Ohare to the inner loop. my first visit. fastest cheapest route, help! (living in, train)

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Midwest Revival

You make it seem like CTA trains have plenty of space, I cant count the number of times my feet have been rolled over by luggage on the Blue Line. It's so many connections(bus & the L) out of Union Station, not to mention simple calling a cab. I've always took Metra to O'hare, more space for luggage and a overall better ride. This doesnt apply to the OP, but from Union Station you can go basically anywhere in Chicagoland, from New Lenox all the way up to Antioch.

You're being ridiculous.

Since O'Hare is the beginning of the run, you get your choice of seats. And I've never had my feet run over on the Blue Line.

Union Station has exactly zero direct "L" connections - both the Blue Line subway and the nearest 'L' Loop station are at least a 1/4 mile from the north Metra platforms. Someone going to the suburbs is not going to be asking how to get to the central Loop. Even if they were going to the suburbs, someone going to the suburbs is going to need a car during their stay and would be better advised just to rent one. Even if you're transferring to another Metra train, only about 40% of Metra lines connect with Union Station. The nearest other Metra terminal is 1/4 mile away for all practical purposes. By contrast, the Blue Line, via the Clark/Lake station, and even outside of rush hour, connects riders to lines representing 94% of 'L' ridership in Chicago, and the other Blue Line stations connect to far more buses than Union Station alone does.

To better illustrate the preference of riders for the 'L' option:

The Metra-NCS line that serves O'Hare Metra had about 1.6 million riders last year across the entire line. There are 18 stations on the line. I don't know the exact distribution of riders because Metra doesn't publish detailed reports, but if the station is average (and it's most assuredly not), it would still have fewer than 100,000 annual riders choosing to use it.

The Blue Line O'Hare station (only the one station) had over 3.5 million riders last year.

So we can conclude that even though 70% of the Chicago area lives in the suburbs, for people choosing to use either the suburban commuter rail service (Metra) or the Chicago-centric 'L' service, the 'L' service at least THIRTY-FIVE TIMES more popular.

It'd be fine if you suggested it as a "if you're a train buff and you want to do something that's unusual and a bit inconvenient but totally possible," but that's not what you did - you presented it as a better option, which is very clearly and empirically is not.

[SouthCali4LifeSD]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

Well you're talking about someone who simply couldn't figure out the best possible route from downtown to O'Hare. So... yeah...

Loriel, can you stop making an ***** of yourself? My question was about a train with a frequent timetable for the sake of my early flight out of Chicago, and my follow up question was about an alternative to the train considering my flight is at the crack of dawn. Luckily most people in this thread answered that for me, and I have them to thank. You on the other hand, decided to be a douche bag, and I'm okay with that because we live in a democracy where an individual has the right to be a tool. Did you miss the part where it's my first time to Chicago? I did just fine with the NY subway, London underground, Paris metro, Barcelona metro, and Eurail system last year... but guess what? None of them involved a 6:40 AM flight 20 miles from the hotel. Anyway, I got to go. Enjoy your cyber-douche baggery. You represent your hood of Englewood well.

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by chirack

Ah Google isn't based on experince. It will give directions that work, but may not be the best way to do things. Only a local would know the Blue line is faster than driving in rush but otherwise not.

What kind of lobotomized baboon is unfamiliar with the concept of rush hour traffic? Once upon a time, before I lived here or had even visited at all, I managed to figure out that the train would be a better idea than braving traffic at rush hour and would be cheaper.

A good example of it was a thread a few years ago where the person landed at midway and needed to get to the northwest burbs. Since he choose the cheapest method Google told him take the Orange line to the Blue line and tranfer from the Blue line at Jefferson Park to the Metra and mind you for a late night flight! Unless you were very broke or you really wanted to risk missing your Metra train by a blue line delay and stand in an outside station exposed to the elements and probably with no where to sit and with no nearby hotels should you miss the last Metra you wouldn't do this. You would instead transfer to the Metra downtown instead of Jefferson Park.

This is not exactly rocket science and is why Dog invented common sense and good judgment. If you select the cheapest route and it sends you on a wild goose chase, that's when you adjust your criteria until you find something suitable. Are there people who can't figure this out? No, wait...

[chirack]

Originally Posted by Lorielicious

What kind of lobotomized baboon is unfamiliar with the concept of rush hour traffic? Once upon a time, before I lived here or had even visited at all, I managed to figure out that the train would be a better idea than braving traffic at rush hour and would be cheaper.

