Commute to Schaumburg (Chicago, Gurnee, Libertyville: home, transferring to, to live in)

[M14]

I have to commute to Schaumburg from Lake county for a new job. I would prefer not driving after hearing the horror stories about traffic on I-53/I-94. My questions are:

1. What would be my best/quickest option to get as close to Schaumburg from Libertyville, Lakeforest,Vernon hills using Metra. I could try to take a bus/shuttle to the Schaumburg corporate center from the nearest Metra station. Does this even sound practical?

2. In the event that I have to drive, what would be the best time to drive between Lake county and Schaumburg to avoid the rush hour?

Any advice will be highly appreciated!

[SJaye]

Unfortunately, all METRA lines run in/out from the city. If you needed to go from Libertyville to Schamburg using METRA you would have to take the Milwaukee-North line to Western Ave (last stop before Union Station) and then take the Milwaukee-West line outbound to Schamburg. There is no way this is faster than driving in even the worst traffic. You can also hop on the North Central Line out of Vernon Hills, get off at O'Hare and take PACE bus 606 to Schamburg walking up to Higgins Rd. However, you will be on a fair share of traffic on Higgins all the way to Schamburg. This, of course, takes you to the other side of Schamburg (near the mall).

Driving, you can avoid the traffic by going earlier, say, leaving before 7 am.

[chet everett]

Completely agree with SJaye, Metra is wholly impractical from anypoint in Lake Co to Schaumburg. Pace is not set-up for that kind of commute either.

If you do not wish to drive by yourself try a car pool / ride share : Chicago Carpool / Rideshare: 128 car pool / ride share listings

[pvande55]

By rail, the best option may be riding the North Central to Franklin Park, transferring to the Milwaukee West line, then to Schaumburg, if your job is close enough to that station. As far as driving, the morning commute is all right if you leave by 6:30 A.M. It is the ride home that will try your patience. There is the Woodfield bottleneck, then some slowdowns past Lake-Cook Rd on 83. You can mostly avoid these by waiting until 6:30 P.M. I know from experience; I had a job on the South side where I didn't hit the Woodfield bottleneck because I cruised through at 6:30. My next job was much closer so I was caught in the thick of it about 5:30.

[chicagomichauds]

Agree with everyone up there ^^^^. Metra is not designed to go b/w suburbs. There has been talk about doing something like that, but I don't think it has gotten anywhere in the 15+ years I lived there.

I used to live in Gurnee and when I'd drive to Schaumburg it was about an hour. You'd need to flex your hours to start super early and leave super early, such as a 6 AM or so start time to avoid the severe aggravation that driving in Lake County during rush hour can cause.