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    CTA - Clark/Lake

    3.1 (59 reviews)
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    Station
    Steve A.

    Clark and Lake is the biggest CTA stop on the Loop and it gets plenty of big crowds. In these crowds are riders and others who aren't, if you know what I mean. Yes this is a popular place for homeless people to hang out. Almost every train comes through here. This is also where to go if you like endless escalators and stairs. It can be found on the north side of the Loop close to some other systems you can conveniently access. It serves the Blue, Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines. The times each of these operates varies. Blue is the only one of these that is underground, and getting there is a tedious process. Go to the indoor part and take the escalators and stairs all the way to the bottom, which takes a few minutes or so. Basically it's Hell. If the journey hasn't already taken your breath away, the smell will. Seriously it's barf inducing so avoid eating. The fantastic combination of body odor, fumes, garbage, piss, and shit. As for the upper platform, the air is much better. Brown goes counterclockwise. The others go clockwise so you have to be on the correct side of the platform. For the Brown, stand on the north. The others are on the south. Close proximity to City Hall and the Daley Center. To answer you comedians, the smell isn't coming from there. Also there's elevators, if they haven't been used as a bathroom. There's never a long wait for a train with so many coming and going. Also know the Purple is a limited extension. It's only on weekdays at rush hour. The upper platform gives you some good views.

    Tracks... waiting for the EL
    Ken O.

    Very convenient CTA stop with the elevators and escalators, but wow... the urine smell.

    Jeremy S.

    Clark&lake CTA is a busy station but has a wide platform for social distancing, one tip is to stand close to the front of the train and away from the entrance to the platform, it seems everyone tends to gather around that area.

    Orest S.

    This is a nice transit station, so you literally can switch to any line on the Loop to any direction (except for red line). I really like the upper station. However, there's no restrooms there, but should be at least on that one station. Also the exits for an underground Blue line are narrow, but nothing to do with this...

    Smelly elevator.
    Sonia F.

    My mom is disabled and we use the elevators while traveling on The CTA & oh my goodness! These elevators need a daily scrub down. They reek of urine! This is all the time. CTA really needs to handle this. You have disabled people and parents with children in strollers dealing with this filth. So sad.

    Pigeon Jihad
    Joshua M.

    A couple of things are wrong about this station. For one the escalators from the street level to the platform are not wide enough. So when one person decides to not walk and just stand there it slows everyone down. The other thing is there is a pigeon jihad going on here. I know that it's only a matter of time before they all fire their crap upon me like a cluster bomb over the deserts in Baghdad. I'm all for animal rights, but the pigeon problem at this station is out of control. Perhaps there should be some BB guns available for travelers waiting for trains to help deal with the problem. Here the pigeons have absolutely no fear of man. They will walk by you within inches. During the colder months they cluster under the heaters in greater numbers than the humans.

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    5 years ago

    Escalators are not working and notice on the CTA Website!! Holiday weekend and had low ridershipfor the past 18 months, poor timing CTA!!!

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    14 years ago

    It's a subway platform. The trains come and they go. You hope you won't have to wait more than 15 minutes for a train....

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    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - CTA - Clark/Lake

    Review Highlights - CTA - Clark/Lake

    I love racing up and down the escalators from the elevated tracks to the Blue Line at anytime of day or night.

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    Ogilvie Transportation Center

    Ogilvie Transportation Center

    (186 reviews)

    West Loop, Near West Side

    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.

    Chicago Union Station - Union Station

    Chicago Union Station

    (505 reviews)

    West Loop, Near West Side

    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.

    CTA - Clinton - Green&Pink Line

    CTA - Clinton - Green&Pink Line

    (8 reviews)

    West Loop, Near West Side

    CTA has a station at Clinton. It provides convenient access to downtown. Lots of ways to get around…read morefrom here. Kind of clean compared to others so that's good. There's access to plenty of other trains. Best thing is the convenience. It serves the Green and Pink Lines. The station is pretty clean for the most part. Above ground so it has the cleaner air. This is also located next to Ogilvie Transportation Center, so you can get on Metra and change systems. Has good things about it. It's one of the better stations. There's usually trains coming pretty often weekdays and even weekends.

