Originally Posted by
UNITED959
I have to cordially respectfully disagree with
ninja and
toomanybooks.
For some reason MDW has achieved this reputation as being more convenient because it's geographically 1.5 miles closer to the city center. But when one factors into consideration the long stretch on Cicero Ave to I-55, and then the I-55 traffic, then the merge onto 94...the time difference is minimal and, in fact, I'd argue that traveling time can be faster to ORD when there's no traffic since it's all highway.
I landed at MDW around 10:00 pm Tuesday night and traffic on Cicero avenue heading to the Stevenson expressway was the worst that I had ever seen, evidently due to construction. The cabby actually took me down some alleys to bypass the gridlock.
If you fly American into ORD, the Blue Line is not that far away. It is most convenient from the American terminal, IIRC.
The Orange Line, as previous posters have noted, is poorly designed in that it is quite a hike from the terminal and requires going down and up several sets of stairs. For much of the trek, there are no conveyor belts and often those that do exist are not working. It's not bad it you are light on luggage, but if you have alot of luggage or a wheel chair, I wouldn't recommend it.
A taxi is $30-35 dollars from MDW and maybe a little bit more from O'Hare, depending on traffic. The CTA would be $4 for two people, and you would still need a taxi to the Drake from downtown, which woul be about $7.
Steve