Commuting from SW Michigan to Chicago, Daily? (Chester, Union: renting, loft)

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Ace Rothstein

It has but probably not as much as previously reported with the issues recently brought to light of crimes being reclassified and under-reported.

Do you really think that is something police just started doing?

[Bluefox]

OP you may also want to consider an Indiana town like Chesterton based on what you are describing. Has a lot of the benefits of SW Michigan with a far more doable commute. The South Shore will take you from Dune Park to Millenium Station in about an hour and 5 minutes. Meanwhile New Buffalo is only about a 25 minute drive. There is the Dunes National Lakeshore right there as well. Definitely more suburban than SW MI but still a small town by most measures. Lots of seclusion, safe, good schools, good access to transit, etc etc.

[snoylekim]

I have 2 co-workers that commute from that area via the South Shore from Michigan City daily . They use the morning commute for the extra sleep BUT - during the winter , they have a few more work from home days because of snow and service interruptions . it is about a 3.5 - 4 hour commute daily , and, while driving might be fine for 2 1/2 seasons, you will be in the Northwest/ North Central Indiana snow belt .

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by JCandKT

I was confused by that... couldn't the Amtrak train be more consistent? It looks like it only has 3 daily stops in New Buffalo.

These are all great responses - thank you so much for taking the time to help me out.

I realize that Indy has gotten "more" violent over the last two years --- a big reason of why we want to get out. We have 2 dogs, needing a back-yard to run and play... one reason we don't want to live in a high-rise. I need to start looking in the suburbs of Chicago. But we are so in love with SW Michigan, I may just suck it up and do the long(er) commute. I can always work on the train, right?

I think its going to be very, very trying on you and your family.

There are really good options of living somewhere with a lot of nature, a lot close to the city, where you can always just go to SW MI on weekends for the day.

You might wan to look at possibly living in areas such as Lemont/Willow Springs/Palo Hills where there are many places where you can have a half acre yard, and be just down the road from the most extensive and hilliest tracts of forests preserves in the Chicago suburbs. You might also want to look into some of the NW Indiana nice burbs right over the border.

I think many will be looking at this and thinking "don't do it" like other have said the commute will take up so much of your time, you won't really get to enjoy it. You can live within reasonable commute distance to Chicago in those aforementioned communities, with space, nature, and woods, and then go to SW MI on the weekends.


Just to show, places like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wi...9ef5c2afa623d9

are only 25 minutes in no traffic, less than an hour with traffic.

[reppin_the_847]

Amtrak service could improve dramatically in the coming years. The Chicago - Detroit corridor is a designated high-speed corridor slated for massive funding & improvement. Plus, Wisconsin's governor turned down a ton of federal funding for their proposed high-speed corridor between Chicago, Madison & Minneapolis. The Spanish company Talgo (train manufacturer) may sell some of its unused fleet to Michigan instead of Wisconsin as a result of all of this.

Once there is more capacity, I would imagine that there could be greater frequencies. But from a SW Michigan commuter standpoint, you pretty much just have Indiana's South Shore Line at this point.

Originally Posted by JCandKT

I was confused by that... couldn't the Amtrak train be more consistent? It looks like it only has 3 daily stops in New Buffalo.

These are all great responses - thank you so much for taking the time to help me out.

I realize that Indy has gotten "more" violent over the last two years --- a big reason of why we want to get out. We have 2 dogs, needing a back-yard to run and play... one reason we don't want to live in a high-rise. I need to start looking in the suburbs of Chicago. But we are so in love with SW Michigan, I may just suck it up and do the long(er) commute. I can always work on the train, right?

[JCandKT]

Thank you so much everyone who has commented. We are still in the very beginning stages of planning but I have to admit, the commuting for 4 hours very day is freaking me out. I'm going to look at the communities suggested and other suburbs.

[Longford]

I work with several people who live in: Crown Point, IN, a couple in Michigan City, IN and one or two more who are in the vicinity of those two and who take the train into Chicago to work 5 days a week. Yes, it's time consuming and expensive to ride the rails ... and even more if you drive.

[baileyvpotter]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

So what happens to this ill conceived commute when winter weather wreaks havoc? VERY bad idea.

Originally Posted by snoylekim

I have 2 co-workers that commute from that area via the South Shore from Michigan City daily . They use the morning commute for the extra sleep BUT - during the winter , they have a few more work from home days because of snow and service interruptions . it is about a 3.5 - 4 hour commute daily , and, while driving might be fine for 2 1/2 seasons, you will be in the Northwest/ North Central Indiana snow belt .

^^^^excellent points. Adding: certain trains (time of departure) returning to MC can get very
crowded.....plan ahead to get a seat (at the Randolph station) and there have been instances
where service has been interrupted due to repairs or weather.

[Bucktownbabe]

Originally Posted by JCandKT

I think we both love SW Michigan so much, that's what he's hooked on.

You could visit a few weekends during the summer, or even rent a place there for a week or two. Being on or near the beach doesn't offer much advantage in the winter.

If your office in the city was south of downtown it might be a doable commute to drive-- about an hour each way. To get to Magnificent Mile, however, you'd be dealing with significant downtown traffic on top of the distance, which would make the drive take nearly as long as the train. Also, SW Michigan and NW Indiana can get more snow than Chicago in the winter due to lake effect, so that will make it even worse some days.

Tons of people commute into the city on the South Shore train (that's why it exists, obviously), but I wouldn't want to do it that far every day, not to mention the drive just to get to the MC station and then possibly a decent walk (depending on how far north on Michigan your office is) once you get there. Once or twice a week I wouldn't mind.

[chet everett]

South shore service is notorious for some horrendous delays. Driving all the way from New Buffalo is not really feasible either -- between weather related issues (snow in winter, dense fog), high fuel costs, difficulty of parking, ridiculous SkyWay pricing and horrendous tie-ups this really does not make sense for daily commute during rush hour.

The handful of folks that I've know who lived in NWI and worked in the Loop were generally coming from towns much closer to Illinois AND they gnerally grew up in that area and/or hand family situation that outweighed anything else -- free housing in parents home for young employees, grandparents doing "free day care" for kids before / after school, I'll parents that were being taken of by a spouse.

Ridership ion the rallies headed south is just a fraction of the folks headed north or west. The Indiana stretch is desperate for some support from tax dollars as rider revenue is not keeping up with needs.


Finally I would caution that the VERY limited service schedule can be a career limiting situation. When things "come up" at work and require folks to stick around past "quitting time" it is generally not a big deal for most Metra riders that can still catch trains that run later than those to Indiana or Indiana. Heck the sparse schedule means even an after work beer (which is still one of the best informal sources of information / career advancement...) is all but impossible if you ever want to see any of your family members...