Truly enjoy my trip from UIUC Campus to ORD yesterday. A clean new vehicle, very polite and intelligent driver, WiFi on board and ice-cold AC: five stars. And it is cheaper than others. And finally, the bus arrived to airport 40min earlier (2h20min ride time from Champaign to ORD) which is equal car rade time. Awesome! read more

Worst service I have ever seen! They told me that the ticket I printed is not acceptable because I folded it! Seriously? I have to print the ticket, and I cannot fold it? I paid extra money to get another ticket. No wonder the review is so bad and they are running out of business. Also, if customers don't behave nice, they will list their personal information on the company's website: http://www.suburbanexpress.com/dishonoredpmts.html Take a look at that long, think of how they can put your information there. read more

Illini Shuttle - Before you take their shuttle, seriously consider if you will behave nice enough to not be listed on their "shame" website - Public Transportation Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

0 stars. Their policies are not customer friendly. I know that it is written everywhere that you MUST print out your ticket, but god forbid you have one of those days where it's left sitting on your dining room table where you had all your luggage. They will not accept the number from your iphone. They will not refund or exchange. The bus driver will be unsympathetic and rude. read more

They provide you the worst service ever! I had my ticket for 6:00pm this afternoon, but my flight delayed for 30min so I missed the 6:00'o'clock shuttle, waited for the next one which came at 9:15, but the driver did not let me in, I was even willing to but a new ticket but he did not let me in all he said was "I can't let you in since yours has expired" there was no service after 9pm so I had to take a shuttle with Peoria charter on the next day at 6:00am ! It wasn't my fault that the flight delayed! I will never travel with Illini shuttles! read more

The manager of office is terribly rude and unprofessional. Customer service is not his priority so he didn't want to solve problem. One of the payment option on their website listed a fast and easy payment to buy ticket. IT IS NOT TRUE. Lost an hour only to get nowhere. Called both companies-- the credit companies said it is Illini Shuttle themselves who refused to warn customers that it is NOT fast and easy, but requires a 3-5 days process. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE services! read more

I would love to have used this service as it seems to be a good value but I am traveling and don't carry a printer around with me. Because I couldn't print a ticket from my laptop I went with a competitor. I rate this issue as a major fail for whoever plans this web service. Perhaps a paperless option can be added in the future. So I thought I would send a suggestion to the business but I couldn't leave a message on their phone (not sure why they're closed at 3pm on a monday), they have no contact email and the only way to send a message is....by paper mail. What do these guys have against trees? I used the LEX and spend about $10 more. read more

Very bad service. Very rude driver. I took a long trip from Europe and I bought the ticket in flight. When I arrived at the Shuttle Center, I had no access to any printer so I could not print out the ticket. The driver told me to buy another ticket in cash or he would have to throw my luggage out of the van and leave me at the airport. He was very rude and unsympathetic I would Never Never Never Never take Illini shuttle any more. read more

This is highway robbery. No one should ever travel with this service If you miss it due to flight delay your money is jumping up They do not care about the customer Do not travel with them read more

We flew our 19 year old to Chicago Midway and purchased a ticket on Illini Shuttle for our son to ride to UIUC on the 9:30 pm bus. The shuttle never came! Our son was stranded at the Midway airport. We don't know anyone in Chicago so it was a cluster trying to book a last minute hotel and make other transportation arrangements for him from Texas. This happened on a Friday night and the answering machine for Illini Shuttle said to call back when they open .... On Monday morning! Never again!!! read more

The worst shuttle service ever. I bought the ticket for a trip from O'Hare to champaign. The shuttle did not show up or maybe it did but with different name that I was not aware of and it left me behind. So I had to buy another ticket from another company for $55!! It's been a month and I'm still waiting for my money back but they say the shuttle was there and you did not see it!! I do not recommend Illini shuttle at all :( read more

Wow. I just talked to a customer service rep (if you can call him that) @ Illini Shuttle and I've never been treated so poorly... absolutely unbelievable. I would highly recommend looking at using other means of transportation whenever possible because they certainly don't know how to interact with customers and make it extremely difficult to do business with. read more

Had a great experience getting to Ohare the day after Thanksgiving! The driver was super nice and the bus was clean! Overall a great experience! read more

Our plane from Buffalo New York was delayed due to mechanical issues, causing us to miss the shuttle from O'Hare to Champaign. Tough luck for us. They collected $80 from us for doing nothing. On the bright side, we did have internet access on the ride up. I used it to search for treatments of bruised kidneys, which is what you'll get with those sprinter vans. I've ridden in hay wagons with better suspension. I won't be using this service again. We did have a friendly driver, but that doesn't make up for their lack of a refund/reimbursement policy and those uncomfortable vans. read more

Bus arrived on time, was clean, and the driver was super friendly. Would use this service again.