    This station is one of the ones to which you can transfer from Metra to catch a green or pink line…read moretrain to the loop. That's pretty handy. The ramp from the mezzanine level where you get your fares and enter the station up to the train level is freaking long. If one doesn't have a motorized chair or a person pushing them, they're going to be exhausted by the time they get up if they can. It's honestly astonishing to me that CTA can't create an elevator from mezzanine to train level--and I'm confident there isn't one that I missed. Otherwise it's a CTA station, not much frill here. It's the final inbound station before officially entering the Loop stops. I wish that there was an interior connection of sorts from Ogilvie to this station, so that when I take Metra I can get to the station without having to exit into the weather whatever it may be. Honestly I can't believe that the RTA hasn't figured it out yet; pretty annoying. (Unless I'm an idiot and just haven't found the secret connector.)

    Metra - Union Station - Conductor killed my card even though only 9 rides were used. Made me pay cash.

    Metra - Union Station

    (9 reviews)

    West Loop, Near West Side

    I took the Metra trains three times in the last week. One from downtown Union Station Chicago to…read more BigTimber and two trains from Ogilvie Transportation Center to Kenosha. and another one to Evanston, IL. It was 90 degree and the AC was not working at all. I thought I was going to die in there. Let me just say how disgusted I was with the bathrooms. One was not working and was closed. Another had the toilet filled with feces and toilet paper with no running water. I went to another car and that too was filled with feces and toilet paper. Absolute disgusting. I think cattle are moved in cleaner sanitary conditions. No posted sign, no attempts to clean it out, nothing. On one train when I was getting off, I asked the conductor if that train was going to Evanston and he replied, "I am off now", kinda like I don't care. In a world class city like Chicago, you expect a little better than this. Please also tell the conductors to talk to people appropriately, "Please have your tickets out" as opposed to "have your tickets out in a nasty way". I thought I was an inmate in jail, not a paying customer on Metra. For the record, I would not upload pics of your feces. Don't get me wrong, for the price you cannot beat the money and time. I am sure an Uber would costs me the price of a kidney to Kenosha, but still. If you need to use the bathroom, PLEASE use it at the main stations or pray to God you have a super strong stomach. I saw about 8 people try to use the washroom that was disgusting and none of them used it. So trust me, it was not just me.

    They want you to take public transportation and here we sit because of switch failure not five or…read moreten minutes but an hour ... so ridiculous and this is getting to be a common occurrence wish we had other transportation friggin monopoly on public transport in this city NCS line is HORRIBLE

    Metra

    Metra

    (58 reviews)

    The Loop

    Like New York City, Chicago has one of the best public transportation systems in the U.S. I've had…read moreseveral meetings in the Loop where my office is located. The trains are clean. The seats are comfortable. The conductors are professional, and most of all, the train is on time most of the time. I don't have to deal with expensive parking, and walk underground to the elevator to my office. Sweet! I go to the office twice a week and enjoy unwinding on the train. I prepare for meetings, too. The train takes you to the museums stop, Hyde Park, the south burbs, and the University of Chicago. It's the cheapest and most convenient way to visit the city.

    I travel on Metra Electric when I use Public Transportation about 90% of the time. Its usually…read moregood. Yesterday there were electrical delays at Millenium Station during Rush Hour. Got on tje train more delays. The conducter was great. He didn't take our tickets. Today as I'm in Hyde Park waiting on the Metra now 8 minutes late, the announcer says it the train conductor doesn't see you, he won't stop. I get on. Riding south they pass my stop without any announcement. The conducter says its the Engineers fault with NO compassion or recourse just Mitchy Attitude. I said bacl the MF up! He said can't do that. I had to ride to tje end of the line wait 10 minutes and get home an hour past the time I should've been. Wouldn't you be pissed at such an easy fix? Mistakes are human but arrogance and incompetence are unacceptable!

    CTA - Clark/Lake - trainstations - Updated May 2026

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