parking rates. There are a couple of hotels with free parking in River North, Best Western and Howard Johnson, but otherwise you can expect rates in the $30-$40 range in the central hotel zone.

If you are parking for a shorter period of time, you have the option of metered parking which gets more and more expensive the closer to the center you go. Most of the city is $2 per hour from 8AM-9PM. Some parts of the Central Business District are $4 from 8AM-9PM, in the heart of the Loop it's $6.50 in the Loop ALL DAY. Maximum time per meter is 2 hours in most places. Check here for current rates. Actual meters are gone, parking is at pay boxes located somewhere on the block, you put the receipt on your dashboard. No more need for quarters, although the machines take them, you can use credit cards. If you think you've found a free spot, check the whole block, free spots are few and far between. If you overpay and need to park again, you can use the same receipt as long as the rate is the same or lower in the 2nd spot and there is still time on your receipt.

The other option is garage parking which tends to get cheaper once the workers have left for the day, after 3pm and on the weekend. Chicago Best Parking is a good website to check for rates based on your time frame, I've found it to have the correct rates when I've used it and I've saved a bit of money as I've found garages that are easy to overlook if you don't know they are there.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Car/Motor Home

Chicago Skyway Driving/Parking Review

If you are heading into/out of Chicago via the Indiana Toll Road, you will spend a portion of your trip on the Chicago Skyway. As the price keeps rising and rising and rising, I'm less inclined to use this to get to and from home to Chicago than Highway 41 which eventually merges into Lake Shore Drive. If I'm not in a real hurry, I almost always avoid the Skyway now.

If you do drive it, watch out for the ever present Chicago Police Department writing tickets to speeders, it is practically guaranteed that you will see one during your trip. They lurk on the on ramps, at the bottom of hills and right before the toll plaza when the speed limit drops dramatically so you'd be advised not to go too fast.

And if you are unlucky enough to be continuing on to the Indiana Toll Road, you will get hit within a few miles with yet another toll.

In 2004, the City of Chicago agreed to sell the Skyway and the toll, which had been $2 since 1993 rose to $2.50, then to $3 and is currently $3.50 and will likely continue to rise as the agreement allows for a series of increases up to $5 by 2017. You can use your Illinois I Pass, Indiana I Zoom or the EZ Pass (used in northeast US states) to pay the toll on the Skyway but there is no discount over cash like there is on the Indiana and Illinois toll roads. At least you avoid the long cash lines!

Mode: TO

Type: Car/Motor Home

Driving in the Chicagoland area Driving/Parking Review

If you are listening to traffic reports while driving through Chicago, in addition to the highway number, sections of these highways in and around Chicago have different names that they are more commonly known by

Kennedy-highway 90/94 West runs north from downtown Chicago, at the Junction the Kennedy (90) keeps going northwest towards O'Hare and the Northwest suburbs, renamed after President John F. Kennedy after his assasination in 1963

Edens Expressway-highway 94 West runs north from the Kennedy Junction to the north suburbs, named for William Edens, head of the Illinois Highway Improvement Association, who ironically never owned or drove a car.

Dan Ryan-highway 90/94 East actually runs south from downtown, splits into the Bishop Ford (94) and the Chicago Skyway (90), named for Daniel B. Ryan, president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners

Bishop Ford-highway 94 runs east from the Dan Ryan into Indiana, formerly named the Calumet Expressway, renamed in 1996 honor of the late Bishop Louis Henry Ford who had a church nearby.

Eisenhower-highway 290, runs west from downtown Chicago to the western suburbs, named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower, very appropriate as he was a major force in the development of interstate highways (although 290 isn't an interstate highway as it just runs through Illinois)

Stevenson-highway 55, runs south from Chicago towards St. Louis, named after Illinois governor and presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson

If you're a bigger geek than me and want more info, everything you could possibly want to know about the highways can be found at the website below.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Car/Motor Home

River taxis Boat Tours & Taxis Review

During the warmer months, you can use a commuter river taxi as an alternative to taking the el or a bus to get from the commuter train stations near Sears (Willis) Tower to the other side of the downtown area near the Magnificent Mile. The cost is $2 one way, $4 one way for Chinatown, with 10 ride tickets, daily and monthly passes also offered. The ride from Madison Street to Michigan Avenue is only 10 minutes, the longest ride is from Chinatown to Michigan Avenue, that ride is 22-25 minutes. There's no commentary on the Chicago Water Taxi, it's strictly a way to get around but a very scenic one.

Stops: Madison Street near Union Station/Ogilvie Transportation Center, LaSalle & Clark Streets, Michigan Avenue near the Wrigley Building and Chinatown. The Chinatown schedule is more limited during the week with a full schedule on the weekends and holidays.

There is also the Shoreline River Taxi between Navy Pier and Sears Tower and Shoreline Harbor Taxi between Navy Pier and the Museum Campus (Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Adler Planetarium) which run from Memorial Day to Labor Day. These are a little more expensive and are geared towards tourists.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Ship/Boat

Website: http://www.chicagowatertaxi.com/

Casino shuttles

Until Chicago gets casinos of their own, the closest casinos are in Indiana and the various suburbs of Chicago. Horseshoe Casino in Hammond is the closest to downtown followed by the casinos in East Chicago, IN and Buffington Harbor (aka Gary, IN). Four Winds in New Buffalo, MI is the farthest by quite a bit. I don't know of any shuttles that go to the casinos in Joliet and Aurora.

Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN Check the Horseshoe website for a variety of shuttles leaving from downtown, northside, southside, Hyatt near McCormick Place, Chinatown, Wrigleyville

Majestic Star Casino in Gary, IN Asia Tours charters starts at their office at 6152 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-478-5893, cost is $15 which you can get back in the form of a voucher if you gamble enough at the casino.