Don't plan on using this service unless your travel plans are set in stone, and you have a printer immediately available. As a business traveller, I needed to get to O'Hare airport. At the time I saw only 2 options, Illini Shuttle and Amtrak. Illini provides direct service to the O'Hare terminals. Unexpectedly, my trip was delayed two days. No refunds, No Changes, if you try to change your ticket they charge you for a new ticket and a $100 penalty. When I did purchase the website clearly states these rules, but I thought that there might be some type of customer service to accommodate a business traveller. No Way! Illini seems to have no interest in business customers. When I did finally get through to their representative, I asked why they have such an onerous policy. The reply was that they cater to the college crowd and there is a lot of ticket fraud. I asked if there are any other shuttle services that will work with business travelers? The representative told me to go to "Peoria Charter". That is who I will be traveling on to O'Hare tomorrow. Illini Shuttle says use Peoria Charter. I will. read more

This is the worst shuttle service I have ever used. I travel internationally monthly and never before have I wasted more time trying to book an airport shuttle, reasons: 1. only takes US VISA card (how can a shuttle to/from an international airport like O'Hare only take US card?); 2. no other way to book in advance, cannot even call from overseas; 3. must print out ticket with no PDF option. read more

They are a no-nonsense bus company. A lot of people complain about a time something happened that wasn't the bus companies fault, and they are mad that the bus company didn't fix it. If you think something that isn't your fault is suddenly everyone else in the worlds fault, maybe don't ride with them. At the end of the day, my trip was uneventful, I left on time, I arrived on time, and frankly no one else takes you from campus to O'hare. Would use again. read more

I checked the hours for customer service to receive information about ticket billing, called on a Monday around 1:30pm and the call said that the customer service office was closed. Confused I called again. It said it was open now so given the option I pressed 4 for a customer service agent and he answered. I expected to expand more on my billing problem with the hanging authorization lasting for about two days but he spoke very condescending about the info already stated in the prior voicemail and hung up right away. This was very poor customer service I will wait to call again if I don't get my money back for a non-existent ticket but I hope not so I am never to deal with that man ever again. read more

Very rude!!! Their driver will yell at you for basically no reason. My friend took it, when it arrived I open the door to ask if this is the one to Chicago, he literally yelled at me about something 'you do not get on car without permission, you need to wait till he come out and open the door etc'. But seriously, I didn't get in the car, just asked him a question outside!! Very rude, aweful, don't treat customer or any human beings with respect read more

Illini Shuttle offers great and inexpensive services with mostly friendly drivers. My experiences with Illini Shuttle are generally good. The only dissatisfying experience was my last ride from Altgeld to O'Hare. My ride was scheduled at 4:15 pm, and the shuttle was running late and came at 4:15 (the Bell Tower rang). There were many students queuing for the ride, and parents and I happened to be the last. Since we brought suitcases for 3 people, we took longer time to load them onto the shuttle. We understood that we needed to rush, but the driver (Jim) yelled at us to be quick. He also shouted: "YOU HAVE TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND, WE GOTTA GO!" I hope Illini Shuttle does something to such an issue. Such a rude driver can taint Illini Shuttle reputation. read more

