planko

The direct Pace bus from O'Hare to Evanston runs every 20 minutes during the day and is under an hour.I certainly would not recommend using the circuitous Blue Line to Purple Line route to get to Evanston. And the Purple Line runs downtown only during rush hour.

glg

I stand corrected on the frequency. It's longer than an hour in rush hour, it can take an hour to drive that without being a bus making stops...

JBord

Regardless, I'd never send a first time visitor to Evanston unless they already had some interest in going there (visit friends or Northwestern for example). It's a nice city, I spend a fair amount of time there as a Chicago city dweller, but if you're coming to Chicago, you should see Chicago rather than a suburb.

ksucats

Looking for a little advice. My family of 4 is coming to Chicago for 4 nights in a few weeks. I am debating about whether or not to buy a 3 or 7 day CTA pass or not. We have been to Chicago previously and done all of the museums and major tourist attractions that we wanted so won't be doing those this time. We will go to an afternoon Cubs game, an afternoon White Sox game and have Hamilton tickets. We are arriving on Amtrak and staying at the Hotel Palomar. I imagine everything else we do will be within walking distance of hotel. I am pretty sure we will want to take an Uber to/from Amtrak station since we will have all of our luggage.

I think we will want to just rely on uber the entire time, but my biggest concern is surge pricing after the games. After typing this all out, I have pretty much convinced myself that for a party of 4, uber won't be any more expensive than 4 passes and will be more convenient. Does anybody have Uber Chicago experiences that would make me reconsider?

JBord

It seems like, at most, you'll use the red line L for 2 round trips (to Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate fields). I don't think a pass would be worth it, unless you'll be taking buses around (which I wouldn't given your itinerary). A one way fare is $2.50, and I believe there's a reduced student rate.

SO -- don't plan on taking Uber to and from the games, the red line stations are directly across from both fields. It's a fairly short and you will have no safety concerns if you're going to day games (and rarely at any time). You are correct that you'd have surge pricing leaving Wrigley (the one I'm most familiar with), and that you also have to walk several blocks to the Uber pick up zone -- I do this all the time, and it's fine as long as it's not raining! But the L would be easier for you I think.

Bottom line - no CTA passes, buy individual rides on the L as you need them (to and from games for sure), and Uber anywhere else you need to go.

planko

A one-way ticket on the L is $3. The $2.50 fare applies when paying with a Ventra Card. A Ventra Card costs $5. (It also applies when using a Paywave credit card, which few Americans have.)

The student fare is only available to children who have a student Ventra Card issued by an elementary or high school. Bus drivers do tend to look the other way if a kid deposits the student fare in cash into a bus fare box without showing a student Ventra Card, but that's not possible on the L.

Children ages 7 through 11 can pay the reduced fare (the same fare as senior citizens) without a special pass, but it's a hassle on the L because there is no reduced-fare ticket you can buy at an L station. Basically, you have to buy a regular Ventra Card ($5), load it with the reduced fare amount, and try to find a station attendant to swipe their reduced-fare pass, and then swipe your Ventra Card. Sometimes finding an attendant is not easy and more often than not they will just tell the kids to duck under the turnstile.

If you are going to buy single-ride tickets, I advise getting two of them for each passenger on the initial ride, Use the second ticket for the return ride since that will save you the hassle of standing in line to buy a ticket after the game.

TWA884

You get the $5 back as credit on the card as soon as you register the card; that can easily be done on the Ventra app.

Exleftseat

Quick update. We did exactly as had been recommended and we had a great time and made many memories. As a bonus, the weather was great on that particular day. The day before and the day after it was miserable. So we had a great time and again many thanks to all who contributed.

JBord

Thanks for the correction on the fares. Obviously you can tell I'm an occasional Ventra user without kids! Even with the extra $0.50, this still makes a lot more sense than buying 4 passes for what amounts to 4 rides (and maybe fewer if they decide to Uber).

Your tip above is an excellent one, especially since you have hordes of people getting on the train at the same time after a baseball game.

For the OP you'll pay $12 for 4 one way passes. An Uber will almost certainly cost more. As someone who lives near Wrigley, I typically see about $15-20 to downtown. Surge pricing could go higher, but Uber is plentiful in Chicago. Of course, Uber is much more comfortable than the L.

I'd suggest a 3-step process...1) check the traffic time on Google maps to Wrigley, 2) check the cost of Uber. 3) If it's about the same cost and light traffic, I'd actually take Uber with 4 people. The cost/comfort equation is up to you.

gobluetwo

As suburbanites, we don't venture downtown or to Cubs games with the family with any regularity. As such, my kids actually enjoy being on the Metra and CTA because it's such a different experience from the everyday suburban car ride. Even if Uber/Lyft were similar in price, I'd take the train just for the kids.

