Hi SMF UA 1K! I hope some other Chicagoans can offer you some suggestions. (I live and work in the city, so I can't.) Chicago commuting has evolved over the past couple decades. The time it takes to do the reverse commute (out of the city to the burbs in the a.m., burbs to city in the p.m.) has actually grown, so it now takes longer to do a reverse commute than a traditional commute. You obviously experienced that first hand.