Transportation in the suburbs

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by ScigirlKim

Our 19 year old son is relocating to Lisle, IL to do an internship, which is located 9 miles away in Oak Brook. (South of Lombard). Will he absolutely need a car, or can he get around with public transportation? I realize that none of the busses operate on Sunday which is fine, and he has no need to go into the city. Just trying to figure out if I absolutely have to come up with a car for him or if this is feasible! Also are the busses free or do they charge? The information I looked at online for PCA and CTA is really confusing! Thanks...

He WILL need a car in Lisle yes. Even if he can figure out how to get to and from work via Pace or whatever Lisle has (only saying that because I drive everywhere, have no idea about public transit as I won't use it) Anyhow, the city is fine for mass transit, but Chicago's burbs are based around the automobile. Everything is very spread out, many areas don't have sidewalks that connect all the way through, they can tend to be choppy (1 block of sidewalk then grass, then mud, then ditch, etc). Heck I know there aren't decent sidewalks going right down 83 (it's all grass right up to the pavement), then you have to factor in our horrible weather we have here some 4 months a year. Who wants to walk or wait for a bus with it 35 degrees and drizzling with howling NE winds? I know I sure as heck don't. Then he's gonna have to eat so how does he get to and from the grocery store, barber shop, mall, Home Depot, etc? Would you wanna carry a cart full of groceries or other cr@pola on the bus? Didn't think so. That said, just have him have a car here, his life will be much easier. If it were in the city, I'd say otherwise, but DuPage Cty??? No way, just drive. You should have no problem finding a cheapo, yet decent car like a Ford Taurus or Chevy Cavalier for about $3K.

[pvande55]

Originally Posted by tomcho

Double that distance in an hour, isn't a terribly fast bike pace.

May not be fast for you, Lance. But for someone who is not conditioned it might be.

[chicagojlo]

Also bear in mind that the buses and trains are really only scheduled around the morning and evening weekday rush hours, and while you might like to think your child is only going to work and sleep, chances are they'll want to have some kind of social life!

[kindrakindra]

If the internship were a week, maybe two, I think relying on public transportation in that area would be ok. Because he will be here considerably longer than that, it may be difficult to get around on public transportation. This is especially true if he ever has to work a little later one night or get in earlier some days.

[chet everett]

I sorta wonder why pick Lisle if work is in Oak Brook -- while it is not super far it would be much easier to get from say Elmhurst or Downers Grove, both of which border Oak Brook. Oak Brook itself has few rentals, thoughnit does have very nice network of bicycle paths, many of which connect to neighboring towns. Probably more things to do within walking distance of both Downers Grove and Elmhurst too. Lisle is pretty sleepy...