WORST SERVICE EVER!!! First of all, they make you PRINT OUT your tickets! Otherwise, they won't let you on even if you've already bought a ticket. Hello, what century are we in? This can be terribly inconvenient, especially if you buy your ticket last-minute. But what's worse is that apparently no matter what, tickets are "nonrefundable, nonexchangeable, and nontransferable." My flight back to O'Hare was delayed so I missed my shuttle, but when I called to ask what could be done about it, the guy just responded mechanically with the "nonrefundable, nonexchangeable, nontransferable" shit. So impersonal and unaccommodating! Seems like all they're interested in is making money, so once you've bought a ticket you're locked in as far as they're concerned. So if you have to miss your shuttle because you had a heart attack, they won't care. Also, their wi-fi sucks. It doesn't work for at least half the stretch between Chicago and Champaign. Peoria Charter is easily superior, for the same price! You don't have to print out anything. You don't even have to buy your tickets in advance (which you do with Illini Shuttle - forgot to mention that!). You can just walk on, as long as you can pay in cash. Great for last-minute shuttling needs! And their wi-fi is wonderful. Works the whole time. I don't know what they'd do in a missed-flight scenario, but my hunch is that they would be nicer about it than Illini Shuttle! Peoria Charter also has a downtown stop (which Illini Shuttle doesn't) and more travel time options. I agree with Joyce L., who said "0 stars." I would give Illini Shuttle 0 stars if I could. read more

NOOOO star. 0 star! I bought a Illini shuttle bus ticket to go to O'Hare for an international flight. I have three large pieces of luggage with me and only discover the restriction of a maximum of two medium suitcases after I made the order. I called them and asked if they could allow me to have the 3rd piece and I am willing to pay for extra. The manager told me to take some one with me to the bus station so that in case I could not ride with all three pieces of luggage, my friends/family could keep or ship them for me later! What an insane suggestion! She even said that I should ship it by UPS! She said just like she have never used any shipping service and has no idea of how much it costs as well as how long it takes for international shipping!... In any case, there wouldn't be any refund while I believe that they did not make the luggage restriction clear before the order confirmation. And yes, I totally agree with the writer of the 1st review, they are rude and unsympathetic... read more

This company is totally unhelpful, I had a flight at 12 pm and didn't print out the ticket, the driver refuse to take customer and leave me alone at 7 in the morning. Never had this situation before, feel so bad for this company and stupid policies. Hopefully no one will buy the ticket from this company in the future!!! read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!! My daughter and her friend attended a wheelchair basketball camp at the U of Illinois, Champaign. They needed to get from O'Hare to Champaign and back. I called this company and after much back and forth, they reluctantly agreed to accommodate the girls' wheelchairs... CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???? I went ahead and booked the ride, cause the price was good and the schedule was right for the girls' needs. BIG MISTAKE! After they dropped the girls off in Chapaign, I got a very nasty e-mail, basically telling me that they will not accommodate the wheelchairs on the return trip. My daughter said that there was plenty of room on the shuttle for the chairs and didn't understand how come they were so nasty... They didn't offer to refund us the money for the return. Just a plain, nasty :"Go away- we don't want your disabled business..." The one and only good thing they did, was to refer me to Express Air Coach (EAC). The rep at EAC said that off course they'll accommodate the wheelchairs. EAC reps were professional, sweet and easy going- what a difference!!!!! I REPEAT: DO NOT USE iLLINI sHUTTLE!!!!!!! USE EAC!!!! read more

Well even though I've never been a writer with this company and I never will, I will say this as an individual who was applying to dry for this company and the lack of response and professionalism from this owner I would never ever ever recommend this company to anybody who would want to work for them. The owner stated to me that I was too much of a bother and I won't use the exact words that were said excuse me for being excited about wanting to work for you and you couldn't be a man and just answer the phone and tell me that I didn't have the job or you're going to different direction instead of just sitting there and putting me on hold and putting me on hold and putting me on hold that's pretty unprofessional especially coming from the owner of a business. I can see why your business is going downhill. read more

