Looking for travellers preferred method of transportation from the western suburbs to ORD (and MDW). I live in Winfield, near Roosevelt and Winfield Rd, if I drive, I take County Farm north to North ave to 83 north to Irving Parkeast to Mannheim north (40 minutes). But with parking costs for extended trips, I usually take a taxi, American Taxi. The cost keeps creeping up and now it's $39-$41 w/o a tip for one-way. I'm about one mile from the Metra, I know I can take the Metra downtown then the El back out, but the length of the trip makes it not to appealing.

Any suggestions for getting from Winfield/Wheaton/Naperville to ORD besides driving? Is there a better priced taxi service than American Taxi? thanks!

I would love to find a cost effective alternative to American Taxi. I currently drive from Glen Ellyn to ORD and park across from the Hampton Inn for $8 pd.

Metra also stops at ORD with their Metra North Central Service, instead of taking the el.

If the River Grove or other station on this line is a short cab for you, perhaps catch a cab to one of these mid-stations (rather than going downtown,then back out) and then take the train to the ORD stop.

Edited to add link to a thread on Chicagoland public transportation including Metra link. http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...transportation

He who flunks geography should not cast stones.

Dupage County is not served by this Metra route.

perhaps read the rest of the post, I'm of the belief to get as many ideas out on the table as they may be of use to someone. If not you, so be it.

The only problem with the North Central service is that it only runs 4x/day, with no off-peak service. As I can see the downtown train platform from my office window, I do take it sometimes when the timing works out. It's a shame that they can't run it more often, but it's a service that's run on a heavy freight line (just like the Heritage line serving Lockport) and they can't squeeze out more frequencies.

From Winfield, you're pretty much stuck, at least for another 3-4 years. Continental Air Transport has not been interested in running coach services from a handful suburban pickup points the way that for example Massport does in Boston. But I think that a continued increase in gas prices over the next couple of years will provide that economies of scale that companies such as Omega and Van Galder find in serving Hammond and Rockford, respectively.

If you have PLENTY of time to kill and are travelling during the day, you can do this:
- Winfield UP Metra to Elmhurst
- Pace Bus from Elmhurst Metra station to Rosemont CTA station
- CTA train from Rosemont into O'Hare
The entire trip would take you about two hours, assuming that the Pace departures from Elmhurst were reasonably coordinated with the arrivals from Winfield.

The suburban taxi services are now all "taxi associations" and make their money off of the drivers, not us. Drivers rent equipment and pay for dispatch feed on a weekly basis (if I recall correctly, about two years ago it was $175/week), and drivers pay 10% to have the taxi service process credit card transactions and reimburse the drivers. The taxi services are not interested in making money on shared ride services.

thanks for the ideas...just wanted to make sure i wasn't missing anything obvious!

Metra to El isn't that bad is it? I've taken it before when I lived in the western suburbs. As long as you can catch an express that is.

Metra is planning to increase service on the North Central line when they complete the track upgrades on the portion of the Milwaukee West line, used from Union Station to Franklin Park, and the remainder of the line from Franklin Park to Antioch. Once the upgrades are completed, possibly within a few months, there will be increased rush hour and off peak service M-F, however there are no immediate plans for weekend and holiday service.

In addition to the existing "O'Hare Transfer" station there is also going to be another station built at Balmoral Avenue in Rosemont.

Actually, I did miss something: You shouldn't take Irving Park, because if you get caught by a freight train at Irving Park and York, you can be there for ages and ages. I would take 83 to Grand (the Lake Street exit, go straight through the light at the top of the ramp) to Manheim instead.