Do you have to be good at driving in bad weather? (Chicago: insurance, home)

[chet everett]

I agree with other posters as to to the relatively good transit that is directed toward the Loop, it is also relatively easy to get to most of colleges inside Chicago as well as to rely on public transit to get to the airports from most parts of Chicago. If you choose to live in a part of Chicago with lower densities you may have longer walk to bus / El stop and that is not the best situation but the CTA mobile phone apps are a big help in determining when the buses will arrive.

If you wish to live inside Chicago and work in a suburban area there are significantly less options for transit and it may be wise to plan on using a personal vehicle to get to work. It is possible for some folks to combine a Metra or Pace commute with a modest bicycle ride,mod course in foul weather that can be more difficult.

The worst time to be onnthe roads is during a weather event -- other people with limited driving ability will also bail-out on their transit based commutes and you get truly incompetent drivers making foolish decisions and ending up snarling traffic...

[jwaiter]

Originally Posted by simon22

IIf that's the case do you have to know how to drive through ice and such?

That's a very good question. The short answer is "no." The long answer is it helps to be a good driver in bad weather and it could save you from an accident or even injury. If you know how to handle a tail spin you can get out of a tail spin, if you don't you're in the ditch. Good driving skills are advantageous in certain situations but an average driver can get along all winter and be fine.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

One of the best things about the CTA is that it gives you the option to not drive when the weather sucks, even if you have a car (which, for many parts of the city, is totally optional). Even in situations in which driving might normally be more convenient than taking public transportation, ice and snow levels the playing field mightly quickly by making the roads less hospitable and taking out a huge percentage of normally available street parking.

If you're going to drive in Chicago (which is optional), there's little reason to do it during bad winter weather. If you do have to drive during winter weather, you should know how to do it.

[Drover]

I think before we all start singing "you don't need a car" in three-part harmony, it would help to know where the OP will be working and what type of neighborhood or what general area they want to live in.

[jdiddy]

I would strongly recommend that if you are going to drive, you research basic driving skills in inclement weather.

However, it boils down to this: Slow down, keep adequate space between the car in front of you, don't drive like a moron.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by Drover

I think before we all start singing "you don't need a car" in three-part harmony, it would help to know where the OP will be working and what type of neighborhood or what general area they want to live in.

Fair enough. We'll follow that with a chorus of "If you're going to drive, you should probably know how" in B-minor.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by simon22

I've heard bad things about the public transportation and that you need a car there. If that's the case do you have to know how to drive through ice and such?

You heard wrong. Public transportation is quite good and quite safe in Chicago. And if you drive here you had better know how to drive in snow and ice. The city does plow and salt but they prioritize the major streets first.

[A2DAC1985]

Originally Posted by simon22

I've heard bad things about the public transportation and that you need a car there. If that's the case do you have to know how to drive through ice and such?

Two things:

1. You should know how to drive in snow and on ice if you are going to drive.

2. I'm going to go against the grain and say that public transportation in Chicago SUCKS.

//www.city-data.com/forum/chica...icago-end.html

See, I'm not too sure where you heard that Chicago's public transit is "bad" from (and what does "bad" mean exactly? Slow? Inefficient? Not large enough? Dangerous? An overall PITA?), but if you heard this from people who live in a "Chicago" "neighborhood" like Buffalo Grove, Schaumburg, Bolingbrook, etc., then the public transportation sucks and could even be nonexistent.

For example, if one lived in the part of "Chicago" known as Downers Grove and wanted to take public transit to Wheaton, the RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) says it would take 38 minutes to get there... 32 of which are spent DRIVING to a train station for a 6 minute train trip.

But let's say you just don't have a car, or can't drive at the time. That's fine. You can take a Metra train and transfer to another Metra train, no driving involved. But that takes at a minimum (for today at least) 2 hours and 23 minutes... up to 4 hours.


But if we're talking about the 227.2 square miles of land that are legally, technically, and arbitrarily the city of Chicago, then no, Chicago public transit is not bad at all. For an example of bad public transit you could look to virtually, dare I say all, of the other major cities in the Midwest.:

IndyGo | Pages | Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation
http://www.go-metro.com/uploads/pdfs...Ciny%20Map.PDF
TARC
http://www.ridemcts.com/uploadedFile...ransit_Map.pdf
http://www.metrostlouis.org/Librarie...System_Map.pdf
http://www.cota.com/assets/Riding-Co...em_Map_WEB.pdf

The Twin Cities do a pretty good job:
Metro Transit Interactive Map

And Cleveland is trying:
http://www.riderta.com/pdf/maps/System_Map_Main.pdf


But compare those system maps and the roads accessible by public transportation to this one (and more specifically the second set of maps:
http://www.pacebus.com/pdf/RTA_System_map.pdf


In conclusion:
1. Public transportation in not "bad" in Chicago.
2. Public transportation is "bad" in "Chicago".
3. If you can't drive in snow or on ice you shouldn't be on the road when there it's snowing or there is ice.

