Pace bus service and house with basement flooding in Naperville (Chicago: houses, neighborhoods)

[gaotang]

Hi guys, recently I have been looking for houses near the Metra station in Naperville.
I learned that parking space is very limited at the Naperville metra station, so I am banking on Pace or biking to the Metra to catch the train to downtown. It seems that the Pace buses stop at each major crossroads along the way, but its schedules indicate it takes a shorter time than you would expect for a bus to crisscross the neighborhoods to get to the Metra station. Is the Pace schedule accurate, do the Pace buses keep good time? I also checked the Google maps for the time to take the Pace. For those who have experience, is the time about right?
I have another question about the two houses I have looked at. Both houses have some cracks in the concrete walls of the basement, although the cracks have been sealed/repaired. In your opinion, are the cracks a serious concern? One house has 2 sump pump pits in the basement. The owner disclose that the basement did have some water flooding 2 times in the past years due to failed sump pump. That is why two sump pumps are put in place. Should this be a reason for concern? Your advice is welcome.

[damba]

A backup or failed sump pump experience is fairly common in the Chicagoland area. That would not necessarily sway my decision.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by gaotang

Hi guys, recently I have been looking for houses near the Metra station in Naperville.
I learned that parking space is very limited at the Naperville metra station, so I am banking on Pace or biking to the Metra to catch the train to downtown. It seems that the Pace buses stop at each major crossroads along the way, but its schedules indicate it takes a shorter time than you would expect for a bus to crisscross the neighborhoods to get to the Metra station. Is the Pace schedule accurate, do the Pace buses keep good time? I also checked the Google maps for the time to take the Pace. For those who have experience, is the time about right?
I have another question about the two houses I have looked at. Both houses have some cracks in the concrete walls of the basement, although the cracks have been sealed/repaired. In your opinion, are the cracks a serious concern? One house has 2 sump pump pits in the basement. The owner disclose that the basement did have some water flooding 2 times in the past years due to failed sump pump. That is why two sump pumps are put in place. Should this be a reason for concern? Your advice is welcome.

I've been taking the Pace bus to Metra for about 2 and a half years, never had an issue in the morning. Coming home, Metra is more the issue than the Pace buses. There's been a handful of Metra delays and typically the Pace drivers will wait if it's not unreasonable. If it seems the train will be late enough the buses will just continue their routes and you can catch the next bus. The biggest issue with buses, depending which route you plan to be on, is that after about 6:15 or 6:30pm they reduce and consolidate the number of bus routes. You should study how these consolidated routes work if you plan to rely on them regularly, or just get to the station early enough (6:45am train is fine, no guarantees on 7:10am train) on days you plan to be downtown later and pay for daily fee parking.

The Pace buses will not only stop at any major intersection, they are technically supposed to stop anywhere along the route where reasonable. The online and printed schedules will only show a handful of stops though. You'll just have to do some math to estimate when they'll reach your pickup point and will figure it out after a couple pickups. Some bus drivers will stop nearly anywhere on the route assuming you flag them down, but as a courtesy you should at least go to a corner of your block.

[Vosges]

Make sure to get a radon test given the cracked walls. Don’t worry about the two sump pits.

[damba]

Originally Posted by Vosges

Make sure to get a radon test given the cracked walls. Don’t worry about the two sump pits.

Most basement cracks do not have an associated radon component, luckily.
Cracks or no cracks though, the radon test should be done anyway as another prudent component of the home inspection process before you buy.

[Kmanshouse]

You might have seen my house on your search. We just sold it though - closing in early May. We had repaired cracks in the basement but our radon test was negative. It's not a thing. And we had two sumps.

Pace Bus was right behind our house - I took it for years. It's quite convenient, actually. The one beef I had about it was that it drops you off too early. You have to wait 10-15 minutes for the next train. Wish they timed it better so you were getting dropped off closer to the train departure time.