Riding the L - Line hours? Bus routes all 24/7? (Chicago: to rent, credit)

[NJerseyBorn]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Yes. I have never owned a car in Chicago and a ton of people I know don't own one either. Some of my friends have sold their cars. It really depends on where you live though. There are areas of Chicago where you'd need a car, but they're usually ones far out. Even then, it would depend on your daily life. If your work is near there or whatever, then there's still bus service there.

If you live in a number of neighborhoods here though, you don't need a car depending on if you aren't finding yourself going 40 miles West everyday for work in an area where the Metra Commuter Rail doesn't go near.

The Chicago transit site isn't as good as other transit sites....

Can you tell me streets the blue line and redline go down?

And what neighborhoods would not be good to live without a car?

[Drover]

They don't go down any street; they have their own rights-of-way.

Do you know where you'll be working yet?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by NJerseyBorn

The Chicago transit site isn't as good as other transit sites....

Can you tell me streets the blue line and redline go down?

And what neighborhoods would not be good to live without a car?

Hmm, I wouldn't say it's all defined by the streets they go down. There's certainly stretches of roads that the lines follow, but they will veer off onto other streets too in certain areas. Part of the Red and Blue lines are underground subway as well, but they eventually come above ground in certain areas.

Google is a good site actually for transit for any city that has it. For example, if you went to a map of Chicago and zoomed in enough to click on a transit station, it actually fills in the line for you.

For the Red Line, the major things is that "downtown" it's all along State Street. When it gets to Lincoln Park (north of Downtown) it pretty much follows Sheffield Avenue for awhile, then it follows Sheridan Avenue for a little bit, then then follows Broadway for awhile, etc. If you go south, then it basically veers onto the I90/94 after Chinatown.


For the Blue Line, in the Loop it follows Dearborn Ave, but when you get Northwest of the Loop, it pretty much follows Milwaukee Avenue for miles. A little north of Logan Square, it cuts into I90/94 where it follows that until O'Hare International AIrport. Due west of the Loop, it pretty much follows Congress Parkway, which turns into I290. It follows that basically to Forest Park (a suburb).


When I say it follows the Interstates, it means the stops are in the middle of the interstate. On the South and West sides, you get to them by pedestrian overpass. For the Northwest sides (i.e. Blue Line to O'Hare), you get to them by under the interstate).

[Alacran]

Originally Posted by NJerseyBorn

The Chicago transit site isn't as good as other transit sites....

Can you tell me streets the blue line and redline go down?

And what neighborhoods would not be good to live without a car?

Blue line travels through the kennedy expressway then splits its own path all the way to the loop and it travels on Eisenhower expressway till forest park.


Red line is all random streets above ground and below

[emathias]

Originally Posted by NJerseyBorn

The Chicago transit site isn't as good as other transit sites....

...

In my experience it's better than most - including better than the NYMTA's site.

Go to Deprecated Browser Error click on the Maps link on the right hand side, and you can select whatever map you want.

Google Maps also has the lines on it, although Google is too stubborn to color them in. But comparing them to the CTA's maps will let you see where they run.

[NJerseyBorn]

Originally Posted by emathias

In my experience it's better than most - including better than the NYMTA's site.

Go to Deprecated Browser Error click on the Maps link on the right hand side, and you can select whatever map you want.

Google Maps also has the lines on it, although Google is too stubborn to color them in. But comparing them to the CTA's maps will let you see where they run.

Thanks that was what I was looking for

Is there more nightlife along the red line or blue line? Also can you do night life and take public transportation home without cops harassing or trying to give public intoxiatication? Are cops cool around nightlife in Chicago or pricks?

[Drover]

Chicago's major nightlife areas are almost exclusively clustered around CTA train lines. That's no coincidence.

Cops patrol the nightlife areas to keep the peace. They're not interested in handing out public intoxication tickets, though they might tack one on as a secondary offense if you do something else stupid like vandalize property, get into a fight, urinate in public, or otherwise make a nuisance of yourself.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by NJerseyBorn

Is there more nightlife along the red line or blue line?

Yes. Not EVERYWHERE, but for the Red Line, pretty much most Red Line stops between Grand and Addison have a good amount of night life either right outside of there (Belmont and Addison (where Wrigley Field is)) are prime examples or within short walking distance. Sheridan stop has some around it too. The Argyle stop is Little Vietnam and has a ton of restaurants right outside of it too.

For Blue Line, between the Grand stop and Logan Square stops have a good amount of night life around them, although I'd say the most is between Grand and Western or California. Logan Square stop is a little more scattered around and I'd say it's more restaurant than purely pub/bar.

Also, there is the Brown Line. It's not 24 hours, but it goes until 2am between Lakeview and Albany Park, and 1:30 between Downtown (River North) and Lakeview. There's a number of stuff almost anywhere between the Merchandise Mart stop and the Southport stop. Paulina and north of there have stuff around it too, but not as much. There's a lot a little away from the Western-Brown stop actually (Lincoln Square).

Also can you do night life and take public transportation home without cops harassing or trying to give public intoxiatication? Are cops cool around nightlife in Chicago or pricks?

It's a big city and cops don't really give a **** if you're drunk. As long as you aren't doing anything stupid, they don't care. People drink on the trains all the time, and even in some areas people drink outside (i.e. walking with a beer and drinking it).

I'd say that the cops are usually cool about it if you're just drinking not being dumb. I'd say that bouncers are much bigger *******s than the average cop here.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Drover

Chicago's major nightlife areas are almost exclusively clustered around CTA train lines. That's no coincidence.

Yeah, there are small areas too that are not right next to trains that have a fair amount of night life. They are near a train stop but still a little removed from it. Parts of Ukrainian Village for example, Andersonville, small parts of Logan Square, small areas of West Townish area (like around Ogden and Grand), etc.

They still aren't isolated places. They are close-ish to trains, some enough for a good walk, others you could ride the train there then transfer for a short bus ride

[rparz]

Originally Posted by NJerseyBorn

Thanks that was what I was looking for

Is there more nightlife along the red line or blue line? Also can you do night life and take public transportation home without cops harassing or trying to give public intoxiatication? Are cops cool around nightlife in Chicago or pricks?

I lived off Fullerton and could cab it from home to RiverNorth nightlife (4 miles) on a weekend night for like $12. Taking a bus or train isn't worth the hassle if you place yourself strategically.

As far as cops, you'll be fine - As long as you don't get lippy with them and try to give them a hard time. If you're respectful and don't harass them, they'll let you get away with a lot of things that would get you arrested in the burbs.
On the other hand, you start shooting your mouth off at them, you may get beat in the middle of the street or 'fall down the stairs' at the station when you're arrested. (and the station is only one story)