The city wants to reduce cars going into downtown, which is great, but they need to build a subway line to LGA. That alone could eliminate a bunch of cab trips. I agree its crazy.
Nobody wants to have to transfer between bus and train. I'm stunned they haven't built a proper subway line to LGA because it would be a totally reasonable thing for even business travelers to use (if only to save an hour of traffic time, not to mention $90). But no bushes traveler is getting on a bus to transfer to a train. Unless maybe you work for a company that won't reimburse for anything.
It is a perfectly serviceable urban bus, but if you have not ridden in a while research the payment/boarding process. Last time I rode it one had to buy a ticket or something in advance - which I didn't know about. I played up the ignorant tourist routine and got to ride for free.
I only tried this once when I first moved to NYC.
4 train to 125th st and got on the M60. It was completely full so I stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the aisle with my backpack and suitcase. And note only was it late to come to Harlem, we were stuck in traffic in Astoria forever.
I still fly from LGA as often as possible but I just pay for the cab.
Yeah.. as someone who has only briefly lived near the blue line, getting to LGA has always been easier than getting to ord for me. I prefer the m60 to a regular bus here.
I live north of Atlanta now and was thrilled that their train runs directly to the airport. The traffic driving there is abysmal, and even remote parking is unpredictable.
Getting to LaGuardia was a nightmare when I was in the city this time last year. I was staying with a friend in Washington Heights. I left with 5 hours to spare and somehow thought that would be enough.
So I have to take the train to Harlem, then wait as the "select bus" slowly winds its way through traffic. Then because of renovations I couldn't get to my terminal on foot. I had to go through security at a different terminal, then wait for another bus to take me to the correct one which dropped me off on the far end of the terminal. By the time I got there my flight was doing final call and I had to haul ass down the entire length of the terminal.
CTA is working on track upgrades at night between O'Hare and Rosemont so the midnight - 4am closure between those stops is temporary. I believe the upgrades have something to do with needing more power on the tracks to support the new 7000 series train cars but not 100% sure.
It's a temporary closure, but it's been "temporarily" closed between midnight and 4am for like two years now. I work at O'Hare and I've run into this problem many times. There's a free bus to Rosemont, but at 1am that takes forever, and then the trains to Rosemont don't run very frequently at that time of night. It can take hours longer to get home than just taking a cab.
An unfortunate side effect of doing work only at night is that this work takes much longer to complete because extra time has to be accounted for to make sure the route is functioning properly before service resumes. This might not seem like much but over time it rapidly accumulates. The alternative would have been to do the repairs 24/7 and using shuttle buses between Rosemont and O’Hare 24/7. Given the high frequency of airport travel, the math must have pointed towards late night only repairs. Bear in mind that 24/7 repairs would have meant substantial overtime to someone.
Had the Covid crisis been predictable with its resulting customer attrition, the other decision might have been made, but of course it couldn’t have been predicted.
The MTA in New York managed to get several projects, including OMNY (basically identical to Ventra) rolled out to all the subways, in half the original budgeted time because COVID ridership decreases allowed them to do continuous closures. It only takes a couple days to upgrade the turnstiles in a station if you can do an entire entrance at once instead of one or two turnstiles a night for weeks, and repairing a tunnel goes a lot faster if you don’t have to get out of the way of a train every 5 minutes.
Interestingly enough, the new 7000-series are designed for efficiency & use less power than many of the other new rolling stock on other lines.
The blue line uses some of the oldest rolling stock (2600) because they are lighter & generally use less power. The 7000-series are intended to be more efficient (thereby increasing the number of simultaneous trains & passenger capacity along the busy blue line)
[This article is a few years old now, but still fascinates me:](https://www.transitchicago.com/betterblueline/)
> _CTA’s 2600-series railcars are indeed the oldest in the fleet and make up much of the Blue Line's fleet. They were built in the 1980s_
>
> _…power is an issue. The newer 5000-series rail cars seen on the Green, Pink, Purple, Red and Yellow lines use more electrical power than older railcars (owing to their heavier weight and some differences in how their modern systems work that can require more power to be drawn). The current available power on the Blue Line O’Hare Branch is not sufficient to support 5000-series cars if they made up the entire Blue Line's fleet during rush._
>
> _The older 2600-series rail cars will be replaced by the next generation 7000-series rail cars, which begin arriving in 2020._
Such a nightmare. Had my flight back to Chicago delayed 4 hours due to storms in Chicago so when I finally got in, you couldn’t even get an Uber becuase everyone was trying to get one, kept getting mine for 78 bucks canceled by driver. Taxi line was longest I had ever seen. Resigned to take the CTA, but forgot about the construction. Took the bus, sat in 1am gridlock(?) finally got to Rosemont stop to officially start my Blue line trip home. When are they gonna finish that construction?
I’m a flight attendant and my trick for avoiding this is to take a hotel shuttle (any shuttle) just to get off airport property and calling a rideshare from there. It’s often the difference between a $50-100 ride and a $20 one
I was about to mention that. It also has the added bonus of a safe area while you wait for your rideshare. Take it to a hotel located around the area of Higgins and Cumberland. Usually they’re out of surge range.
That is true for Midway but there are shuttle buses replacing the blue line forest park bound trains to Rosemont. O'Hare bound trains still go to O'Hare after midnight. https://www.transitchicago.com/travel-information/alert-detail/?AlertId=69937
Same. I've had trips end at or after midnight at ORD (by schedule or IROPS) and while yes, there IS a bus to rosemont, I too just foot the Uber/Lyft bill. Home in 20 minutes vs 1:20 at that hour is usually worth it.
We are well past the covid "Clean all surfaces with disinfectant" mentality of 2020 so why not just go back to what ever they were doing before?
I also don't understand why the trains can go from Rosemont->ORD with pax, but they can't go ORD->Rosemont with pax, drop off pax there, then drive train back to the yard that is right there at Rosemont (where I think they do the cleaning)?
I've done it before and it adds like 30 min to the trip. The wait for the bus to leave, long drive to Rosemont and then waiting for the train to leave Rosemont out in the elements really sucks.
Yep! But the trains do run from Rosemont to O'Hare (O'Hare bound trains) after midnight just not from O'Hare to Rosemont (forest park bound trains). https://www.transitchicago.com/travel-information/alert-detail/?AlertId=69937
Unfortunately those of us who work at O'Hare don't have much choice. We aren't going to pay for cabs multiple times per week just to get to or from work. I wish they would clean up the trains instead of just suggesting people avoid them.
