Naperville or Cary Metra? (Chicago: renting, townhome, buying)

[zing0024]

my family and I will be relocating to the Chicago area next month and I'm wondering if anyone could provide some insight into commuting from Naperville and/or Cary to the Loop?

I know Naperville has express trains that are only 1/2 hour vs Cary trains of 1 hour, so I guess I'm wondering how busy are the Naperville and Route 59 stations? Can it take another 30 minutes if living in Naperville? How about parking? Are the trains packed?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[reppin_the_847]

Can we get a moderator to move this post to the Chicago Suburbs section? I'm sure that there are folks that would have some helpful answers for this poster.

[rtop11]

Naperville is one of Chicago's SW suburbs. Nice place to live with lots of stores, good schools, etc. Metra to downtown Chicago is about 30-40 minutes depending on your home location. Are you buying or renting? Currently looking to buy? Sound like a realtor --- Guess What! I am. I service this area. If you need additional assistance and you do not have a realtor, I will be more than happy to assist.

[chitown85]

Growth is catching up to Cary. Currently the area is still rural/suburban but that is changing. Naperville is a city in its own right (over 160,000 people). Go to Naperville. Much more suburban than Cary.

[acdevane]

Depending on what you are looking for, your commute could end up being close or terribly far from the train. It all depends what you're looking for. Single family, townhome, price point, etc. A word of caution, and not to scare you, but there is over an 8 year wait for parking permits in Naperville. There are park and rides scattered throughout town that help. However, the fact that we have that long a wait is some indication of how desirable it is to live here. There are numerous trains and expresses. but they do fill quickly. Sometimes we don't like what we hear, but we need to hear it.

[chet everett]

There was a post just a few days ago confirming that daily fees spots are mostly abundant at the Naperville station, and there is better-than-average Pace service to the station from many points in Naperville.

I would not let fears of commuter parking keep you from looking seriously at Naperville -- most every section has numerous way to get to the stations, be it individual permit parking, daily fee lots, Pace bus, bicycle /walking, neighbor carpool et cetera...