I will be working on a client in the Wheeling area and will be staying downtown so that I am close to a friend's place and can enoy the downtown nightlife. I was thinking about parking my rental car at the Cumberland station (or Des Plains) and commuting in and out of downtown using the blue line as that would be faster than trying to drive in and out. According to the CTA website it states that there is no overnight parking at these stations...any alternatives or suggestions??

Thanks.

Find street parking in the vicinity of the station?

Yeah..kind of what I was thinking...however, I'm not familiar with the area so don't know if there's any street parking where overnight parking wouldn't get me ticketed or towed... That's the reasons I posted here in the first place! ;)

Yeah..kind of what I was thinking...however, I'm not familiar with the area so don't know if there's any street parking where overnight parking wouldn't get me ticketed or towed... That's the reasons I posted here in the first place! ;)

There will be signage indicating as much if it's permit parking, no parking, etc. I don't think it's a permit parking area, but I don't go out that way too often.

I believe Cumberland has an 18 hour limit and Rosemont has a 12 hour limit, or v.v. The CTA web site would be able to tell you.

I'm surprised that they don't allow overnight parking, as there are a fair number of third shift airport workers that would need to park there. I know that most of the suburban Metra stations don't allow overnight parking, but that's because the service stops from 1am-4am.

If your schedule/stops allow, consider Metra as opposed to the L. The Blue Line from Rosemont or Cumberland is 50+ minutes easy if going all the way downtown.

If the L does work for you, see if the Rosemont stop works as opposed to Cumberland as Cumberland there is virtually no "on the street" parking and you will for sure pay as the parking lot issues parking tickets.

The Rosemont stop is an honor system where commuters put $ in a numbered slot that corrresponds to their parking space. When I used to take night classes downtown, I would usually show up to the Rosemont lot at 5:30-6pm. By then there are close parking spaces that I assumed were paid for already by the day user. I never once received a ticket over the two plus years of "using" a day slot that had been paid for.

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What time of day will you be traveling? And to where in the city will you be traveling?

If your destination is close to the Blue Line, then parking your car in the burbs may make sense. Otherwise, you may just want to drive into the city...

In downtown I will be roughly in the Dearborn/Chicago area; the client is in Wheeling. Metra sounds like it might be a good alternative as I didn't realize that it would be 50+ minutes on the Blue Line.

Thanks for the responses..if you can help me pin this down further I do appreciate the help!

Find street parking in the vicinity of the station?
I used to park on a street near Harlem/Higgins and take Blue Line from Harlem stop, up until last week. After a long weekend in Wichita, I arrived at my car and the sideview mirror had been busted off. It is partially my fault as this specific area has a couple of late night pubs/bar.

The money that I saved parking in this area will now be spent on a new sideview mirror.

What time of day will you be traveling? And to where in the city will you be traveling?

If your destination is close to the Blue Line, then parking your car in the burbs may make sense. Otherwise, you may just want to drive into the city...

Be very careful of parking on the street overnight in any of the burbs. Many have overnight parking bans, which won't usually be signposted - you're just supposed to know. AFAIK, in Chicago itself you're fine unless there are signs otherwise - either no parking at specific hours or when the area is in one of the permit zones. Either condition is signposted. A warning if you park for more than a day or so. Chicago has street cleaning days, and they only post the "no parking" signs a day or so in advance. If you're parked there on cleaning day you will get a ticket.