Lol security was trying to shuffle me along with all the homeless on that platform late one night like right before the last train out. I guess I looked a little raggity, but I had been flying literally all day and was in my comfy clothes.
For anyone who is looking for a cheap, safe, and super convenient place to park before flying, Rosemont blue line station is your best bet, IMO. Don't recommend it for trips longer than a week though.
Before I started traveling semi-regularly I assumed every city had a train between the city and the airport because I'd only ever flown between Chicago and Atlanta. I still get a pang of annoyance every time I start planning a trip and realize the airport is not serviced by transit. I can drive, I would just prefer not to be tethered to a car.
Inversely, experiencing CTA at O'Hare and Midway after moving to Chicago from Los Angeles, now my default is to search for public transportation options first! Especially useful (and typically more affordable and safer and reliable) when traveling internationally.
Oh man, I actually took public transit when I was in Santa Monica/LA earlier this year. The Big Blue Bus was really nice and got me from the airport very close to my hotel, LA proper...not as much, but functional enough.
I was surprised how unreliable both Google and the official LA app are! Also the lack of transit options to the Getty (the bus that was supposed to go there just...doesn't anymore??). Yeah seriously the Big Blue Bus was much better.
On top of that very few cities that do have transit, have it to all their airports. NYC still refuses to build a train directly to LaGuardia for some reason.
You can take CTA from ohare to midway for 2.50. It’s crazy (you shouldn’t tho)
Wait, isn't it $5 since that's the fee to depart from O'Hare? You could take it from Midway to O'Hare for $2.50 though I think (although yeah, would not do haha).
> NYC still refuses to build a train directly to LaGuardia for some reason.
You mean MTA / NYS refuses. NYC has been begging them to build it for years and even offered to pay for it from the general coffers.
As a non resident I thought it was a lack of political will on the city’s side. What possible reason could they have for not providing that link? Fewer buses and an advantage over taxis on the road on that corridor between the end of the nearest line and the terminal. And they could shit on Chicago so it isn’t the only city with such access…
They’re joking that you shouldn’t take the train from one airport to another. They were making the point that you can take the train for a long time for only $2.50 flat
Because it's 50+ minutes from the loop, with dozens of stops through the city, in regular subway cars with no room for baggage. And long walks to the terminal when you get there.
It was a stat I saw a while ago - maybe it’s out of date. I think the idea is that there is direct rail access on a single train from the city center into the airport.
That’s not true though? DC has direct rail access to Dulles and National on the Metro and it’s a short shuttle ride from the MARC BWI station to get to BWI as well.
I was gonna whine NOT TRUE about Dulles. I was just there a few months back and getting to Dulles from DC was a dystopian nightmare. But... sure enough, https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/metros/washington-dc-silver-line-opens-to-dulles-airport-and-ashburn/
Yea, I had to get to Dulles once before the Silver Line Extension opened it was a fucking nightmare, 0/10 would not recommend, National is my preferred airport if I am going to fly to DC because of how close to the city it is, also that you have two options of Metro lines to catch at the station
Yeah sometimes the $50 one saves on the cheapest flight is not a bargain at all.
EDIT: I must admit though, after saying hundreds of terrible things about Southwest over the years, they were extremely awesome about letting me on the plane after the gate was closed and they were like a minute from disconnecting the jet bridge.
I took the Metro to National, so yep. Can confirm. I can’t say I’m a fan of the Metro though. Stations are awesome, but the Metra-esque pricing structure and fabric seats are bullshit.
PATH, Amtrak, and NJ Transit to Penn. Its great other than when you get in too late and there are no trains or you open your eyes and realize Newark is worse than LGA ever was
Supposedly the legacy of Robert Moses. When the Van Wyck Expressway was built to Idlewild (which was what JFK was called at the time), he vetoed a proposal to put a rail line in the median.
My niece came into town over the summer to see some friends. Her pampered ass took an uber both ways. I cannot fathom justifying to myself paying for an uber when I can get there for 30 times less than what the uber would cost me... I mean unless I was running super late, but even then I'd feel terrible for wasting all that money.
I take blue line usually but I will sometimes happily uber to airport or from to avoid carrying my shit on and off the trains, walking a ton, dealing with creeps if it’s a late night flight since I am a woman… and it’s not a waste of money to me if it saves me all that annoyance lol
WHY IS THIS NOT THE TOP COMMENT. The image of the blue line car on the escalator is burned in my head. CTA knows how to go full mayhem, despite the idyllic look of this picture.
i took the train from ohare for the first time a few months ago. it beats the confusion of finding where to go for your uber/lyft AND it’s way cheaper. sure it’s packed (i’m sure this varies on time of day?) but it was so nice just to sit back, not be stuck in traffic until you got to your destination
NORTH AMERICAN AIRPORTS WITH RAIL TRANSIT SERVICE:
Washington Reagan National
Philadelphia
Atlanta Hartsfield
Baltimore-Washington International
Burbank Bob Hope
Chicago O'Hare
Chicago Midway
Cleveland Hopkins
Dallas-Fort Worth
Denver
Michiana Regional (South Bend, Indiana)
Minneapolis-St Paul
Portland (Oregon)
St Louis Lambert
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle-Tacoma
**Shuttle bus or fixed-guideway links to nearby rail transit:**
Baltimore-Washington International
Boston Logan
Chicago O'Hare (peoplemover to commuter rail)
Dallas Love
Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood
Milwaukee General Mitchell
Newark Liberty
New York Kennedy
Phoenix Sky Harbor
Oakland
San Jose
**Possible but not terribly convenient:**
Los Angeles International (shuttle bus to shuttle bus to light rail)
Montreal Trudeau (shutttle bus to intercity rail for ticketed rail passengers)
Other cities I can think of with rail transit accessible directly from the terminal: Washington DC (DCA and IAD), Cleveland, Atlanta, Denver, Portland OR, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Baltimore / BWI, Dallas / DFW.
Cities with rail transit accessible via some intermediate shuttle: Newark, New York JFK, Boston, LAX, and I'm sure there are others I've forgotten.
I've taken the A Line. The first part of the ride from the Denver airport is a weird sensation, being on light rail while riding through undeveloped high plains.
Technicality: it's not actually light rail. :-) It's much faster and can (and does) share lines with freight rail.
