Commute time from Lincoln Park/Old Town to Berwyn? (Chicago: home, construction)

[PsychDoc]

Hi-

I am considering taking a job at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn. If I do so, I will be living in either Lincoln Park or Old Town in the city. I was wondering what my average commute time would be? I can drive or take the train (I hear the train stops right in front of the hospital). Any insight would be appreciated.

[chet everett]

Yes, the BNSF stop is very close to the hospital. You could take the El down to the Loop and get to Union Station IF you have mostly a 9-5 schedule. If you have a lot of times that you need to be at work outside that you may find the commuter train schedule, coupled with the various hassles of the El fo rce you to spend MUCH more time anticipating where you need leave slack...

If it was me, I would much rather be in West Loop ,where I could walk to Union Station, or Oak Park, where one bus ought to get me to work, or drive fromOld Towm...

[PsychDoc]

How long would it take to drive LP/Old Town to Berwyn?

[noid_1985]

Originally Posted by PsychDoc

How long would it take to drive LP/Old Town to Berwyn?

depending on the time of day, but Im going to say every bit of 45mins

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Yes, the BNSF stop is very close to the hospital. You could take the El down to the Loop and get to Union Station IF you have mostly a 9-5 schedule. If you have a lot of times that you need to be at work outside that you may find the commuter train schedule, coupled with the various hassles of the El fo rce you to spend MUCH more time anticipating where you need leave slack...

If it was me, I would much rather be in West Loop ,where I could walk to Union Station, or Oak Park, where one bus ought to get me to work, or drive fromOld Towm...

Agreed. The ride from the BNSF Oak Park stop (right in front of MacNeal) to Union Station is about 15 minutes. The drive from Old Town to Berwyn is now a PIA, thanks to I-290 construction and the closure of Lower Wacker.

[chet everett]

There are good alternates to 290. You can realitively easily / safely access the major east-west streets that will get to you to Berwyn is a reliable and consistent time frame (I would agree that something over 30 minutes and under 50 minutes is realistic for normal driving), regardless of rush hour or off peak. Whether this is faster than the combo or CTA and Metra depends mostly on how well your schedule meshes with the published timetable. Makes me the "rapid" has been out of transit for too many people...

I mean seriously if people that executives of the CTA or Metra or the RTA Board routinely had to traverse a not overly bizarre trip from the north side / near north of Chicago to a pretty substantial employer (hospital) in a suburb that is ADJACENT to Chicago and is actually served by an old El line (that now is pretty obsolete with the reduction in manufacturing) it would be clear that there is a mismatch between the kind of people that would like to utilize transit AND the hassles that they face in doing so, especially I really doubt the drive would take longer...

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by chet everett

There are good alternates to 290. You can realitively easily / safely access the major east-west streets that will get to you to Berwyn is a reliable and consistent time frame (I would agree that something over 30 minutes and under 50 minutes is realistic for normal driving), regardless of rush hour or off peak. Whether this is faster than the combo or CTA and Metra depends mostly on how well your schedule meshes with the published timetable. Makes me the "rapid" has been out of transit for too many people...

I mean seriously if people that executives of the CTA or Metra or the RTA Board routinely had to traverse a not overly bizarre trip from the north side / near north of Chicago to a pretty substantial employer (hospital) in a suburb that is ADJACENT to Chicago and is actually served by an old El line (that now is pretty obsolete with the reduction in manufacturing) it would be clear that there is a mismatch between the kind of people that would like to utilize transit AND the hassles that they face in doing so, especially I really doubt the drive would take longer...

Are you referring to the old Douglas line (now the Pink Line), which used to run out to Cermak and Oak Park in Berwyn? That was live until the early '50s, when they scaled it back to 54th and Cermak in Cicero. It's a short bus trip, granted, but it would be nice to have the actual L back in Berwyn.

It could be done. The land is still there, in the form of a parking lot called the "Vacin Fairway." And you could actually run it out to Harlem Ave. if you wanted to cut through a few small parks.

Ah, dreams....

[myrc60]

If you take Metra you are going to love it and it will make you hate the commute from home to Union Station even worse. If you are working business hours getting to Union Station should be fairly easy with express buses if you can catch them where you are. You will however be a reverse commuter from US to Berwyn and that may limit your choice of train schedules but again it depends on the time of day that you are commuting.