Cary IL to Chicago downtown - commute - doable? (Palatine: houses, school)

[hulietaa]

First of, this is great forum. Lots of good information. Here is my question: we are about to start searching for our next house and someone recommended Cary. We found some nice houses and we like the place, but commute to downtown is our major concern. Does anyone has any experience? Is it even doable? Any problems with parking at Metra?
Any comments/suggestions are highly appreciated!

[nanannie]

I live in a neighboring town and yes, its doable by train. The commute is 50 minutes to an hour. Parking is tight, but also doable, the key is getting there for an early train when there is still parking available,it does fill up. Kiss and ride is better.(get dropped off) Cary is a nice community, hope you enjoy it.

[hulietaa]

nanannie

Thank you for the info - very helpful. How early do I need to be there to get the parking spot (6am? 7am?) ? Is Crystal Lake the same? Any problems with parking there?

[nanannie]

My husband did the commute from Barrington for years and always got a spot for the 7-7:15 range. If he went in later,say after 9, he had to really hunt for a spot. Barrington, Fox River Grove, Cary and Crystal lake are all in line one after the other, I cant tell you if one is better for parking, but everyone seems to do it every day so it must be doable. I hope someone who commutes from Cary will chime in and be more specific with pointers for you . Good Luck with your move

[xxJoyfulxx]

I commuted from Cary for years, but I lived across the street from the train station, so parking was not a problem. But I did notice that the spots tend to get filled by around 7:30am.
I've also commuted from Crystal Lake earlier this year - both the downtown CL station, as well as Pingree Rd station and parking is available at Pingree Rd. If you can commute from there, do it! It's a brand new station and the parking situation is good still. I could get there between 7:50 - 8:15 and still get a spot. But the later trains (8:00am and later) are VERY crowded. At least you're getting on in CL or Cary, which means you'll still get a spot to sit.
But by the time you get to Palatine, be prepared to stand if you are taking the 8, 8:10, etc train because they are nuts.

Out of the 3 stations, Cary has the least amount of parking spaces also. So if you're commuting from Cary, I would be parked by 7:15 - 7:30 to assure a spot.

I always enjoyed commuting to the city from the NW burbs, it's very doable. Get an "express" train if you can - the ride is only about 55 minutes, compared to the regular rides which run 90 minutes into the city and make EVERY stop along the way.
The earlier you can get to a station and get a train, the better and faster your commute will be.

Good luck! if you need any other info about the stations or commutes from there, let me know; I have tons of experience

Joy

[rgb123]

Commuting is definitley doable, and I liked having some "down time" to read the paper or just look out the window on the way to work.....good people watching too. Parking can be an issue, but if you know what you are doing, you can find other places to park too...and, hopefully not, but I have been known to drive to the next station and race the train a few times if I was running late!! Or, for example if you need to catch an express train but you live in Cary, you might drive to the barrington or arlington heights station to catch it. you are not totally limited to the station you live closest to.

Anyway, it sure beats driving!! But....if you miss the train - you can always drive.

[Windy City John]

if you have a helicopter or 3 hours day to kill

[rgb123]

look I didn't say it was ideal...but if your driving to the train station and you just can't park and you miss the train -- you drive. Happened to me a lot....and from farther away (Fox lake) and it never took me 3 hours to get to school at UIC.....maybe round trip though.

[mr aztec]

I had a friend who did that commute. You could see it really take a toll on her as the months went by. After a year, she gave up and found a job closer to Cary. That said, I live in Lakeview and lately my commute has been 40 mintutes on a bus standing! I'm thinking of moving to the near suburbs for a shorter commute.