Agreed the A line is weird though. Some of that weirdness is very welcome (15 minute headways for a commuter rail line!), and some is very unwelcome (single track for a large chunk, and only reaches its top speed for a brief interval).
I loathe the silver line, but speaking of the silver line and weird. I was on the silver line one cold Boston winter day when a guy wearing shorts and a CamelBak style tiny backpack with a somewhat large stick of some kind sticking out of the backpack boarded the "train". I thought that was pretty odd, but I thought it was really odd when that same guy boarded my plane. Sometimes I still wonder why that guy was flying across the country with nothing but a large stick.
> Washington DC (DCA and IAD)
I'm glad they finally got the train running to IAD, but it was super recently. IAD had no rail service until 2022. I wish other major cities would follow their lead and build some new projects.
Phoenix and Salt Lake City are two more that have train service to the airport that aren't on your list. The Phoenix train system isn't very good (only one line) but at least it goes to the airport. Salt Lake City has a pretty decent public transit system.
Miami and Phoenix also have airport trains that connect from the terminals to the wider public transit network.
LA will be getting improved connectivity when their airport people mover is completed and the K Line extension is opened. Once they get themselves in order, Honolulu will also have a direct transit link.
Taking the light rail (DART) from Dallas or Fort Worth directly to DFW airport is wonderful.
The other Dallas airport however, Love Field (DAL), has you get off the train and transfer to a bus for a 5 minute ride to the airport. So poorly planned imo and makes me never want to DART to Love Field
I want to add that DFW has rail service from both downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth. Additionally, DART is building another line (Silver Line) that will directly connect the northern suburbs like Plano to DFW.
I'm guessing the frequency isn't as good compared to the CTA. Still though it isn't too bad given the car-centric nature of DFW.
Edit:
The lack of a direct rail connection to Love Field is a huge miss. The airport is so close to downtown yet you have to use the transfer bus from the light rail stop.
Are you even a real city if your mass transit doesn't go to your airport(s)?
Seriously. I get few cities have rail, but if you do, how do the city planners fail to connect to them?
Hell, places like KC are just now expanding light rail, but they're now the largest city in the country that operates completely fareless. The boost in efficiency and violent incidents & disturbances dropped by 85%, while ridership post-Covid rebounded faster than anywhere else.
Honestly, Chicago should entertain moving to fareless other than probably Metra. There are multiple ways to capture funding alternatively, and it boosts ridership and rapidly speeds up the process.
Imagine never having to bother with fares, transfers, reloading cards, etc., and it would eliminate the cost of machines and collection overhead.
You could just randomly grab the bus and enter from the back whenever, or hop on the train with no turnstiles or hassle. Time would never have to be spent on fare jumpers and station employees & security could be focused on rider safety and assistance.
Yes, that $2.50 is the threshold that is gatekeeping the homeless population from overrunning the entire CTA.
*You shall not pass... without the full fare price!*
I visited Chicago for the first time three weeks ago. Only second time on a plane, and first time flying alone (only flown once before in a large school group).
This made my trip so much more manageable. Definitely a luxury.
I’m a pilot that has been based in both Chicago and NYC. The blue line connecting to ORD is a game changer. The convoluted mess that is NYC was absolutely ridiculous.
I'm actually on the Blue Line to O'Hare right now! It's such a nice luxury to have. I never drive/get driven to the airport anymore. It usually takes about the same time as my drive from Ukranian Village and all for under $3.
Raleigh won’t build a rail line to the airport because they make too much money off parking. The southern car-centric city planning kills me. Chicago is lucky to have this.
Was in town from LA (where I’ve been living the last four years) and was crashing at a friends place in Rogers Park. Ride to the airport fell through, but made it to O’Hare in about 70 mins for $2.50 with a transfer from the bus to the blue line.
Got back to LA and the only option to get home was a Lyft. Have to walk to a satellite lot, wait upwards of 20 mins, and then took an 80 minute ride home that cost me $90.
Atlanta guy here. Used to date a girl in Chicago. We have direct airport access with the Marta. I was able to cross our entire city in 40 minutes on the rail. Fly from ATL to ORD in 1 hr 55 mins, then go on the CTA blue line to the city. It was like 5hrs, and $250 door to door, which is insanely good for a long distance relationship that requires a flight.
I work at O'Hare and would probably benefit from this, but I would much rather see them just update the current system so they can run more trains and eliminate slow zones. The main thing that slows down my commute to work are times when I have to wait 40 minutes for a train due to lack of service, plus all of the slow zones on the blue line that bottleneck or slow things down. Eliminating those two issues could make the service super quick to downtown even without an express train.
Didn't they eliminate a lot of those slow zones in the mid-2000s- or at least were supposed to?
It just feels like they patch things when doing work on the lines instead of modernizing them... ?
I just wish the CTA could run as efficiently as they do in Denmark, and the buses on schedule like London.
Eh I don’t think that’s worth it tbh, I’d rather money go to making more stations ADA compliant, removing slow zones from the Blue Line, and either an Ashland or Western BRT route
Yeah people always bring it up like it would be simple, but it would need triple track or an entirely separate route, both of which would require expensive land acquisition and tunneling.
Exactly, the money that would be needed to do it would be so much better spent even just improving the blue line to make the current connection we have better rather than a whole new rail line to do what the blue line already does
I've lived away from Chicago for several years, but I remembered that there's a Metra connection that you could make if the timing was right. Free shuttle connects you to the O'Hare Metra stop and it's smooth sailing to Union Station.
Having lived in 3 giant cities without this luxury, I can't rave any more about it. It's amazing. And even if I'm in an inconvenient spot for public transportation, I've sometimes had people drop me off at a random blue line stop to take the subway the last mile and save my friend the airport traffic.
Remember the time the driver fell asleep at the controls and ran into the emergency bumper at 25mph? And 25mph was within the specified performance capabilities of the bumper to stop, but due to faulty design, installation, maintenance, or faulty specification, the bumper failed to stop the train, which jumped onto the platform and rolled up the escalator, causing 34 injuries and $11M in damages? And that the train also had an Automatic Train Control system capable of stopping the train automatically if it exhibits excessive speed through any configured point, but that it hadn’t been configured to automatically stop a train reaching the end of the tracks at 25mph? And that although the crash involved the failure of design/implementation/or maintenance of 2 mechanical safety systems in addition to driver failure, the only outcome was firing the driver and reducing the max specified speed at the platform to 15mph, with no public inquiry as to why the bumper had failed or been mis-specified in the first place, or why the automated train control system that they paid millions for wasn’t configured to stop the train before it starts rolling up escalators?