However a local would KNOW that the EL is faster than rush hour traffic and what hours the EL will likely be faster at. A local would Know that the blue line is 24 hours or that you have to pay extra on Metra if you board a train and a conductor was present. A local would know that say the Ryan is currently shut down or when the Blue line is having work done and the estimated time is off. Trust me Google works but it may not give you the best method because if you are a local you are not aware of all options or all the upcomming issuses. Software is like that.

There is an GPS program I use to get home and it sometimes tells me to get off at the expressway exit closest to where I live...however that isn't the best method because that exit puts you onto a bunch of small streets with slower speed limits and could take you longer than using a slightly further away exit that leads to larger faster streets. A local knows this another person does not.

This is not exactly rocket science and is why Dog invented common sense and good judgment. If you select the cheapest route and it sends you on a wild goose chase, that's when you adjust your criteria until you find something suitable. Are there people who can't figure this out? No, wait...

How do you know it is a wild goose chase if you don't know that the Metra train you are attempting to get at Jefferson park departs from downtown?

[Lorielicious]

Originally Posted by chirack

However a local would KNOW that the EL is faster than rush hour traffic and what hours the EL will likely be faster at.

Only a local is familiar with the concept of trains vs rush hour traffic? Only a local could know the Blue Line's schedule? I somehow figured out that it ran 24 hrs before I'd ever set foot in Chicago. How did I figure it out? Psychic energy or spending a few minutes to look it up online? Seriously, there are some things for which asking people will yield better results than Googling, but this isn't one of them. Finding the best route between the airport and downtown is by far the easiest part of traveling, and moreover is probably one of the easiest things that I've ever done. In terms of difficulty ranks somewhere between checking the weather and clipping my nails. I dunno, apparently this is hard for some people.

How do you know it is a wild goose chase if you don't know that the Metra train you are attempting to get at Jefferson park departs from downtown?

How could you possibly use Google to determine a train's route?

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by chirack

However a local would KNOW that the EL is faster than rush hour traffic

If by "a local" you mean "anyone who knows what rush hour traffic means in a major city and knows that the El is a train," then yes, only a local would know that.

[pvande55]

Originally Posted by emathias

You're being ridiculous.

Since O'Hare is the beginning of the run, you get your choice of seats. And I've never had my feet run over on the Blue Line.

Union Station has exactly zero direct "L" connections - both the Blue Line subway and the nearest 'L' Loop station are at least a 1/4 mile from the north Metra platforms. Someone going to the suburbs is not going to be asking how to get to the central Loop. Even if they were going to the suburbs, someone going to the suburbs is going to need a car during their stay and would be better advised just to rent one. Even if you're transferring to another Metra train, only about 40% of Metra lines connect with Union Station. The nearest other Metra terminal is 1/4 mile away for all practical purposes. By contrast, the Blue Line, via the Clark/Lake station, and even outside of rush hour, connects riders to lines representing 94% of 'L' ridership in Chicago, and the other Blue Line stations connect to far more buses than Union Station alone does.

To better illustrate the preference of riders for the 'L' option:

The Metra-NCS line that serves O'Hare Metra had about 1.6 million riders last year across the entire line. There are 18 stations on the line. I don't know the exact distribution of riders because Metra doesn't publish detailed reports, but if the station is average (and it's most assuredly not), it would still have fewer than 100,000 annual riders choosing to use it.

The Blue Line O'Hare station (only the one station) had over 3.5 million riders last year.

So we can conclude that even though 70% of the Chicago area lives in the suburbs, for people choosing to use either the suburban commuter rail service (Metra) or the Chicago-centric 'L' service, the 'L' service at least THIRTY-FIVE TIMES more popular.

It'd be fine if you suggested it as a "if you're a train buff and you want to do something that's unusual and a bit inconvenient but totally possible," but that's not what you did - you presented it as a better option, which is very clearly and empirically is not.

Ohare transfer is the second most popular destination, after Union Station, for that line, but most of the riders to/from OHare transfer are not flying anywhere but happen to work near
the airport.

[ChicagoMeO]

I never knew there was a Metra stop at O'hare. And I live here!!!!

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

I never knew there was a Metra stop at O'hare. And I live here!!!!

Same. I fly out of O'Hare all the time and had no idea..

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Same. I fly out of O'Hare all the time and had no idea..

No surprise, as no one publicizes it very much. And the convenience level is low - after departing Metra you get on a shuttle bus to take you to the Ohare people mover, and then take the people-mover to your desired terminal.