Similarly, when we visited Seoul (and many other parts of S Korea), we took the subway and buses (and our feet) everywhere. I think we took maybe 4 cab rides over the course of 3 weeks. Same deal in NYC. They were kinda grossed out by some of the subway stations, but they simultaneously felt like they were being very adventurous - especially when I told them to lead the way

JBord

Lol...if you've ever tried to get on at the Addison stop heading south immediately after a Cubs night game, gross and adventurous are good descriptors. Not to mention that you'll be packed in like sardines and may have to wait for a train or two to get on.

But I definitely understand the uniqueness of it, you have a fair point about the kids.

I guess the tip I'd add would be after the game, wander around the neighborhood for 30 mins or grab a bite to eat somewhere before jumping on the L back downtown. If the OP is looking for something to fill that time, I'd suggest walking over to Southport (about 3-4 blocks west of Wrigley). Much quieter, away from the drunk crowds and better for a family to grab a bite to eat. The brown line station is right around Southport and Roscoe if you still want to catch the train back downtown.

DavidDTW

I can definitely top that for grossness on the El. At 2am New Year's Eve on the Red line. Jam packed car suddenly made lots of space as a 20something woman let loose a huge puke. People scattered like rats! (Just one more reason to stay home on NYE. Haven't actually been out in years.)

glg

But the ride was free!

Summarizing some others and adding a bit.

I would absolutely *not* take uberlyft to Wrigley. Traffic before and after games is terrible and the dropoff zones are farther from the field than the Addison Red Line. You're also on the same block as the Grand Red Line station at the Palomar. Afternoon games get done just in time for afternoon rush hour weekdays and there's a ton of inbound traffic afternoons on Saturdays for theater/etc. The train will pretty reliably be 14-15 minutes from Grand to Addison. Driving it can be *way* worse. Get a Howard train going to the field, 95th train on your return.

For Sox Park, it's a similar story, the 35th Red Line station is closer than the dropoff zone, but the traffic can be less of a problem because it's right off the expressway. You'd probably be fine going, but coming back will likely be a mess due to traffic for similar reasons as Wrigley as well as a massive construction project. Opposite of Wrigley, get a 95th train going, Howard on your return.

Definitely do not buy passes, not worth it if you're not using the L other than those two trips. However, I would just get one Ventra card. If you don't register it, it costs $5 but saves you $.50 per person per ride and is much easier to deal with (permanent card vs single ride tickets). You can use a single card for up to 7 people and if your kids are 7-11, you can find the station attendant to get a reduced fare for them (likely not worth it after the games though). If you want to save that $5 card cost, you can register the card in the Ventra app and it'll get credited. So, if you were going to ride the L both ways to both games, it'd be $40 total, so either put $40 or $35 on a card depending on whether you'll register it (machine will add the $5 fee) at Grand on your way to the first game and you'll be set. Just tap once per person going through the turnstiles.

I'll also echo JBord's suggestion to stay in the neighborhood after the Cubs game. Southport had everything from ice cream or gelato to cool down after a hot game to empanadas to warm up after a cold one to bars to coffee to restaurants for an early dinner. It's easy to get back to the hotel, just get on a Loop train at the Southport Brown line station, take it one stop to Belmont and switch (same platform) to the Red.

ksucats

Thanks everybody for the replies. I now have a followup question. After reading the responses, I agree that taking the train to/from the ball games will be best. I just got 4 emails from the ventra card stating that my cards were about to expire and wanted to confirm my address. We were last in Chicago in August, 2014, so I assume my cards will expire in August, 2019. We didn't bother keeping our cards. I just logged on to the link in my email and all 4 cards have a value ranging from $2.50-$5.00. My renewal cards are supposed to be here 2 weeks before these expire, so I am guessing it will be after our trip at the end of May. I hate throwing money away, so was looking at a way to retain the little value I have on my cards that were thrown away. It looks like a replacement card will cost me $5, so that won't be worth it. What should I do?

TWA884

First, as @glg wrote above, you can use a single Ventra card for as many as seven passengers.

Secondly, from the page that I linked in my earlier post:


The expiration dates of your Ventra cards are listed on the backs of the cards.

Just use your current cards if they don't expire before your visit. If you do need to get a new card, you only need one, register it and your purchase price will be immediately refunded in the form of stored value to pay for transit fares.