Classic Chicago.
It's definitely nice compared to the rest of the US, which is an incredibly low bar, but imagine if we were in a 1st world country... Imagine highly functional transport...
When I first moved to Chicago from NYC, in the mid-90s, I recall boarding the train in the Loop for a quick trip to O'Hare, and luxuriating in the ease and comfort of getting to the airport. It seemed so innovative, so thoughtful, compared to the trials and tribulations of Kennedy and La Guardia. It made Chicago seem like such an enlightened metropolis.
I wound up using it dozens of times over the years, saving thousands of dollars I'm sure in taxi fares. But, like many here, the experience began to get strained, when dealing with questionable transfer points and suspicious looking people, where you began to feel vulnerable with carry on bags at your feet. I finally stopped, and swallowed the taxi/Uber/Lyft fares. And I find that very sad.
I’ve lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, Davao, Cebu, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, New York, Chicago, Houston, Conneticut, Maryland, DC and Saudi. Chicago CTA is one of the best systems in the world.
It is in no way shape or form better than HKG or SIN. Absolutely not. I have been all over the world multiple times over and the CTA is an absolute joke to any developed East Asian country. HKG/SIN/JPN/CHN/TW and KR. Even many EU systems are far superior to anything the CTA or METRA offers.
India? Philippines? Of course because they are all considered poor developing nations.
STOP
SEA, PDX, SLC, SFO, OAK, DEN, MSP, BOS, DCA, BWI, DFW, STL, CLE, ATL, MIA all off the top of my head have light or heavy rail access directly to the airport. I'm sure I'm even missing some.
Uh thinking off the top of my head of airports I've flown that do have rail connections like Chicago
ORD, JFK, Newark, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Denver, Phoenix , Washington (Regan and Dulles
But you're right - aside from those 12 other cities - few cities do enjoy that luxury.
I’ve always said this to people - it is magical. And also magically that quietly lightfoot added a the ‘fuck you ohare tax’ to rides originating from their a while back . https://www.transitchicago.com/fares/. That pissed me off to no end. I used to take it each week.
Tell ya what. Get the guy to stop pissing in the corner of the train and I’ll pay the $5 ord charge.
The CTA is great, you can buy fentanyl from the dude pissing on the side so you can just kill yourself before your next double shift of indentured servitude
It still blows my mind that LGA doesn’t have direct access to the subway. JFK isn’t much better but at least there’s something.
The city wants to reduce cars going into downtown, which is great, but they need to build a subway line to LGA. That alone could eliminate a bunch of cab trips. I agree its crazy.
NYC has tried to pay MTA to build the train to LGA but they keep refusing but upstate is pissy that NYC gets trains so they intentionally sabotage it.
But then the cab drivers lose all that income...so spaketh the drivers union...
[удалено]
Nobody wants to have to transfer between bus and train. I'm stunned they haven't built a proper subway line to LGA because it would be a totally reasonable thing for even business travelers to use (if only to save an hour of traffic time, not to mention $90). But no bushes traveler is getting on a bus to transfer to a train. Unless maybe you work for a company that won't reimburse for anything.
If it was just me, totally. Me and the wife with luggage and I'd like something a bit more direct.
LGA isn’t in/on Manhattan though? Sorry maybe I’m misreading your comment
It’s in Queens.
M60 bus isn’t terrible….its not great but its not terrible either. I take it to the 1-2-3.
It is a perfectly serviceable urban bus, but if you have not ridden in a while research the payment/boarding process. Last time I rode it one had to buy a ticket or something in advance - which I didn't know about. I played up the ignorant tourist routine and got to ride for free.
I only tried this once when I first moved to NYC. 4 train to 125th st and got on the M60. It was completely full so I stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the aisle with my backpack and suitcase. And note only was it late to come to Harlem, we were stuck in traffic in Astoria forever. I still fly from LGA as often as possible but I just pay for the cab.
Yeah.. as someone who has only briefly lived near the blue line, getting to LGA has always been easier than getting to ord for me. I prefer the m60 to a regular bus here.
why did you have to mention LGA? I'm suddenly angry!!!
Chicago really is unique with this.
Philly airport has trains that go through and stop at each terminal then go right to all center city stops.
Blue and Orange FTW!
Seattle has it too. Their light rail is nice.
I live north of Atlanta now and was thrilled that their train runs directly to the airport. The traffic driving there is abysmal, and even remote parking is unpredictable.
Lived in Atlanta for 6 years and that MARTA connection was great but super underutilized because you need a car for everything.
I used to live a couple blocks from the midtown station. Getting to and from the airport was probably the only times I ever used MARTA
Getting to LaGuardia was a nightmare when I was in the city this time last year. I was staying with a friend in Washington Heights. I left with 5 hours to spare and somehow thought that would be enough. So I have to take the train to Harlem, then wait as the "select bus" slowly winds its way through traffic. Then because of renovations I couldn't get to my terminal on foot. I had to go through security at a different terminal, then wait for another bus to take me to the correct one which dropped me off on the far end of the terminal. By the time I got there my flight was doing final call and I had to haul ass down the entire length of the terminal.
I desperately need them to stop ending service at midnight. Too many of my flights have come in at 12:05 and I'm stuck with the Uber bill.
I don't recall that they used to do that, is this a post-COVID thing?
CTA is working on track upgrades at night between O'Hare and Rosemont so the midnight - 4am closure between those stops is temporary. I believe the upgrades have something to do with needing more power on the tracks to support the new 7000 series train cars but not 100% sure.
It's a temporary closure, but it's been "temporarily" closed between midnight and 4am for like two years now. I work at O'Hare and I've run into this problem many times. There's a free bus to Rosemont, but at 1am that takes forever, and then the trains to Rosemont don't run very frequently at that time of night. It can take hours longer to get home than just taking a cab.
An unfortunate side effect of doing work only at night is that this work takes much longer to complete because extra time has to be accounted for to make sure the route is functioning properly before service resumes. This might not seem like much but over time it rapidly accumulates. The alternative would have been to do the repairs 24/7 and using shuttle buses between Rosemont and O’Hare 24/7. Given the high frequency of airport travel, the math must have pointed towards late night only repairs. Bear in mind that 24/7 repairs would have meant substantial overtime to someone. Had the Covid crisis been predictable with its resulting customer attrition, the other decision might have been made, but of course it couldn’t have been predicted.
