Question about best way to get to Chicago Union Station

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

OK, I’m planning a trip in a couple months and I’m trying to figure out the best way to get to Chicago’s Union Station for a 9:30 pm departure. Or perhaps I should say I’m trying to find the safest way to do this, because Chicago isn’t as safe as it used to be.

If I come in on the South Shore Railroad I’ll need to cross the Loop. Any suggestions? Bus? Cab? They still have cabs you can hail from the street? Or has Uber killed them all? Do buses still take cash or is it all plastic now?

Yes, it’s amazing - I used to live in Chicago and work in the Loop, but I haven’t been there in, oh, nearly 10 years now. Maybe more.

2

There aren’t as many cabs as there used to be, but they’re still around and if you’re going to find one that would be the place. Buses still take cash.

3

Exact change, right? What’s the fare these days?

4

$2.50 cash. No transfers, but that shouldn’t be an issue for that trip.

5

No, I’d just have to figure out which bus to board. Is there still one that crosses the Loop on Jackson Blvd?

6

This CTA Route Planner may be useful, in case no one knows off the top of their head if such a bus still runs.

7

Wow, NOT the maps I used to use…!

Looks like there might be four bus routes but it will only show me details on the 20 Austin bus…?

8

Second the CTA trip planner website. Alternatively, it’s a nice walk from Millenium Station to Union Station. Down Michigan Avenue past the Park, see the Cloud Gate and Crown Fountain, go straight west on Adams to Union Station. In a couple of months, it will still be light out in the evening.

9

You may do just a well by getting off at the second to last stop, Van Buren street. Walked from there to Union station a couple years ago, and at no time did I feel the least bit unsafe.

Looking at a map, it’s also slightly less distance than Millenium.

10

I’ve done that walk both ways. It’s an easy stroll.

And I’m not sure what you meant by “safe”…free from roving bands of thugs? But after 4 or 5 the business workers are gone and it’s pretty quiet. Before that, there are roving bands of yuppies, so be psychologically ready for that.

Oh, get to Union Station early. It’s huge and snakes under many blocks. Once I got wrong info on where my train left from, then a guy told me where i should be, and it took 15 minutes of walking and I missed my train (but I found a cool little bar that made great pizza, made a few new friends and had a blast).

11

Are you planning to catch the eastbound Lake Shore Limited? (9:30pm departure implies that, I don’t think there are any other Chicago Amtrak departures that late.) Because I’m wondering if catching the LSL at South Bend is an option.

Mind you, SOB (yes, the actual station code) is a concrete blockhouse lacking most of the amenities of Chicago Union Station, and you’d be staying up an hour or so later to board. And SOB is a different location than the South Bend Airport terminal of the South Shore, so you’d probably end up driving or being driven there. But not backtracking west into Chicago before heading to points east has its virtues.

12

In real life I’m a small, middle-aged woman traveling alone through a place I haven’t been in 10 or more years. Let’s just say I err on the side of caution.

Yep. I took trains in and out of Union Station for the better part of two decades. It’s a bit of a maze.

Yep. That’s the one. And yes, catching it at LSL at South Bend is an option. But I’m familiar with traveling in Chicago without needing a car whereas South Bend I either need one or I’ll probably have to Uber, which I can do, but getting into a complete stranger’s car at night is not something I’m comfortable with. I’m planning to arrive very early (before dark) at Union Station and settle in with a book until it’s time to get on the train. I’ll sleep most of the way to Buffalo and get there around 9 am.

This is the first trip I’ve taken in three years and the first time on an Amtrak since the 20th Century so I’m having to get re-acquainted with traveling in general.

13

Hey, I actually took my trip and thought I’d drop in to sort of wrap up the tale.

The two parties I asked about driving me to the East Chicago South Shore Station in the end couldn’t make it. One party managed to get stranded in Muskegon, Michigan, the other one came down with covid - disappointing, but I thanked said person for not sharing. :wink:

Thus, I Ubered to the South Shore station. Could not make the vending machine in the station work, but fortunately purchasing a ticket on the train is still an option. For reasons the South Shore wound up being nearly an hour late.

