CTA Blue Line Neighborhoods- Commute to Schaumburg possible? (Also: Twin Cities Neighborhood Comparisons) (Chicago: apartments, houses)

[Nate_M]

Hello all,

I'm moving to Chicago this week with my wife and toddler after having spent around a decade living in China & Hong Kong. I'll be working in Schaumburg but would prefer to live closer into the city both to have walkable options for living/dining/culture and also so my wife has an easier time finding work downtown. One of my colleagues recommended working somewhere along the CTA Blue Line, as there is an express bus from Rosemont that can take me directly to my office. I'm looking at places mostly in Logan Square/Bucktown/Wicker Park close to the CTA line, and was told that I should be able to make it to work from there in around an hour or so. My questions are as follows:

A. Is that kind of commute really reasonable, or should I be planning for something closer to an hour and a half, (in which case we'll probably end up out in the burbs)?
B. How would you compare those neighborhoods in terms of safety, dining and entertainment options, etc? Living in Asia, I've never really been concerned about my personal safety, and I've read very mixed things about pretty much every neighborhood I've looked at in Chicago. I used to live in South Minneapolis, and have stayed in quite a few neighborhoods like Cedar-Riverside, Seward, Philips, Whittier, Lake Street, Como, etc, and was wondering if there are any folks from the Twin Cities that could offer a comparison.
C. Are there any other neighborhoods along this way that I should be looking at that have a nice range of cultural/dining options along with good safety records and convenient transport options?

[pvande55]

West of Logan Square usually safe. Good places to eat abound, at Cumberland or Rosemont.

[chicagobear]

How long is the bus ride from Rosemont to your office? The areas around the Division, Damen, Western, California, and Logan Square stops are all nice these days.

[Nate_M]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

How long is the bus ride from Rosemont to your office?

Waiting for confirmation from my colleague, but I'm pretty sure it is the 895 Pace bus.

[Ace Rothstein]

I think the bus won't be too bad going outbound as traffic generally lightens up after O'Hare outbound in the morning. Coming back towards the city in the evening I'd expect a much longer bus ride back to the Rosemont stop.

[marothisu]

The commute from those areas wouldn't be too bad. On the train from the southernmost area you mentioned, Wicker Park, it would be probably 25, maybe 30 minutes each way. From the Logan Square stop, it's probably closer to 20 minutes each way. From a few other stops "south" of that, it's a few minutes more than that.

Logan Square is probably the cheapest option on there in general for both apartments and houses. I think things are rising, so if you buy, it may be an investment. If you want an even better investment along that line, then you could even look at an area like Avondale north of that.

Each of those areas of course has plenty of residential areas (pretty much most of Chicago does even if it's dense and vibrant). I'd say that Wicker Park probably has the most vibrant stretches for nightlife and general food stuff, though Logan Square has its shades here and there and it will probably be more in a few years. Logan Square is a big area, so certain areas are definitely more residential than others.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Nate_M

Waiting for confirmation from my colleague, but I'm pretty sure it is the 895 Pace bus.

You'd better check that route's schedule. If you're not out of your office by 5 to 5:15pm or so, you may be SOL.

http://www.pacebus.com/pdf/schedules/895sched.pdf

[chet everett]

Commuting via public transit to the Loop is easy, trying to do the same to/from any other location inside Chicago or the suburbs is really risky.

Folks that I know in a wide variety of fields from hospitality to retail to more traditional white collar situations have a long list of "horror stories" where they have had to give employes an ultimatum of "get a car or get a different job" becuase the schedules for transit just do not fit the demands of work nor are the timetables reliable enough to allow employers to count on staff getting where they are needed. For folks in the lower paying industries this causes caring employers some real agony as they well know that cost of living / transportation in areas closer to where the jobs are puts people in a real bind -- without some radical reprioritization the gap between where low skill / low pay jobs are located and where people that hold such jobs is likely to grow.

For folks in the position of having to "lay it on the line" for a well paid white collar professional it is at least not so dramatic as the ability to afford a personal vehicle is there, it generally just comes down to a lifestyle choice. Fact is that sort of lifestyle is a part of the set of reasons that some employers are choosing to move offices into Chicago from the 'burbs and improvements to rail and other transit options are likely too costly to reverse that trend given the empty coffers that RTA/CTA/Metra face. I know several suburb loving folks that have looked at having their office, or a subset of individuals, work in a town served by Metra but the lack of flexibility makes this a losing proposition -- if even a handful of key employees are forced to rely on crummy "reverse commute" schedules the whole operation cannot succeed.

Complicating things in our region is the fact that even in the best of conditions the various "spokes" that radiate out from near Loop transit lines cross many transcontinentally linked freight lines so additional trains really can't be added to service. Throw-in the devastating effects of weather and the cascade effect that has on both driving and buses and the odds of missing transit service links make this a real commute killer.

The notorious tie-ups that occur around the junction of the Kennedy and NW tollway (also known as Jane Adams...) mean that few coworkers that drive will be eager to "help out" should the OP know that some paralyzingly snow storm or other traffic events lengthens and already painful commute.

Frankly if the OP wants a nice walkable community to live in I would recommend focusing on that and then finding a job more suited to that lifestyle. Many folks that live in a desirable train centric areas find great employment opportunities in the Loop. Some folks in such areas are similarly fortunate to find a nearby employment situation. If one has to work in an area with no nearby walkable residential areas it is almost always speedier to rely on a personal vehicle, the increasing range and sophistication of electric and hybrid vehicles make these a good option for those concerned with environmental effects of fossil fuels for personal transportation.

[marothisu]

If the OP has a shuttle to and from a blue line station, then commuting from Logan Square to the Loop takes about just as much time as commuting to Rosemont. Yes, the time schedules aren't as lenient in the suburbs than the Loop for stuff like PACE, but it's still not terrible especially if there's a shuttle that you won't consistently miss.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by marothisu

If the OP has a shuttle to and from a blue line station, then commuting from Logan Square to the Loop takes about just as much time as commuting to Rosemont. Yes, the time schedules aren't as lenient in the suburbs than the Loop, but it's still not terrible especially if there's a shuttle that you won't consistently miss.

Private shuttles to/from blue line stations are pretty rare, from what I remember. Back in the dark ages, I took the blue line to the Rosemont stop and then a Pace bus to my office in Rosemont. If I missed a bus towards the end of the morning/evening commute, it meant waiting an hour or paying ridiculously expensive rosemont cabs.

Relying on a Pace Bus to Schaumburg means you have another 20-30 minutes to your commute in the morning (and likely twice that in the evening) and even less options if you happen to miss it.

I don't think I could handle that as my primary commute option.