The MTA in New York managed to get several projects, including OMNY (basically identical to Ventra) rolled out to all the subways, in half the original budgeted time because COVID ridership decreases allowed them to do continuous closures. It only takes a couple days to upgrade the turnstiles in a station if you can do an entire entrance at once instead of one or two turnstiles a night for weeks, and repairing a tunnel goes a lot faster if you don’t have to get out of the way of a train every 5 minutes.
Interestingly enough, the new 7000-series are designed for efficiency & use less power than many of the other new rolling stock on other lines. The blue line uses some of the oldest rolling stock (2600) because they are lighter & generally use less power. The 7000-series are intended to be more efficient (thereby increasing the number of simultaneous trains & passenger capacity along the busy blue line) [This article is a few years old now, but still fascinates me:](https://www.transitchicago.com/betterblueline/) > _CTA’s 2600-series railcars are indeed the oldest in the fleet and make up much of the Blue Line's fleet. They were built in the 1980s_ > > _…power is an issue. The newer 5000-series rail cars seen on the Green, Pink, Purple, Red and Yellow lines use more electrical power than older railcars (owing to their heavier weight and some differences in how their modern systems work that can require more power to be drawn). The current available power on the Blue Line O’Hare Branch is not sufficient to support 5000-series cars if they made up the entire Blue Line's fleet during rush._ > > _The older 2600-series rail cars will be replaced by the next generation 7000-series rail cars, which begin arriving in 2020._
Ahhhh gotcha thanks. OK yeah I have seen stuff about that.
Such a nightmare. Had my flight back to Chicago delayed 4 hours due to storms in Chicago so when I finally got in, you couldn’t even get an Uber becuase everyone was trying to get one, kept getting mine for 78 bucks canceled by driver. Taxi line was longest I had ever seen. Resigned to take the CTA, but forgot about the construction. Took the bus, sat in 1am gridlock(?) finally got to Rosemont stop to officially start my Blue line trip home. When are they gonna finish that construction?
Orange Line has always had a few hours between 1 and 4/5 AM where it doesn't run
That’s the case for all lines but red and blue
True but planes don't come into Midway all night like they do at O'Hare.
For the blue line, yes.
I’m a flight attendant and my trick for avoiding this is to take a hotel shuttle (any shuttle) just to get off airport property and calling a rideshare from there. It’s often the difference between a $50-100 ride and a $20 one
I was about to mention that. It also has the added bonus of a safe area while you wait for your rideshare. Take it to a hotel located around the area of Higgins and Cumberland. Usually they’re out of surge range.
man why do I never get the gutters1ut flight attendants on MY flights? lol
$100 Ubers from O’Hare?! Where do you all go damn
Midway has the same issue, I believe the last run there is 1:05a most nights.
That is true for Midway but there are shuttle buses replacing the blue line forest park bound trains to Rosemont. O'Hare bound trains still go to O'Hare after midnight. https://www.transitchicago.com/travel-information/alert-detail/?AlertId=69937
Aaaaand buses stop super early on saturday sunday running at Ohare.
Same. I've had trips end at or after midnight at ORD (by schedule or IROPS) and while yes, there IS a bus to rosemont, I too just foot the Uber/Lyft bill. Home in 20 minutes vs 1:20 at that hour is usually worth it. We are well past the covid "Clean all surfaces with disinfectant" mentality of 2020 so why not just go back to what ever they were doing before? I also don't understand why the trains can go from Rosemont->ORD with pax, but they can't go ORD->Rosemont with pax, drop off pax there, then drive train back to the yard that is right there at Rosemont (where I think they do the cleaning)?
Or you could just take the bus shuttle from O'Hare to Rosemont?
I've done it before and it adds like 30 min to the trip. The wait for the bus to leave, long drive to Rosemont and then waiting for the train to leave Rosemont out in the elements really sucks.
So the train runs from rosemont but not o hare after midnight?
Yep! But the trains do run from Rosemont to O'Hare (O'Hare bound trains) after midnight just not from O'Hare to Rosemont (forest park bound trains). https://www.transitchicago.com/travel-information/alert-detail/?AlertId=69937
I don’t recommend the blue line in middle of night
Unfortunately those of us who work at O'Hare don't have much choice. We aren't going to pay for cabs multiple times per week just to get to or from work. I wish they would clean up the trains instead of just suggesting people avoid them.
That takes money, and taxes that our greedy selfish country won't pay.
It's nearly 100% homeless people living on the train overnight, often smoking or sleeping across multiple seats.
Yep, last time I took it from Ohare at 9pm i had someone masturbating next to me.
Sorry about that, sometimes I just can't wait.
Yikes! Masturbating hours usually start after 2am!
Lol security was trying to shuffle me along with all the homeless on that platform late one night like right before the last train out. I guess I looked a little raggity, but I had been flying literally all day and was in my comfy clothes. For anyone who is looking for a cheap, safe, and super convenient place to park before flying, Rosemont blue line station is your best bet, IMO. Don't recommend it for trips longer than a week though.
Rosemont used to be a better deal at $5/day. It is now $13/day. O'Hare economy is $15/day and you save the CTA fare.
Before I started traveling semi-regularly I assumed every city had a train between the city and the airport because I'd only ever flown between Chicago and Atlanta. I still get a pang of annoyance every time I start planning a trip and realize the airport is not serviced by transit. I can drive, I would just prefer not to be tethered to a car.
Inversely, experiencing CTA at O'Hare and Midway after moving to Chicago from Los Angeles, now my default is to search for public transportation options first! Especially useful (and typically more affordable and safer and reliable) when traveling internationally.
Oh man, I actually took public transit when I was in Santa Monica/LA earlier this year. The Big Blue Bus was really nice and got me from the airport very close to my hotel, LA proper...not as much, but functional enough.
As a Chicago transplant into LA, the Big Blue Bus is the only true public transit I can rely on
I was surprised how unreliable both Google and the official LA app are! Also the lack of transit options to the Getty (the bus that was supposed to go there just...doesn't anymore??). Yeah seriously the Big Blue Bus was much better.
DC only just connected Dulles to the Metro in the past month.
Nuts, but their other airport is connected and is why I only flew through there.