Took the South Shore to Van Buren and, because I could not find a cab, wound up walking to Union Station. At this point my prior memories of Chicago proved to be just faded enough to mess me up and I overshot the Amtrak station and wound up at a Metra Station, but managed to sort it all out. Between all the delays and wandering about that lengthy gap between “get to the Loop” and "get on the Amtrak turned out to be a good thing.

Once I located Union Station I basically wound up camping out in the passenger area with several hundred total strangers as we lounged about, read, talked, snacked on food we either brought with us or purchased at the station, and cooled our heels until it was time to go. I struck up a good conversation with a young lady who grew up on a Carribean island going to visit relatives in Boston.

The Lake Shore Limited left 30 minutes late for reasons. This was better than the fate of The City of New Orleans which, apparently, was delayed over 2 hours before starting. Whatever. Like most veteran Amtrak riders I do not expect the trains to be exactly on time and view the time tables as more of a suggestion than a mandate.

We piled onto the train and found seats. The train was definitely full. Everyone settled in, out came blankets and pillows, and it turned into a slumber party with 60-70 total strangers (unless, of course, you were in a family group). I am happy to say people were pretty decent to each other and we didn’t even have any fussy babies on the way out, although we certainly did have babies.

Since I’m nearing 60 I don’t sleep quite as well in coach as I did when I was in my 20’s, but I still managed a full night’s rest. My seatmate was a young lady from Puerto Rico now living in Hammond, Indiana and going to visit relatives in Erie, Pennsylvania. This trip reminded me that one of the things I enjoy about this kind of travel is the people you meet along the way.

One thing that IS different from the last time I took an Amtrak train is that we now have cell phone coverage. I was able to contact my sister and let her know that the train was running 40 minutes behind schedule so she wouldn’t be waiting a long time at the station.

Had a very nice visit with my sister.

Oh, and the day before I left was the big Southwest Chief crash.

On the reverse trip there was the annoyance of leaving from Buffalo at around 1 am (again, the train was behind the published time). But, again, struck up a conversation with a mother and daughter and found out they were going to be riding in a roomette because the mother had had a back injury some time before and therefore sleeping in coach was not an option.

Got on the train which already had plenty of people on it - apparently I am not the only person riding trains these days. Seat mate was a lady who got off in Cleveland but we didn’t talk much, both of us were more interested in sleeping. I did find out she was going to visit her daughter who had just had a child. Had two seats to myself (which I used to get some more shut eye) until Toledo when a bunch of boy scouts came aboard. One of them was my seatmate for the rest of the trip, apparently they were going camping in New Mexico. I didn’t know it at the time, but their connection was the Southwest Chief, which wasn’t running at the time due to the accident so I do wonder how they completed the rest of the trip, although there was an Amtrak representative present when we got off the train with a sign directing anyone making connections with the Southwest Chief off to one side so presumably it was handled somehow or other.

Anyhow, I got off at Union Station, crossed the Loop, descended into the Van Buren station, and found myself with an odd amount of time until the first of the afternoon South Shore trains came by. It wasn’t really long enough for sight-seeing, but long enough to be annoying. One of the people who showed up in the waiting room was, apparently, a gentleman who had been on the accident train who, whether in celebration of surviving with minimal injuries or to forget his woes had, he said, gotten extremely drunk the night before so he was extremely hung over. I offered him something for his head (I carry a small first aid kit with me) and said if he wanted to nap I’d wake him up before his Metra train came, which I did.

The return South Shore trip was uneventful, except for the simultaneous arrival of three Uber drivers all at once. Figured out which one was mine, Ubered home, and dumped my stuff.

Then I had to go pick up the pet birds from the boarding facility. They were both happy to see me, and pissed off at being left in a strange place for most of a week. However, they did seem less stressed than some prior times I had left them in the care of others and it was less stressful on me not to have to worry about them while I was traveling. Not the cheapest thing, but worth it to me.

So, if you’re still reading this boring travelogue, the trip was fine, only minor glitches, and I’m definitely up to make more trips by train in the future.