Resorts Casino and Hotel in East Chicago, IN Casino Cruise Lines, you can see the schedule and pickup times here or call 800-254-3423, leaves from Crestwood, Homewood, Countryside/Hodgkins, Skokie, N. Lincoln Avenue, Chinatown, the Hilton on South Michigan and two locations on the South Side, cost is $5 to get on the bus and you receive $10 cash upon arrival (cost $1/$5 voucher from Chinatown and from the Hilton).

Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, MI Casino Shuttle service,you can see the schedule and pickup times here or call 866-711-1997, leaves from Chinatown, the South Side, Crestwood, Homewood and Countryside, cost is generally free with some restrictions

Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee WI Casino Cruise Lines, 800-254-3423, from the north suburbs only, Lincolnwood, Buffalo Grove, Niles, Skokie, Libertyville, Norridge, Vernon Hills, Gurnee, Waukegan, Wheeling, cost is $12, which includes a free lunch, $5 coupon toward table games and a $5 coupon to use on your next visit.

Mode: TO

Type: Other

Midway Airport Midway International Airport Review

Updated 3/12/09

Midway Airport, the world's busiest airport in the 1930s, is now Chicago's 2nd busiest airport, O'Hare being the busiest and handling most of the international flights. The name was changed from the Chicago Municipal Airport to Midway in 1949 in honor of the Battle of Midway.

Flights arriving here are primarily domestic, smaller, no frill airlines like Southwest, ATA, AirTran, etc. although some international flights do go through Midway.

The airport is easier to navigate than O' Hare and transportation to Chicago via the CTA Orange line (el) is within walking distance of the terminals.

Midway is slightly closer to downtown than O' Hare, the transit website estimates a trip of 30 minutes by el compared with 40 for O' Hare.

If you haven't been through Midway in awhile, Midway underwent a major renovation of it's terminals and parking facilities a few years ago and is a much nicer airport to travel through. There's a pretty good food court including Greek, sandwiches, pizza and recently I grabbed a corned beef sandwich from Manny's before boarding a flight.

As of 3/12/09 If you are parking and flying, Midway has several economy lots off 55th Street for $14 per day (have to take a shuttle bus to the terminal) or if you go to 59th just east of Cicero there's a $12 lot that you can walk from but they only take cash (and most times they "forget" to give you change!). Parking in the garage next to the terminal is $28 per day. Check the website below for updated rates.

Mode: TO

Type: Airplane

Website: http://www.flychicago.com/

Other travel from O'Hare International airport O'Hare International Airport Review

Updated February 2009

If you have a lot of luggage or prefer not to take public transportation, there are several other options for getting to and from O'Hare.

Taxi-costs about $35-40 each way and take you directly to your hotel. You can catch taxis in front of every terminal, first come, first serve.

Continental Airport Express-cost is $25 each way, $46 round trip if you book online. The cost goes down if you have more people, check the website for more info and current pricing. It sounds like they take you directly to your hotel but you may have to share and the trip might be longer than with a taxi.

Rental car-unless you are traveling a lot to areas outside of Chicago, rethink renting a car. Public transportation, walking and taxis in Chicago should be adequate for your stay.

For additional options see the website listed below.

Historical note-Travelers to O'Hare will notice that their luggage tags read ORD. Originally O'Hare was called Orchard Field, it was renamed in 1949 for Butch O'Hare, a World War II fighter pilot from Chicago who was a war hero. If you'd like to read more about Butch O'Hare, here's a good link:
http://www.ohare.com/ohare/about/about_butch.shtm

Mode: TO

Type: Other

Website: http://www.flychicago.com/ohare/groundtransohare/ground.shtm

Subway (El) from O' Hare CTA (city trains & buses, the EL) Review

If you are traveling from O' Hare to downtown the cheapest and often quickest way is to take the Blue Line el also known as the CTA. It's $2.25 per person, get a transit card if you need to make a transfer. There's no extra charge for luggage. Or if you plan on using the el and buses a lot in Chicago you can get a visitor pass (1, 3 or 7 days) and the ride from O'Hare is included. The trip takes about 45 minutes to downtown Chicago.

The CTA station is located at the lowest level of the Main Parking Garage next to elevator center 4. You should be able to follow the signs that look like a subway car. But don't get on the remote parking train by mistake.

Clark/Lake is the most central stop, you can walk to some loop hotels or take a cab from there to the Mag Mile or River North, the cab fare should be less than $5 to most hotels. Or you can transfer to the red line at Washington and take it to Grand or Chicago which will get you closer to the Mag Mile hotels. If you are staying in the south loop you can get off at Washington or Monroe on the blue line without transferring.

The blue line el is a regular commuter train, like the tube in London, so there isn't extra room for luggage like on some airport trains. But O'Hare is the first stop on the line and patrons are used to seeing folks with luggage so as long as you can manage your luggage on and off the train, you should be fine.

Mode: TO

Type: Subway/Metro

Website: http://www.transitchicago.com/

FREE trolleys Trolleys (some are FREE) Review

Updated 11/30/08 Chicago's free trolleys ceased operations on January 4, 2009 due to budget cuts

But the blue line running from Navy Pier to State Street and back still runs every day even in the winter, check out the Navy Pier website below for current information. No ticket or reservation needed, board at the marked trolley stops.

Hopefully the city will bring the other trolleys back some day but until they do, there are still buses and el trains to get visitors around.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Other

Website: http://www.navypier.com/visit_us/pub_trans.html