CTA has an L station on 69th, with the name being the best thing about it: Six Nine baby. Forget…read moreabout it being in the middle of the busy Dan Ryan Expressway. It's nice feeling a breeze from the whizzing cars sometimes. Also forget about it being between the neighborhoods of Englewood and Grand Crossing. The station actually might be the safest place around here. As far as stations, this is the one with the coolest name so it's great for selfies and funny pics for Instagram. It serves the Red Line. This is the first station north of the 95th Street terminal. It doesn't get too busy at this station at rush hour. Mainly because there's not many people going to work. In all seriousness it's not close to anything. There's a few fast food places and pawn shops. Most people get on at 95th and ride on through here. The station itself is surprisingly clean and there's not a bad smell because it's outside. Be aware of the shady ass characters. It has a few but not as many as expected. This Line is the busiest so there's never a long wait for trains.

Ugh. Mondays. I got routed through this El station while…read moregoing from the Museum of Science and Industry and the University of Chicago to head to destinations north. This elevated station is anything but elevated. It's pretty plain, boring, and nothing to brag about. There were so many interesting odors at this platform. It wasn't especially clean. While waiting for the train to come, I got roped into a lecture from a local about international conspiracies going on in the South side of Chicago. It was an interesting discourse. The trains come through here fairly frequently, it seems, so I didn't have to wait long at this platform to get outta here. I appreciate how CTA has named this platform after everyone's favorite cat. Now somebody needs to set up a lasagna stand right on the platform, and I'd be in heaven.

I prefer the green line Garfield stop by far. This location is poorly maintained. If i'm trying to…read morecatch the 55 across the street, the shelter area where it's supposed to be lighted is beaten and neglected. The 59 can be a bit confusing to catch too since you don't know if you hop on whether it's going to Midway or Stony island since both routes come from one direction. Plenty of convenient gas stations around.

As with all CTA Train Stations it gets you from point A to Point B . It also will take you where…read moreyou can connect to point C-Z. In a nutshell it works . At the end of the day it is public transportation. You can get the worst smelling and also the best smelling in the same ride . Just mind your business and you will be cool. Most of all know where you're going on CTA and it should be a smooth process .

Nice. Clean. Easy to get to. Although parking can be rather bothersome. On some days there is…read moreplenty to go around and on others not so much.

Why oh why does the sign on the Madison St entrance of this building say "Accenture Tower" when…read moreit's really just the retail front of Ogilvie Transportation Center?! That confused me so much the first time I came here that I went across the street to Union Station by mistake thinking I had gone to the wrong place, and I missed my train. Please make better signage indicating that this entrance is also for the train station, as Google maps is getting less and less accurate (it put the marker in the middle of the intersection between the two stations). Other than that, the station is fine. Plenty of ticket machines and display screens showing the train schedules. There are escalators up to the track area for disability access as an option besides stairs. Just expect a huge line for the bathrooms. The retail shops and food items are price gouging to the extreme, like an airport would be.

Last week was my first time taking a train into the city while visiting Great Lakes. I was…read moretraveling alone and a little nervous about getting into the city and unsure about the area that the Ogilvie Transportation Center is in. Reviews made it seem like a confusing place to navigate. I boarded the Union Pacific North Train Kine from Great Lakes just outside of the Navy Training Center. I purchased my ticket on the Ventra App and I boarded the train and took a seat. There were several stops along the way and the Ogilvie Transportation Center was the last stop. The Conductor visited the car I was riding in just a couple of stops before ending at Ogilvie to check and/or sell tickets. The Conductor was polite and patient. When I exited the train at Ogilvie, I just followed the crowd to the stairway into the station and then just chose to exit the building at the Canal Street exit whit turned out to be just perfect for starting my journey into Chicago for the day. At the end of the day, when I returned to Ogilvie, it took me a few minutes to figure out the train schedule and locate the right stairways onto the loading platform. They have large screens at each loading platform stairway entrance that shows where each train travels to and what time they leave. There are stairways on each side of the train station to get you to the train. One important thing to note is that for some stops, the first cars of the train, the doors do not open. So it's best to find a seat towards the back cars or make plans to walk through a couple of cars quickly to get to the exit doors that open. The Ogilvie Transportation Center was easier to navigate than I had thought.

While this is not the worst red line stop in Chicago, there are sometimes some characters around…read more It is, however, the perfect location for a stop, near lots of tourist points and 2 blocks from Michigan Avenue. I wouldn't recommend being there alone as a woman super early in the morning or super late at night.

Another CTA station, an underground one, is on Chicago Avenue. It has a whole lot to see around…read morehere. Kind of a bad atmosphere with all the homeless people but still not among the worst. Feels safer than many other stations but that's not saying a lot. There's never a long wait for trains. It has an incredibly busy location at Chicago Avenue and State Street with all the commuters and tourists coming and going. It serves the Red Line. This is between the Grand Avenue and Clark/Division stations. Inside there's kind of a bad odor and there's a few sketchy people but that's typical stuff around. There's plenty of other stations you can get to from here quickly. Has a shitload of shopping as if you didn't know. It has some fast food like McDonald's if the hipster food is too high brow for your tastes. The best thing about this station is no long waiting.

I love(d) taking trains, but Amtrak (especially the Wolverine line) has been CONSISTENTLY chipping…read moreaway at that love of traveling via train. I am not making this bad review from frustration at a single or couple of experiences... it has been terrible and delayed for nearly all the rides I've taken in the last two years (and I take this train often). First, the WiFi rarely works even if it says it's connected and I go through the portal. Fine, so I try to use my cellular data, but due to the infrastructure in the areas we're passing, I'll lose cellular service all together. Next, there has been a string of excuses for severe schedule delays. One day it's because of bad radio signals, another day it's because another train has to pass so we need to wait over an hour before going to the next stop. Just absolutely terrible. Not only has the service become less reliable and decreasing quality, they're also increasing prices (especially during high travel periods like holidays). There needs to be some SERIOUS improvements to these issues. I hope it happens sooner rather than later because at this pace, I'll be exploring other travel options that can be more consistent, reliable, and not resort to price gouging customers for an inferior service.

If your going to Detroit this is your place! No attendent on duty but easy access.read more

One of the smaller Metra stations you can easily miss it , but it works awesomely nonetheless …read more It's clean and does what Metra does best . Getting you from point A to point B in a snap .

Union Station has some very beautiful areas that make you feel like you're taking a step back in…read moretime! They do a lot of work to keep it that way in both the interior and exterior. Some of of the waiting areas feel luxurious; if you have a while to wait it's certainly not gloomy! It's definitely a large, busy station with people coming and going so if you haven't navigated it before it's wise to get familiar with the building. There are some nice food options so it's nice to relax with a Jamba Juice. Kind, efficient staff. The Amtrak trains at Union Station have always been very reliable and there's just something so charming about traveling by train! When I went to college in downtown Chicago, I'd take the Hiawatha train back to Milwaukee every weekend and it was always a great experience. The key is definitely picking the train times that it's not going to be a zoo of foot traffic inside. Consider taking the train for a unique experience and enjoying a walk around a beautiful building with a lot of history!

I was very impressed with Chicago Union Station physical facilities and amenities for the train…read moretravelers. The only drawback was the lack of a check in rental car office/delivery and drop off station inside the terminal for arrivals and departures. Lack of integration of a rental car facilities makes travel with luggage a problem. To rate the 5 stars I suggest 2 improvements: 1) the addition of an option for rental Avis, Hertz or Budget in there to enhance the terminal experience 2) and better identification of mass bus transportation options upon arrival.