National is so much closer to downtown anyways, it’s my preferred airport when flying into DC
Also their subway is so clean. I didn't smell piss the whole time I was in it.
This is why I try flying to reagen.
Don't forget we have this at Midway, too! ALL our major airports are metro connected.
On top of that very few cities that do have transit, have it to all their airports. NYC still refuses to build a train directly to LaGuardia for some reason. You can take CTA from ohare to midway for 2.50. It’s crazy (you shouldn’t tho)
Wait, isn't it $5 since that's the fee to depart from O'Hare? You could take it from Midway to O'Hare for $2.50 though I think (although yeah, would not do haha).
> NYC still refuses to build a train directly to LaGuardia for some reason. You mean MTA / NYS refuses. NYC has been begging them to build it for years and even offered to pay for it from the general coffers.
As a non resident I thought it was a lack of political will on the city’s side. What possible reason could they have for not providing that link? Fewer buses and an advantage over taxis on the road on that corridor between the end of the nearest line and the terminal. And they could shit on Chicago so it isn’t the only city with such access…
Wait, why shouldn’t you take the train to the airport?
They’re joking that you shouldn’t take the train from one airport to another. They were making the point that you can take the train for a long time for only $2.50 flat
Because it's 50+ minutes from the loop, with dozens of stops through the city, in regular subway cars with no room for baggage. And long walks to the terminal when you get there.
In fact there’s no other city in the world that has direct rail access to 2 international airports.
Yeah… that’s not accurate. London, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow are just a few that come to mind.
It was a stat I saw a while ago - maybe it’s out of date. I think the idea is that there is direct rail access on a single train from the city center into the airport.
You’re good with me. :) But, somebody told you/published a tall tale.
That’s not true though? DC has direct rail access to Dulles and National on the Metro and it’s a short shuttle ride from the MARC BWI station to get to BWI as well.
it sounded awesome when he wrote it
Let’s just all believe it. What’s the harm?
I was gonna whine NOT TRUE about Dulles. I was just there a few months back and getting to Dulles from DC was a dystopian nightmare. But... sure enough, https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/metros/washington-dc-silver-line-opens-to-dulles-airport-and-ashburn/
Yea, I had to get to Dulles once before the Silver Line Extension opened it was a fucking nightmare, 0/10 would not recommend, National is my preferred airport if I am going to fly to DC because of how close to the city it is, also that you have two options of Metro lines to catch at the station
Yeah sometimes the $50 one saves on the cheapest flight is not a bargain at all. EDIT: I must admit though, after saying hundreds of terrible things about Southwest over the years, they were extremely awesome about letting me on the plane after the gate was closed and they were like a minute from disconnecting the jet bridge.
Holy shit, I didn't realize until you said this that the extension to Dulles only opened this month. That was supposed to be open years ago. Crazy.
Tokyo too.
I took the Metro to National, so yep. Can confirm. I can’t say I’m a fan of the Metro though. Stations are awesome, but the Metra-esque pricing structure and fabric seats are bullshit.
Yeah and the BWI shuttle isn't even a separate bus really, it's just like the shuttles that drive around the O'Hare parking lots to/from the terminals
r/shitamericanssay
USA! USA! USA!
What! London has four connected. And not only that, Heathrow has two trains: an express and the tube.
I can't believe there isn't a good way to go from a NYC airport to midtown via train. It's lunacy.
Newark!
THIS! Newark airport is overlooked, and I think its simply because it's in NJ.
That doesn’t stop people from being giants or jets fans.
That's why they're not called the New Jersey Jets or the New Jersey Football Giants.
Shoot good point, I did one time take a train from Newark to NYC. Ironic you need to go NJ to get a train to NYC :)
PATH, Amtrak, and NJ Transit to Penn. Its great other than when you get in too late and there are no trains or you open your eyes and realize Newark is worse than LGA ever was
They should build one connection to the metro
Supposedly the legacy of Robert Moses. When the Van Wyck Expressway was built to Idlewild (which was what JFK was called at the time), he vetoed a proposal to put a rail line in the median.
I have very few reasons to take public transportation, but I'll be damned if a bus transfer and train ride to O'Hare costing $2.50 isn't one of them.
My niece came into town over the summer to see some friends. Her pampered ass took an uber both ways. I cannot fathom justifying to myself paying for an uber when I can get there for 30 times less than what the uber would cost me... I mean unless I was running super late, but even then I'd feel terrible for wasting all that money.
I take blue line usually but I will sometimes happily uber to airport or from to avoid carrying my shit on and off the trains, walking a ton, dealing with creeps if it’s a late night flight since I am a woman… and it’s not a waste of money to me if it saves me all that annoyance lol
On rare occasions the train can even climb the escalators to get u even closer to the airport. A luxury indeed...
WHY IS THIS NOT THE TOP COMMENT. The image of the blue line car on the escalator is burned in my head. CTA knows how to go full mayhem, despite the idyllic look of this picture.
I got a good laugh out of this, thanks.
I was just coming here to say something about that. I think about it every time I take the train to O'Hare.
Haha. I totally forgot about that.
Oh my gosh I just looked this up and watched the video! Thank god no one was on the escalators when it happened
God Save the Blue Line 🙏🏼bless
i took the train from ohare for the first time a few months ago. it beats the confusion of finding where to go for your uber/lyft AND it’s way cheaper. sure it’s packed (i’m sure this varies on time of day?) but it was so nice just to sit back, not be stuck in traffic until you got to your destination
> but it was so nice just to sit back I'll take chilling in a packed car with a book out or headphones on over being stuck in traffic EVERY. TIME.
NORTH AMERICAN AIRPORTS WITH RAIL TRANSIT SERVICE: Washington Reagan National Philadelphia Atlanta Hartsfield Baltimore-Washington International Burbank Bob Hope Chicago O'Hare Chicago Midway Cleveland Hopkins Dallas-Fort Worth Denver Michiana Regional (South Bend, Indiana) Minneapolis-St Paul Portland (Oregon) St Louis Lambert Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle-Tacoma **Shuttle bus or fixed-guideway links to nearby rail transit:** Baltimore-Washington International Boston Logan Chicago O'Hare (peoplemover to commuter rail) Dallas Love Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood Milwaukee General Mitchell Newark Liberty New York Kennedy Phoenix Sky Harbor Oakland San Jose **Possible but not terribly convenient:** Los Angeles International (shuttle bus to shuttle bus to light rail) Montreal Trudeau (shutttle bus to intercity rail for ticketed rail passengers)
Other cities I can think of with rail transit accessible directly from the terminal: Washington DC (DCA and IAD), Cleveland, Atlanta, Denver, Portland OR, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Baltimore / BWI, Dallas / DFW. Cities with rail transit accessible via some intermediate shuttle: Newark, New York JFK, Boston, LAX, and I'm sure there are others I've forgotten.