IN A WORD...TERRIBLE! Today my daughter was ticketed and scheduled to take the Illini Shuttle owned by Suburban Express, (S.E.) from the Woodridge Jewel stop (bus to arrive there at 11:30AM and depart 11:45 AM), and we arrived at 11 and waited until 12:45PM. Their bus NEVER SHOWED UP. Further, and what is worse, S.E. did not email or call her to let her know about this cancellation and so her long planned trip to Champaign was cancelled. HOW TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL IS THIS, and S.E. has NO EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS TO CALL ON WEEKENDS. We called both their published numbers on 10/29 while waiting and no one answered. To add insult to injury, on 10/29 I attempted to process an online refund of the round trip tickets and the S.E.web portal informed me I would have to wait until November 8 to request a Credit. Seriously? I called again and finally connected with S.E. on 10/31 to ask about the Missing Bus, and was informed that they had "changed their bus schedule" and they "didn't know why we weren't notified of the change", offering no apologies or explanations why we weren't notified. I then advised S.E. that I was disputing the credit card charge, was informed they would refund me, and subsequently received a terse (and sarcastic) email from the owner threatening litigation if I did not withdraw my disputed charge. Really, after THEY cancelled the bus with NO notice? Warning to all concerned...not a customer centric business. Caveat Emptor Update-CC dispute is on hold, pending receipt of S.E.'s promised refund. Update: 11/2/18: Since the Owner Dennis T decided to finally reply, 2 years after the fact, with his typical sarcasm stating "maybe we can understand why you gave us false contact information" I feel compelled to respond. First, we gave you ACCURATE contact information because her Email address was used BY YOU to confirm her Ticket Reservation, a copy of which we still have. YOUR email Subject line is "Reservation #1392562 - Please Read Carefully and Save" on YOUR email to her dated October 26, 2016. Also in YOUR confirmation email is her address and phone number, BOTH of which are correct. So your claim about "false contact information" is BOGUS. Simply you changed your bus schedule, as your employee previously stated, and you failed to notify us. Do you stand by your own employees? Second, you might want to read your other negative reviews, and lose the attitude when dealing with customers. read more

I think the only reason these people are in business is that they get to offer services to travelers and then not actually provide the service when flights are delayed. $30 mistake I will never make again. Do not use them. read more

I use this bus every month to visit my friend so I have taken it a lot of times. The bus does show up late a lot. Sometimes 40 minutes late. But In my experience it's always showed up at one point or another. It's cheaper and easier then taking the train so I don't mind waiting. For some reason they have zero customer service. I called them to see why my bus was an half hour late and their phone line is disconnected. They also don't have email which is really strange. Despite them always being late and not being able to contact them when this happens, everything else is great. Buses are clean, drivers are friendly, and they often have coupons that save you money on your fare. Its gets you where you need to go, at some point. ( they often show up in buses by a different name like Green river buses, so make sure to ask the driver.) also don't bother showing up if you don't have the ticket (needs to be printed), they won't let you on and they won't let you pay to get on ether. read more

Driving on the Tri-State tollway near Chicago in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I was passed by an IlliniShuttle van (license plate IN B575J) doing 50 miles an hour down the shoulder. He must have been forced back into traffic at some point ahead as about 15 minutes later he cut me off changing into my lane. I have a daughter at Illinois and she will never ride with these morons. read more

This company does not allow costumers to board ( with a paid ticket in advance ) IF the costumer gives them bad reviews. Needless to say, I wont be traveling with them. read more

I tried getting a job there and filled out a job application. I got a call to come and do a test drive and then was offered to do a ride along at 3 a.m. the next day but that where things went south . After the ride along I was called that night for interview on Sunday . They offered me the job and worked out some issues. I told them I could start the next week because of prior appointments but did offer to begin the next day and they said ok to next week. I go out shopping to get dress shirts, pants, and flashlight and cell phone. I come home and there was a message on my phone saying don't do the drug test or physical that they was taking the job back and going with someone who can start now instead of later. I then went down to the office was rudely talked to by the owner and very disrespectful towards my wife and daughter and that It was someone else job that does the hiring. I did offer to begin the next day if they needed me to. I will not be riding their shuttle or bues at all because of the way I was treated. I try calling to but they didn't returned my calls at all . I give one star to the person who let ride along with him thank you. God bless and good luck in your business but I will not be doing business with your company. read more

This company is the anti-Christ incarnate. On Saturday i watched the bus drive away and leave a poor girl waving her ticket. Not only did the bus driver see her but he deliberately ignored her, he started the bus and drove way. All he had to do was open the doors.for her. After trying to make a formal complaint about the thoughtless bus driver I realized the atrocious lack of morals bleeds far deeper than just that said bus driver. I was put on hold and bounced around for about 40 minutes only to be told Dennis, the owner, apparently does not have a phone or and email and they couldn't even give me his last name. So after that terribly unsettling phone call and still unsatisfied i find myself actually creating a yelp account for the sole purpose of writing this review (only to find I am one among a number of 1 star reviews). This company should be boycotted and you should under all circumstances avoid this shuttle service. read more

