toomanybooks

Anyone familiar with this? My brother will be in Vernon Hills and is considering taking the North Central Metra to this station, arriving 6:17 am next Wednesday (first arrival of the day), with an 8:45 ORD flight.

Is the shuttle bus reliable? Are there cabs if needed?

And is ~2.5 hours going to be enough time to get to ORD Terminal 3 and through security these days? Thanks.

Non-NonRev

Does the brother have precheck and/or status?

toomanybooks

No on both.

planko

I frequently take redeyes home from the west coast and arrive at the ATS remote parking station between 5 and 6 a.m. to catch a bus home. I see the shuttle buses to the Metra station coming and going at that time. I wouldn't worry about it. Your friend should not a have a problem with the bus.

Frankly, I've never seen anyone (other than the driver) on any of the Metra shuttles at any hour, but I'm sure that there must be someone riding them sometime.

I sincerely doubt that there would be any cabs waiting. And if you wanted to call one, you'd have a hell of a time explaining where you were. If you absolutely must get a cab, walk a little way north on the platform and call from the adjacent Holiday Inn. But, again, I don't think you'll need to do this.

Since I'm usually arriving (not leaving) at that hour, I can't comment on the security lines.

legalalien

I've taken that route a few times. There will be a shuttle waiting, or arriving within a couple of minutes - it used to be Parking Lot F shuttle, but since that lot is closed now they may be running a special shuttle route. They're pretty good about it. You are unlikely to find a cab around the Metra station, but Holiday Inn and Suites and Sheraton are within a few minutes walk, so there are opportunities to catch a shuttle or a cab from there, if something goes wrong with the O'Hare shuttle.

T3 TSA lines had gotten to be insane earlier this year, but in the last few weeks the situation has improved a lot. Your brother should be fine. Advise him to walk over to T2 if T3 lines are too long; T2 is usually pretty empty in the morning. It's a 5 - 7 min walk each way (pre- and post-security).

toomanybooks

Thanks to all for your input on this.

glg

Is the auto pound still next to the Metra station or did they move it when they closed Lot F? google maps satellite shot is old, still shows F.

legalalien

It was still there last time I passed through the area a weeks ago.

glg

Okay, cool, presumably the shuttle is also needed to serve that as well.