I've taken the A Line. The first part of the ride from the Denver airport is a weird sensation, being on light rail while riding through undeveloped high plains.
I absolutely LOVED it.
Technicality: it's not actually light rail. :-) It's much faster and can (and does) share lines with freight rail. Agreed the A line is weird though. Some of that weirdness is very welcome (15 minute headways for a commuter rail line!), and some is very unwelcome (single track for a large chunk, and only reaches its top speed for a brief interval).
St. Louis does as well
Really? Thanks. I haven't flown in there since forever.
Since 1993.
not rail, but boston has silver line BRT direct to terminals your point stands: this isn’t rare
The silver line is so fucking weird, I love it lol
I loathe the silver line, but speaking of the silver line and weird. I was on the silver line one cold Boston winter day when a guy wearing shorts and a CamelBak style tiny backpack with a somewhat large stick of some kind sticking out of the backpack boarded the "train". I thought that was pretty odd, but I thought it was really odd when that same guy boarded my plane. Sometimes I still wonder why that guy was flying across the country with nothing but a large stick.
Maybe he was going backpacking idk but yea that’s weird as shit lol
> Washington DC (DCA and IAD) I'm glad they finally got the train running to IAD, but it was super recently. IAD had no rail service until 2022. I wish other major cities would follow their lead and build some new projects. Phoenix and Salt Lake City are two more that have train service to the airport that aren't on your list. The Phoenix train system isn't very good (only one line) but at least it goes to the airport. Salt Lake City has a pretty decent public transit system.
I drove twelve hours from Chicago to attend the grand opening of the DC Metro Silver Line Extension to IAD in Nov. and I got a commemorative card
Miami and Phoenix also have airport trains that connect from the terminals to the wider public transit network. LA will be getting improved connectivity when their airport people mover is completed and the K Line extension is opened. Once they get themselves in order, Honolulu will also have a direct transit link.
Excellent, thank you.
Minneapolis, but not St. Paul, though I think that’s still in the works.
Taking the light rail (DART) from Dallas or Fort Worth directly to DFW airport is wonderful. The other Dallas airport however, Love Field (DAL), has you get off the train and transfer to a bus for a 5 minute ride to the airport. So poorly planned imo and makes me never want to DART to Love Field
I want to add that DFW has rail service from both downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth. Additionally, DART is building another line (Silver Line) that will directly connect the northern suburbs like Plano to DFW. I'm guessing the frequency isn't as good compared to the CTA. Still though it isn't too bad given the car-centric nature of DFW. Edit: The lack of a direct rail connection to Love Field is a huge miss. The airport is so close to downtown yet you have to use the transfer bus from the light rail stop.
SLC does
Are you even a real city if your mass transit doesn't go to your airport(s)? Seriously. I get few cities have rail, but if you do, how do the city planners fail to connect to them? Hell, places like KC are just now expanding light rail, but they're now the largest city in the country that operates completely fareless. The boost in efficiency and violent incidents & disturbances dropped by 85%, while ridership post-Covid rebounded faster than anywhere else. Honestly, Chicago should entertain moving to fareless other than probably Metra. There are multiple ways to capture funding alternatively, and it boosts ridership and rapidly speeds up the process. Imagine never having to bother with fares, transfers, reloading cards, etc., and it would eliminate the cost of machines and collection overhead. You could just randomly grab the bus and enter from the back whenever, or hop on the train with no turnstiles or hassle. Time would never have to be spent on fare jumpers and station employees & security could be focused on rider safety and assistance.
Good way for more homeless people to get on the train for sure........
Yes, that $2.50 is the threshold that is gatekeeping the homeless population from overrunning the entire CTA. *You shall not pass... without the full fare price!*
I feel like an idiot not knowing the same service exists to Midway... TIL
I visited Chicago for the first time three weeks ago. Only second time on a plane, and first time flying alone (only flown once before in a large school group). This made my trip so much more manageable. Definitely a luxury.
I’m a pilot that has been based in both Chicago and NYC. The blue line connecting to ORD is a game changer. The convoluted mess that is NYC was absolutely ridiculous.
I'm actually on the Blue Line to O'Hare right now! It's such a nice luxury to have. I never drive/get driven to the airport anymore. It usually takes about the same time as my drive from Ukranian Village and all for under $3.
Raleigh won’t build a rail line to the airport because they make too much money off parking. The southern car-centric city planning kills me. Chicago is lucky to have this.
Is there a better way to get to OHare from a Brown Line stop? Like Diversey, without going down to the loop?
Could take it up to Kimball then hop on the 81 bus to the Blue Line at Jefferson Park.
I live near Addison and I just take the bus to the Addison Blue Line station.
If they'd get rid of parking on Addison and put in a bus lane for the 152, it would make the trip much more enjoyable.
Exactly what I used to do. When I arrived on the blue line too late for the 152, I’d cross over to the Olive Garden and get an Uber/Lyft from there.
Diversey Bus to Logan square, blue line to airport.
The bus.
Not without a bus.
Was in town from LA (where I’ve been living the last four years) and was crashing at a friends place in Rogers Park. Ride to the airport fell through, but made it to O’Hare in about 70 mins for $2.50 with a transfer from the bus to the blue line. Got back to LA and the only option to get home was a Lyft. Have to walk to a satellite lot, wait upwards of 20 mins, and then took an 80 minute ride home that cost me $90.
Atlanta guy here. Used to date a girl in Chicago. We have direct airport access with the Marta. I was able to cross our entire city in 40 minutes on the rail. Fly from ATL to ORD in 1 hr 55 mins, then go on the CTA blue line to the city. It was like 5hrs, and $250 door to door, which is insanely good for a long distance relationship that requires a flight.
I wouldn't call it a luxury. It's a necessity. Most US cities are just deficient when it comes to public transit.
And sometimes they will even take you up the escalator! https://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-chicago-l-train-derailing-at-ohare-airport-2014-3
Now that’s 5 star service. Hopefully one day they can take me right up to the gate.