[chet everett]

I think others have pointed out how difficult it can be to get from one point on a "spoke" of one well served by transit suburb to another as the "hub" of pretty much all of the transit in the region is in / near Chicago's Loop.

Similar gaps exisit in other parts of Chicago -- getting to / from O'Hare or even Midway airports from someplace like Hyde Park via transit is far slower / more complicated than driving. Getting from someplace like Loyola University's Rogers Park campus to another school like Chicago State, University of Chicago, Chicago State, UIC, IIT or St. Xavier CIA transit would also be rather ridiculously time consuming.

The spokes work well for the kinds of office oriented workers and a handful of health care workers near the hub but for other employment sectors inside the city the lack of any kind of meaningful "mesh" of transit interconnects is a sore point...

Originally Posted by A2DAC1985

Two things:

1. You should know how to drive in snow and on ice if you are going to drive.

2. I'm going to go against the grain and say that public transportation in Chicago SUCKS.

//www.city-data.com/forum/chica...icago-end.html

See, I'm not too sure where you heard that Chicago's public transit is "bad" from (and what does "bad" mean exactly? Slow? Inefficient? Not large enough? Dangerous? An overall PITA?), but if you heard this from people who live in a "Chicago" "neighborhood" like Buffalo Grove, Schaumburg, Bolingbrook, etc., then the public transportation sucks and could even be nonexistent.

For example, if one lived in the part of "Chicago" known as Downers Grove and wanted to take public transit to Wheaton, the RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) says it would take 38 minutes to get there... 32 of which are spent DRIVING to a train station for a 6 minute train trip.

But let's say you just don't have a car, or can't drive at the time. That's fine. You can take a Metra train and transfer to another Metra train, no driving involved. But that takes at a minimum (for today at least) 2 hours and 23 minutes... up to 4 hours.


But if we're talking about the 227.2 square miles of land that are legally, technically, and arbitrarily the city of Chicago, then no, Chicago public transit is not bad at all. For an example of bad public transit you could look to virtually, dare I say all, of the other major cities in the Midwest.:

IndyGo | Pages | Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation
http://www.go-metro.com/uploads/pdfs...Ciny%20Map.PDF
TARC
http://www.ridemcts.com/uploadedFile...ransit_Map.pdf
http://www.metrostlouis.org/Librarie...System_Map.pdf
http://www.cota.com/assets/Riding-Co...em_Map_WEB.pdf

The Twin Cities do a pretty good job:
Metro Transit Interactive Map

And Cleveland is trying:
http://www.riderta.com/pdf/maps/System_Map_Main.pdf


But compare those system maps and the roads accessible by public transportation to this one (and more specifically the second set of maps:
http://www.pacebus.com/pdf/RTA_System_map.pdf


In conclusion:
1. Public transportation in not "bad" in Chicago.
2. Public transportation is "bad" in "Chicago".
3. If you can't drive in snow or on ice you shouldn't be on the road when there it's snowing or there is ice.

[A2DAC1985]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I think others have pointed out how difficult it can be to get from one point on a "spoke" of one well served by transit suburb to another as the "hub" of pretty much all of the transit in the region is in / near Chicago's Loop.

Similar gaps exisit in other parts of Chicago -- getting to / from O'Hare or even Midway airports from someplace like Hyde Park via transit is far slower / more complicated than driving. Getting from someplace like Loyola University's Rogers Park campus to another school like Chicago State, University of Chicago, Chicago State, UIC, IIT or St. Xavier CIA transit would also be rather ridiculously time consuming.

The spokes work well for the kinds of office oriented workers and a handful of health care workers near the hub but for other employment sectors inside the city the lack of any kind of meaningful "mesh" of transit interconnects is a sore point...

Good points all around.

But I think you have to admit that getting from a place in Chicago to another place in Chicago is much easier via public transit than going from a suburb to suburb via public transit. Plus going from any point A to any point B in Chicago can be done through public transportation only, with the potential for minimal walking to round out the journey. I don't think that can be said for many places in "Chicago", aka the suburbs.

And the OP didn't really specify:
1. Where they heard that Chicago public transit was bad.
2. The source of that information
-Chicago resident(s)?
-Suburban Chicago resident(s)?
-Person(s) use to more extensive and/or efficient public transportation?
-Person(s) with an axe to grind?
3. What does "bad" mean in this context?