Commuting Naperville Vs Arlington Heights..

[jamaicabound60565]

Originally Posted by mattywo85

I can't speak for the Arlington Heights station but Naperville I can. The parking fills near the train station up by about 8am, maybe earlier depending on the day. However if you don't mind walking a little you can park at the free lots in downtown Naperville and there will be plenty of spots in the morning. There are some people that take the Pace and use the park n-ride. You can try your luck at the Lisle station but the parking is even worse IMO. Check out these links too:

www.metrarail.com

www.pacebus.com

in the past 6 month to year they have gotten pretty strict about ticketing people who park in the free lots. they chalk your tire in the morning nad if they see your car in the afternoon they will ticket you.

also us bank on jefferson and washington recently hired a security guard t sit in the parking lot nad watch whether peoople go into the bank if you dont your car gets towed.

naperville dt station has ilke a 7 year parking wait. the pace bus isn't graet in the burbs but isn't terrible. you will probably have a bus comming by your home or apt fairly frequently and within a few blocks of your home if you dont want to deal with parking. soem people pay people at private residences to park in their driveway.

parking at rt 59 station is much better. also as long as your there by 8 you can normally find a pay spot.

im not super familiar with taking train from arlington heights but i do have a cousin that lives there and do drive there man thats out there. naperville has pretty good express trains during rush hour times and an express will be 35 or 40 min.

[mattywo85]

Originally Posted by jamaicabound60565

in the past 6 month to year they have gotten pretty strict about ticketing people who park in the free lots. they chalk your tire in the morning nad if they see your car in the afternoon they will ticket you.

also us bank on jefferson and washington recently hired a security guard t sit in the parking lot nad watch whether peoople go into the bank if you dont your car gets towed.

naperville dt station has ilke a 7 year parking wait. the pace bus isn't graet in the burbs but isn't terrible. you will probably have a bus comming by your home or apt fairly frequently and within a few blocks of your home if you dont want to deal with parking. soem people pay people at private residences to park in their driveway.

parking at rt 59 station is much better. also as long as your there by 8 you can normally find a pay spot.

im not super familiar with taking train from arlington heights but i do have a cousin that lives there and do drive there man thats out there. naperville has pretty good express trains during rush hour times and an express will be 35 or 40 min.

Why are they ticketing people to park in free lots?

[the1nerh]

THANKS SOOOOO MUCH!!!!! You guys have really helped me with this.I have been spending some time in both cities this week and I think that I love Naperville a little more because of the night life.Naperville seems to have more places to get Vodka after a hard days work lol!

[pvande55]

Originally Posted by mattywo85

Why are they ticketing people to park in free lots?

Because you are only supposed to park there for half an hour. Or it's a private lot. I have heard of cars being towed away for parking in what they thought was a library lot but was a private lot.

[Diws]

Originally Posted by the1nerh

THANKS SOOOOO MUCH!!!!! You guys have really helped me with this.I have been spending some time in both cities this week and I think that I love Naperville a little more because of the night life.Naperville seems to have more places to get Vodka after a hard days work lol!

Yeah, there is no reason to disqualify Naperville just because of the Metra parking. The daily fee lots can be a pain, but what I finally did (after countless tickets) was adjust my arrival time... arrive before 7:00 am and you'll always find a spot, basically. Some days it never even fills up; the 7:00 am is a worst case scenario, especially prevalent in the winter during bad weather. And depending on where you live, there are PACE routes to and from the station, though every year these seem to come up for review.

[chet everett]

In all honesty anybody that "thought it was a library lot" must be willfully averting their eyes from numerous HUGE signs that warn "Violators will be towed". There are VERY obvious signs posted at every possible entrance / exit from any such lot that clearly spell out how long you can expect to park in any "free" lot. The large parking garages (also no cost to shoppers / diners...) even have digital signs that spell out EXACTLY how many spaces remain in each section. Belive me, Naperville very much understands how to notify anyone with eyes about what is a legal space for commerce vs commuters vs community library patrons...

Originally Posted by pvande55

Because you are only supposed to park there for half an hour. Or it's a private lot. I have heard of cars being towed away for parking in what they thought was a library lot but was a private lot.

[jamaicabound60565]

Originally Posted by mattywo85

Why are they ticketing people to park in free lots?

because those aren't commuter spots there meant for people downtown shopping. granted unless its a holiday or something going on those lots usually sit empty all day but i imagine the city would rather have you pay for a spot at the train station or take a pace bus to the station they dont want you using the parking spots for shoppers which bring in tax revenue for you to park and go to work and not spend money downtown the whole day your car is sitting down there.

used to be able to park there however lately if you park 5 days a week expect to get at least 2 tickets i would say.

[pvande55]

Parking is a study in itself. I heard of a town where the parking fee was a dollar a day and the fine $10. But enforcement was so lax you had less than a 10% chance of getting a ticket. It got so no regulars paid they daily fee.