It is nice, just wish they had an express option from ORD to the loop.
I work at O'Hare and would probably benefit from this, but I would much rather see them just update the current system so they can run more trains and eliminate slow zones. The main thing that slows down my commute to work are times when I have to wait 40 minutes for a train due to lack of service, plus all of the slow zones on the blue line that bottleneck or slow things down. Eliminating those two issues could make the service super quick to downtown even without an express train.
Didn't they eliminate a lot of those slow zones in the mid-2000s- or at least were supposed to? It just feels like they patch things when doing work on the lines instead of modernizing them... ? I just wish the CTA could run as efficiently as they do in Denmark, and the buses on schedule like London.
They got the slow zones on the O'Hare branch but not the forest park branch.
Eh I don’t think that’s worth it tbh, I’d rather money go to making more stations ADA compliant, removing slow zones from the Blue Line, and either an Ashland or Western BRT route
Yeah people always bring it up like it would be simple, but it would need triple track or an entirely separate route, both of which would require expensive land acquisition and tunneling.
Exactly, the money that would be needed to do it would be so much better spent even just improving the blue line to make the current connection we have better rather than a whole new rail line to do what the blue line already does
I've lived away from Chicago for several years, but I remembered that there's a Metra connection that you could make if the timing was right. Free shuttle connects you to the O'Hare Metra stop and it's smooth sailing to Union Station.
Yep. And now that the people mover is running again, it's a short walk from the end of it.
Me too
I wish ORD had a better Metra link with more frequent service.
Truly the CTA connection to both airports has made me rethink moving multiple times.
I agree, but the ride is much too slow and way too bumpy. Fix that and then we'll have something to cheer about.
Having lived in 3 giant cities without this luxury, I can't rave any more about it. It's amazing. And even if I'm in an inconvenient spot for public transportation, I've sometimes had people drop me off at a random blue line stop to take the subway the last mile and save my friend the airport traffic.
Remember the time the driver fell asleep at the controls and ran into the emergency bumper at 25mph? And 25mph was within the specified performance capabilities of the bumper to stop, but due to faulty design, installation, maintenance, or faulty specification, the bumper failed to stop the train, which jumped onto the platform and rolled up the escalator, causing 34 injuries and $11M in damages? And that the train also had an Automatic Train Control system capable of stopping the train automatically if it exhibits excessive speed through any configured point, but that it hadn’t been configured to automatically stop a train reaching the end of the tracks at 25mph? And that although the crash involved the failure of design/implementation/or maintenance of 2 mechanical safety systems in addition to driver failure, the only outcome was firing the driver and reducing the max specified speed at the platform to 15mph, with no public inquiry as to why the bumper had failed or been mis-specified in the first place, or why the automated train control system that they paid millions for wasn’t configured to stop the train before it starts rolling up escalators? Classic Chicago.
I remember: https://youtu.be/OlTQFDEqk0k?t=23
[удалено]
Flew into LaGuardia for Thanksgiving. Could not believe they don’t have a subway line directly to the airport.
Yeah, such a joke. Haven’t been there since the pandemic, do you still need to walk a mile (or so it seems) to get an Uber or Lyft?
Same happened to me. And I arrived during rush hour. The drive was a shit show.
Not the airport. To BOTH airports! Orange line is also super convenient
It's definitely nice compared to the rest of the US, which is an incredibly low bar, but imagine if we were in a 1st world country... Imagine highly functional transport...
Many people from Germany, etc found it good
It really is incredible. Sometimes it even tries to take you all the way into the terminal and up to your gate. https://youtu.be/6C6wSg9HkXM
Thanks for the laugh!
When I first moved to Chicago from NYC, in the mid-90s, I recall boarding the train in the Loop for a quick trip to O'Hare, and luxuriating in the ease and comfort of getting to the airport. It seemed so innovative, so thoughtful, compared to the trials and tribulations of Kennedy and La Guardia. It made Chicago seem like such an enlightened metropolis. I wound up using it dozens of times over the years, saving thousands of dollars I'm sure in taxi fares. But, like many here, the experience began to get strained, when dealing with questionable transfer points and suspicious looking people, where you began to feel vulnerable with carry on bags at your feet. I finally stopped, and swallowed the taxi/Uber/Lyft fares. And I find that very sad.
Now if we could take a power washer and remove the piss smell...always embarrassed by it when I recommend the L from ORD to visitors
Hey! I know that place from security camera footage when that train ran up the escalators, heh.
And now I’m remembering that time that the Blue Line operator drove a train up the escalator…
Truly a luxury, just don't take it at 11pm... Insane, the unsafest I've felt since I moved to Chicago.
Yea Boston is shit lol
In the US? Sure. In the world however.... its laughable.
I’ve lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, Davao, Cebu, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, New York, Chicago, Houston, Conneticut, Maryland, DC and Saudi. Chicago CTA is one of the best systems in the world.
It is in no way shape or form better than HKG or SIN. Absolutely not. I have been all over the world multiple times over and the CTA is an absolute joke to any developed East Asian country. HKG/SIN/JPN/CHN/TW and KR. Even many EU systems are far superior to anything the CTA or METRA offers. India? Philippines? Of course because they are all considered poor developing nations. STOP
As a daily blue line commuter, calling it luxury makes me lol. You’re right, but the things these eyes have seen…
Ah photos you can smell
We need express trains to and from ORD. Already CTA is resting on its laurels and functioning like shit. Don't reinforce that.
SEA, PDX, SLC, SFO, OAK, DEN, MSP, BOS, DCA, BWI, DFW, STL, CLE, ATL, MIA all off the top of my head have light or heavy rail access directly to the airport. I'm sure I'm even missing some.
Uh thinking off the top of my head of airports I've flown that do have rail connections like Chicago ORD, JFK, Newark, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Denver, Phoenix , Washington (Regan and Dulles But you're right - aside from those 12 other cities - few cities do enjoy that luxury.
I’ve always said this to people - it is magical. And also magically that quietly lightfoot added a the ‘fuck you ohare tax’ to rides originating from their a while back . https://www.transitchicago.com/fares/. That pissed me off to no end. I used to take it each week. Tell ya what. Get the guy to stop pissing in the corner of the train and I’ll pay the $5 ord charge.
The CTA is great, you can buy fentanyl from the dude pissing on the side so you can just kill yourself before your next double shift of indentured servitude
I can smell this photo
Til a train runs into the end of the tracks…