Transportation from Beverly to Hyde Park (Chicago, Washington: sales, 2014, home)

[ajolotl]

I just bought a home in Beverly and work in Hyde Park. Though it's tedious I like to take the redline from Dan Ryan/95th to Garfield and then the 55 to Hyde Park. Others have told me this isn't safe. It's certainly not pretty but am I really putting myself in any danger? From what I can tell nobody is paying any attention to me, and there are quite a few people around even late at night that at least don't give me the feeling of isolation (that I often have e.g. walking around Hyde park). Is there a better way on public transport to be getting to Hyde Park? thanks.

[Drover]

If there's a .2% chance of something happening to you in a given year in Beverly versus, say, a 1% chance of something happening to you in Roseland (where the 95th/Ryan station is), that's five times the risk. But it's still only 1%.

But to me the more important question is why go through all of that when you could hop on the Metra Electric at 95th or 103rd and take it directly to Hyde Park? I bet that would cut your commute time in half.

[ajolotl]

Thanks. I think I can deal with those odds. People who live in suburbs seems to think it's more like 50% chance in Beverly and 99% on Red Line. Don't know where these exaggerated perceptions come from. Beverly in particular feels extremely safe to me.

I didn't realize 95th Red Line wasn't in Washington Heights. Now that I look at city map I see you are correct. One does really notice a major improvement in crossing into Washington Heights when traveling east to west along 95th st.

I'll give your suggestion a try, though I'm interested in landing on the west side of Hyde Park and would have to take a 15 minute (albeit it very nice) walk from metra station. Metra Electric also runs very far east I believe (like cottage grove). I'll have to see how to best get over there from Beverly. Public transit is extremely disappointing on south side. I could drive in about 18 minutes, might succumb to temptation soon.

[Drover]

Well, Cottage Grove is the western border of Hyde Park. If you're thinking Cottage Grove is way east, I'm not sure your destination is actually in Hyde Park. At this point I have to confess I'm a bit confused about where you're trying to get to. Because if your destination is west of Cottage Grove, then yeah, the Red Line strikes me as the better option.

[ajolotl]

I meant that the Metra Electric stops at 95 and 103rd are quite a bit east of the Dan Ryan Red Line Stop -- I believe near Cottage Grove, and thus the bus ride from Beverly would but quite a bit farther and perhaps even require a transfer (not sure, never did it).

Furthermore, the Metra drops you off in the east part of hyde park (near stony island), and my office is on the west side (ellis). Thus, it isn't clear overall that it would save me time. It is a nice suggestion though and I will try it.

[skyeINIL]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

I meant that the Metra Electric stops at 95 and 103rd are quite a bit east of the Dan Ryan Red Line Stop -- I believe near Cottage Grove, and thus the bus ride from Beverly would but quite a bit farther and perhaps even require a transfer (not sure, never did it).

Furthermore, the Metra drops you off in the east part of hyde park (near stony island), and my office is on the west side (ellis). Thus, it isn't clear overall that it would save me time. It is a nice suggestion though and I will try it.

You're correct. From Beverly, you would have to transfer at the 95th St. station to get to the Metra Station on 95th and Cottage. When you get to Hyde Park, you would have about a mile to walk from the Metra Station to get to Ellis. If safety is more of a concern than transit time, Metra would probably be your best bet.

[ajolotl]

Wow, can't imagine walking two blocks, taking two busses, then a train, then walking a mile all to go about 9 total miles. Transportation options in chicago are disappointing for such a great city.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

Transportation options in Chicago are disappointing for such a great city.

... On much of the South side yes.

[skyeINIL]

Actually, it's not that bad. The CTA buses on the south side are set up almost exactly like the north side. There's a bus for just about every major N/S street (e.g. Ashland, King Drive, Halsted, Stony, Jeffrey) and E/W street (e.g. 63rd, 71st, 75th, 87th, 95th). The OP just happens to have an unusual route.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by skye1974

Actually, it's not that bad. The CTA buses on the south side are set up almost exactly like the north side. There's a bus for just about every major N/S street (e.g. Ashland, King Drive, Halsted, Stony, Jeffrey) and E/W street (e.g. 63rd, 71st, 75th, 87th, 95th). The OP just happens to have an unusual route.

The City of Chicago and many other suburbs have been on a crazy kick to increase retail sales to capture more sales tax revenues. One of the things they do toward this end is encourage more development of retailing. Retailers are responding and opening up more diverse options in areas that may have been undeserved. Because of that there are now more people that DO want to get between places that are not right on the traditional commuting paths. On the one hand buses are easier to redirect to these shifts in commuting, BUT the CTA is still pitifully understaffed and the density of these development efforts is NOT enough to justify adding more lines.

The reponse has to be carefully weighed or else people will move to cars OR give up trying to get the shopping that is a bit off the beaten path...