Commute to Hoffman Estates from West Lakeview possible? - New to Chicago (Hanover Park: apartment, home)

[buckeye_transplant]

Hi everyone,

I may be starting a job at Siemens soon in Hoffman Estates and this would my first time moving to Chicago (don't know many people there so trying to stay close to the city). I would ideally like to live in West Lakeview or Lincoln Park (to be close to the Kennedy but also the Brown Line and Boystown area), but am open to hearing other neighborhood suggestions for a mid-20s white gay professional.

I have researched that I could take the Blue Line to Rosemont and then the Pace 610 Bus, However the bus only does 1 drop-off (7:50am) and 1 pick-up (4:45pm) at Siemens -- and my hours will most likely be working later than 4:30pm, so I will most likely have to have a car.

Is this commute do-able, or am I looking at a 2 hour car commute each way?

Are there any sort of rentable monthly overnight spots near Rosemont Blue Line where I could drive from Hoffman Estates to O'Hare area, park my car overnight and take the Blue Line into the city to my apartment, and vice versa in the morning so I can skip most of the rush traffic on the Kennedy?

Any neighborhood suggestions instead of West Lakeview / West Lincoln Park that would be more do-able for a car commuter taking into account my interests?

Thank you.

[chet everett]

The sad reality is that pretty much any kind of commute that has you switching between rail (either the narrow gauge El or standard gauge commuter lines) and bus for the kind of distances you are talking about to get to Hoffman Estates is almost surely NOT worth doing from a time perspective -- the odds of getting stranded when there is only one shot that works is also almost surely NOT prudent, trying to explain to boss how you "got stuck" or having to pay for can to get home is deal killer.

Frankly even the potential to save any time at all if you attempt to drive to a parking lot and then catch another mode of transit is highly questionable. The various delays in getting to / from the expressway, getting car parked, getting through station is all time that even in the worst traffic jams you are still at least moving forward at 15+ mph which while a fraction of off peak speeds is still many times faster than walking / waiting on platform..

If you want to make this commute as tolerable as possible look for neighborhoods further northwest that still afford access to good nightlife locally as well as good access to CTA -- from Lincoln Square you can head to local spots or nearby Andersonville or a still short ride to Boystown...

[marothisu]

The commute is definitely pretty long and I agree with Chet that the commute will suck. It is pretty long and if you must live somewhere in Chicago that is closer, I also agree with the Lincoln Square area. This also includes Ravenswood. It is a little closer to your work (not by much), but if you leave early enough (say, before 715 or 730) for the morning commute, you might save yourself a little bit of traffic. It's also possible from there to bypass the I-90/94 junction by going on Lawrence instead of Montrose avenues.

The area is nice and quaint. Quiet, but nice. It's on the brown line too which is one of the major lines, so it wouldn't take you long to get to Boystown via train if you wanted to go out there, and it's also near Andersonville which has a number of gay individuals there as well.

[buckeye_transplant]

I think someone told me there are some 24 hour parking garages on/near blue line stops close to o'hare, would those be worth parking at overnight (i think they said the garages were around $100/month) and taking the train into the city if I lived off of the blue line (e.g. Logan Square or Wicker Park), versus trying to drive totally from Ravenswood area? I'm thinking it could potentially break up the commute and make it less stressful.

[chet everett]

I frankly cannot imagine how having your car several miles out of your way and putt-putting along on the El with some nincompoop in control is less stressful than at least having some modicum of ability to at least alter your path a bit to try to shorten your commute... You will be spending more money and time on the mess of transit, parking, worry of not getting to work because of unforeseen delays than just sticking with a car and trying to avoid worst of the bottlenecks...

Even if you were able to somehow get parking that was mostly secure the thought of having to deal with routine issues like filling gas and changing oil only after making a journey out to some remote garage sounds horrible...

Maybe your lifestyle is simply incompatible with this job...

[oakparkdude]

Does your employer offer shuttle service from the nearest commuter rail (Metra) station? If not, you could look into leaving your car overnight at the suburban station and riding out of the city on the Metra. I don't know if this is allowed, each suburban municipality determines guidelines for their station parking lots. Some may ban overnight parking. Others may be prohibitively expensive.

Looks like the nearest station is Barrington, on the up-nw line. Check the Metra timetables to see if they are compatible with your job/lifestyle. If so, call the municipal town hall and inquire about overnight parking policy. To make this work, you would have to live very close to either Ogilvie station downtown or Clybourn station.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Looks like the nearest station is Barrington, on the up-nw line. Check the Metra timetables to see if they are compatible with your job/lifestyle. If so, call the municipal town hall and inquire about overnight parking policy. To make this work, you would have to live very close to either Ogilvie station downtown or Clybourn station.

Although there is probably no shuttle at that station so this point may be worthless,, He could live anywhere along the NW line. It also stops at Irving Park and Jefferson Park but that would mean living a bit distant from lakeview/lincoln park. Clyborn would be his best bet and I would suggest living in walking distance of the station to cut down on travel time bit.

Honestly living out in the burbs and in to party on the weekends is probably his best bet.

[oakparkdude]

Based on my re-reading of this thread, it appears the OP doesn't know about the existence of Metra, only the CTA.

Metra is the agency that runs commuter trains to and from the suburbs into Chicago. It is distinct from the CTA that runs the buses and el/subway in Chicago. If you are thinking about public transit out to Hoffman Estates, it makes much more sense to use Metra than the CTA.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Based on my re-reading of this thread, it appears the OP doesn't know about the existence of Metra, only the CTA.

Metra is the agency that runs commuter trains to and from the suburbs into Chicago. It is distinct from the CTA that runs the buses and el/subway in Chicago. If you are thinking about public transit out to Hoffman Estates, it makes much more sense to use Metra than the CTA.

While the Metra is a better bet, there's no Metra that goes to Hoffman Estates. The best bet the OP has with that is to take the UP-NW to Barrington or Bartlett and then hope Siemens has an employee shuttle from one of those stations. It doesn't look like there's PACE service between these.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by marothisu

While the Metra is a better bet, there's no Metra that goes to Hoffman Estates. The best bet the OP has with that is to take the UP-NW to Barrington or Bartlett and then hope Siemens has an employee shuttle from one of those stations. It doesn't look like there's PACE service between these.

If the OP is willing to consider taking the Blue line and transferring to his car, he should be willing to at least consider taking the Metra to Barrington and transferring to his car at that location.

Incidentally, Siemens is 6 miles from the Barrington station and 6 miles from the Hanover Park station. A quick perusal of the Barrington village website suggests that overnight permit parking is allowed under certain circumstances.