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Total shutdown of ATS at ORD May 30

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Total shutdown of ATS at ORD May 30

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Old Mar 11, 2022, 12:54 am
  #166  
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Originally Posted by Putnik
That's about the same as waiting 25+ minutes for the bus at Lot G and having to run thru the airport to not miss a flight, which happened to me last week.
Waiting for a bus is a bit different than being stuck in an elevator suspended between floors or in a train car on an elevated platform with the doors closed. For whatever reason the latter two of those three "delay" type incidents are more likely to cause a kind of mental discomfort in people than the first does. It's easier to escape the "waiting for a bus" discomfort when "stuck" waiting for the bus out in the boonies.

The buses to go between T1/T2/T3 and T5 have yet to have me wait for 25 minutes to board. Getting stuck in traffic, however, can be another story.
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Old Mar 11, 2022, 1:28 pm
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Waiting for a bus is a bit different than being stuck in an elevator suspended between floors or in a train car on an elevated platform with the doors closed. For whatever reason the latter two of those three "delay" type incidents are more likely to cause a kind of mental discomfort in people than the first does. It's easier to escape the "waiting for a bus" discomfort when "stuck" waiting for the bus out in the boonies.

The buses to go between T1/T2/T3 and T5 have yet to have me wait for 25 minutes to board. Getting stuck in traffic, however, can be another story.
I meant the same end effect. It's definitely different being stuck on the elevated tracks.
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 5:16 am
  #168  
 
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sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but I haven't rented a car at ORD for several years, their website makes it sound like there's a magical new MMF which you take the shiny new ATS to get to, but this thread has me suspicious is isn't really that smooth. Trying to decide if I'd be better off taking the El to the loop and renting there, or if things are mostly OK for renting at ORD these days? (international arrival, need to get through Chicago to drive to Michigan, have car bookings at ORD and Loop locations)
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 5:46 am
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Originally Posted by lettezilla
sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but I haven't rented a car at ORD for several years, their website makes it sound like there's a magical new MMF which you take the shiny new ATS to get to, but this thread has me suspicious is isn't really that smooth. Trying to decide if I'd be better off taking the El to the loop and renting there, or if things are mostly OK for renting at ORD these days? (international arrival, need to get through Chicago to drive to Michigan, have car bookings at ORD and Loop locations)
As long as the ATS is running (which it seems to be more often than not, at least on weekdays) it's a pretty painless ride to the MMF to get a rental car. Even when it's not running the buses used instead are annoying but I can't really imagine hoofing it to the Loop just to rent a car being a more pleasant or any smoother.
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 6:03 am
  #170  
 
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thanks, lincolnjkc-- yes, the Loop rental is a little cheaper but the hassle of having to navigate within the Loop offsets that in my mind, especially if the MMF is functional and people are using it successfully (I was also a little weirded out when you follow the googlemap link on Flychicago.com for the MMF, the photo is an empty parking lot, so wanted to make sure it wasn't a phantom Chicago project)
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 7:04 am
  #171  
 
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Originally Posted by lettezilla
thanks, lincolnjkc-- yes, the Loop rental is a little cheaper but the hassle of having to navigate within the Loop offsets that in my mind, especially if the MMF is functional and people are using it successfully (I was also a little weirded out when you follow the googlemap link on Flychicago.com for the MMF, the photo is an empty parking lot, so wanted to make sure it wasn't a phantom Chicago project)
The ATS stops every few minutes at T5 and it's about a four minute ride to the MMF. You'll be at the rental car counter faster than you can get to O'Hare's "El" station.
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 8:43 am
  #172  
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Originally Posted by lettezilla
thanks, lincolnjkc-- yes, the Loop rental is a little cheaper but the hassle of having to navigate within the Loop offsets that in my mind, especially if the MMF is functional and people are using it successfully (I was also a little weirded out when you follow the googlemap link on Flychicago.com for the MMF, the photo is an empty parking lot, so wanted to make sure it wasn't a phantom Chicago project)
I rented a car at the Multi-Modal Facility at O'Hare last June. The car rental companies' counters are on the ground floor and then you take an escalator or elevator to one of the upper levels to pick up your car. It definitely is not a phantom project.

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Old Apr 4, 2022, 8:54 am
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Originally Posted by TWA884
I rented a car at the Multi-Modal Facility at O'Hare last June. The car rental companies' counters are on the ground floor and then you take an escalator or elevator to one of the upper levels to pick up your car. It definitely is not a phantom project.

It actually works really well particularly if you're an elite member of whatever rental company you're using -- e.g. for Hertz if you pick a car near the front of the train (as it's heading to the MMF) you get to the MMF, take the escalator down, and walk basically straight out onto the lot pick a car and drive off without ever stopping. I never thought I'd say this about O'Hare but it's one of the more pleasant medium-large airport rental car experiences I've had. (And I've rented 5x at ORD over the past month)

Now, OTOH, the signage/wayfinding for rental car return -- at least coming from the Eastern suburbs -- could use some significant improvement and GPS should be taken with a grain of salt.
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 9:42 am
  #174  
 
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Thanks all, this is really reassuring! Sounds not a million miles from the rental car experience at DFW, which I've used a lot more in recent years.
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 3:30 pm
  #175  
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Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
Now, OTOH, the signage/wayfinding for rental car return -- at least coming from the Eastern suburbs -- could use some significant improvement and GPS should be taken with a grain of salt.
To be fair, that's because the eastern suburbs are all at the bottom of the lake...you got one of them amphibious rental cars?
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Old Apr 4, 2022, 5:16 pm
  #176  
 
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
To be fair, that's because the eastern suburbs are all at the bottom of the lake...you got one of them amphibious rental cars?
D'oh! **western** suburbs, pardon me... ***western** suburbs.
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Old Apr 5, 2022, 4:50 pm
  #177  
 
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
To be fair, that's because the eastern suburbs are all at the bottom of the lake...you got one of them amphibious rental cars?
In the summer, all of western Michigan has more IL license plates than MI ones, so those areas could be considered eastern suburbs.
Also there is an of Chicago called the East Side.
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Old Apr 6, 2022, 10:35 am
  #178  
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Originally Posted by lincolnjkc
Now, OTOH, the signage/wayfinding for rental car return -- at least coming from the Eastern suburbs -- could use some significant improvement and GPS should be taken with a grain of salt.
Signage at the airport stinks too. I came out of T5 international arrivals the other day and found a sign for the train - it provided no useful information, just a URL if I wanted "mre info". I wanted to know where the train was. An arrow would have helped.
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Old Apr 6, 2022, 11:41 am
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
Signage at the airport stinks too. I came out of T5 international arrivals the other day and found a sign for the train - it provided no useful information, just a URL if I wanted "mre info". I wanted to know where the train was. An arrow would have helped.
You don't need an arrow, you need our whizz-bang app! Our app solves everything! Get with the times! :P
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Old Apr 6, 2022, 11:42 am
  #180  
 
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Originally Posted by Xyzzy
Signage at the airport stinks too. I came out of T5 international arrivals the other day and found a sign for the train - it provided no useful information, just a URL if I wanted "mre info". I wanted to know where the train was. An arrow would have helped.
any tips based on your experience?
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