Chicago Public Transportation question (Skokie, Oak Park: crime, home, transfer)

[adamtrip]

My wife and I plan to move to Chicago next year and I have a few questions about the public transportation system. First, is it safe? Next, what are the differences in the subway (the "L" I guess), the train, and the Metra? How abundant are taxis? Are the buses a good way to get around?
Thanks for the help!

[jessiegirl_98]

Hello! Do you know where in Chicago you are moving to? First, you can check out Chicago Transit Authority | 1-888-YOURCTA and can look at the trip planner to help you find routes from potential places you will live, to work, etc. The question regarding safety highly depends on where you live. The el is the name for the "subway" that goes in the city of Chicago and has limited availability to some suburbs. The Metra is an actual train that goes largely from Union Station (and a few other places in the city) to the suburbs. In the city (especially in nicer neighborhoods), taxi's are extremely abundant. You can also call a taxi and have one pick you up (it doesn't cost extra) if you think finding one is a problem.
Hope that helps! If you provide information about specific areas, I would be able to provide better responses!

[Wherenext2]

That's a question I have too- since pretty much all of the metra/cta lines seem to go through high-crime areas. Is it safe to ride from downtown to the southwest side (Midway, Bedford Park, Oak Park areas) or visa versa? For work (second shift) or to go downtown for things to do (nightlife)? Is there security on the trains and buses?

[chet everett]

Oak Park is west of Chicago and served by Blue line that runs along the middle of the Eisenhower expressway, or the GreenLine which runs above Lake St. Safe.

Midway is on the SW side. Terminus of the Orange line. Safe.

I would not recommend relying on CTA to get to Bedford Park. It is not directly connected to El. You need to take bus or transfer if coming from the Loop. It is not unsafe but it would an awfully long commute.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by adamtrip

My wife and I plan to move to Chicago next year and I have a few questions about the public transportation system. First, is it safe? Next, what are the differences in the subway (the "L" I guess), the train, and the Metra? How abundant are taxis? Are the buses a good way to get around?
Thanks for the help!

• Safe? Yes, usually. Here and there...there can be incidents but on the whole it's completely fine. It really depends on where you are in the city sometimes on it, but even in the most "ghetto" areas riding the train is fine. Just mind your own business and you'll be fine even if someone on board is being "weird" in your mind. I'd say it's pretty rare for someone random, minding their own business to get mugged or whatever. If you are riding it during business hours to/from the Loop, then really, extremely safe. Pretty much everyone on there is a worker with a desk job or a college student (a lot more workers than college students). I ride it everyday to and from work and I've never once had an incident

• Differences between "L" and Metra? The "L" services mostly Chicago (although you can get to the suburbs of Forest Park, Oak Park, and Skokie from the "L"). Meanwhile, the Metra is mainly for servicing the suburbs. There are Metra stops within the city, but not that many. The Metra services from more than just Union Station. Pretty much all of the Metra stations start in the Loop. They are Union Station, Ogilvie, Randolph Street Metra, and Rock Island at LaSalle & Congress. Another difference is that the Metra pretty much stops running around midnight most nights and at that hour it comes only once an hour for most lines. For the "L", there are a few 24 hour lines (Red and Blue) and the ones that aren't are about 19-21 hour/day lines and are only out of commission between say 2:30am and 5:30 or 6am. At the real early hours they run about every 8-20 minutes (depends on the line and time). Metra trains are on a different pay scale where everything on CTA no matter where you go is one fixed price. Metra trains are nicer than CTA trains because they are meant for longer distance/time commuting than a CTA train.

• Taxis are extremely abundant. At last check, I think there were over 8000 taxis operating in the city. It's pretty easy to hail a cab in a number of neighborhoods. They're always around, 24/7. Of course, if you're really far out from where the "action" is happening then it's harder to just walk out your door and hail one. I just walked home over about a mile, at 3am and even on the non busy streets in Streeterville/Gold Coast, I saw at least 50 open taxis drive past me. If you're in an area without a cab or you can't get one, you can always call or use your smart phone. There are apps like Taxi Magic which allow you to easily reserve a cab. This is good too for when you have to get to the airport early. You can reserve a taxi like a day or two in advance.

• Buses. It always depends. Since buses are bound by the same traffic as car, if you can take a train to get to the same thing, it's always better. For example, my girlfriend lives about 3-4 blocks from a train station, but I have a bus that comes across the street from my place that drops me off only .5 blocks from her place. The bus takes 30+ minutes to get up there during a normal hour and the train takes 15 minutes. Even if I walked those 3-4 blocks, it's still faster than the bus (not to mention the bus that goes between the train station and her place that takes like 4 minutes). Buses are fine, but just be aware that they are bounded by the same traffic as cars and can take awhile. If you can't take the train, then buses are perfectly sufficient. There's loads of buses and routes.

• Transit trackers. If you have a smart phone, then I'd suggest you get a transit tracker app. The CTA "publishes" their data which allows developers to create apps (like yours truly). For the trains and buses, it can tell you when the next ones arrive at the very stop and for buses some apps can even show you on a map where the exact (ish) location is of the bus.