Did not let my child board the bus, even though she had paid for a ticket and had the credit card receipt with her. Bus driver #1 took her round trip ticket (double sided) and told her she could reprint her return ticket. However, this was not true. You cannot print out a duplicate ticket on their system. Bus driver #2 would not let her board. We couldn't even purchase another ticket because the trip was 'sold out.' Driver was discourteous at best. Terrible, no customer service, no help line, nothing. Have filed a Better Business Bureau complaint. I think they prey on students. read more

My daughter showed up 3 minutes late on Saturday due to two well publicized accidents on route 83. She saw the bus take off she ran waving her arms and chasing the bus that was still in the parking lot . The bus would not stop. The bus at 7:30 never showed When both my ex wife and i attempted to get a simple vouched we were told by Adam that would not happen . I asked to speak to the owner Dennis and was told he had no number no email . This company has piss poor customer service and is run by a man who does not care to provide answers to his paying customers . i will continue to call and post until i receive proper customer service attention. I encourage others to post their horror stories of illini shuttle .until Dennis changes his company policy to reflect his customers best interest. He has a monopoly on bus travel to u of i , but if enough people read posts like this and they change their travel plans . Eventually he will change his ways . more to come i promise you that !! Roger P read more

LEFT US STRANDED BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD! I used this service three times. The first two times it worked OK. Then, on Tuesday August 16, 2016 at 4:35PM outside Altgeld Hall the driver refused to let us on the bus. We were at the bus stop 15 minutes early with three fully paid tickets in hand. The driver stated that since my daughter is under 14 years old, he would not let us on the bus. He refused to let us board, drove away, and left us and all our luggage by the side of the road. When I got back to a computer, I checked the company website for this policy (there was nothing about it printed anywhere on the ticket). The website states "Children under 14 years of age must be accompanied by an adult" (http://www.illinishuttle.com/policies.html) so I don't know what the driver was thinking! He straight up refused to honour a paid ticket (in fact three paid tickets!) for no real reason, and he caused us a huge problem, as we were relying on the bus to make a flight at O'Hare. This is NOT a reliable company. Do not trust them to get you anywhere! They will leave you stranded by the side of the road and drive away. UPDATE. By doing some more research, I have discovered another layer to what happened. It turns out the business model of this company involves filing large numbers of frivolous lawsuits against people who complain about them! https://popehat.com/2013/07/29/the-popehat-signal-suburban-express-doubles-down-on-attacks-on-critics/ This helps explain the massive collection of bizarre and difficult-to-understand 'policies' on their website, and the surreal behaviour of yesterday's driver, who seems to be going out of his way to provoke me. For, indeed, in a closer reading, it turns out that my family was "legitimately" left standing by the side of the road holding our three fully paid but useless ILLINI SHUTTLE tickets as the bus drove away. For, even though my under-14 daughter was accompanied by two adults, who had even gone to the trouble of bringing a car seat, the company has another rule posted on their website that arbitrarily bans anyone under five feet tall from riding their busses (http://www.illinishuttle.com/policies.html). I have learned the lesson of ILLINI SHUTTLE the hard way: caveat emptor. read more

Stranded at the airport? Look elsewhere unless your printer is in your carry on luggage because a printed ticket is the only thing they'll accept. Unbelievably rude drivers to boot. A complete waste of time read more

HORRIBLE customer service. Peoria Charter is cheaper and much more professional with similar routes.

Uncomfortable but this is a shuttle, not a luxury cruise, and it gets to your destination fast so you cant really complain

DO NOT USE YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. They do not know the meaning of customer service. The most inflexible business that provides a service, I have ever dealt with. Hello its 2016, you have to have a printed ticket. My son missed his shuttle due to a very delayed flight, I had to buy a new ticket, but they wanted it printed. When he got to O'Hare he had to find a printer to print the ticket. When I called "customer service" and explained kids don't carry printers with them, its 2016 use the wonderful technology we have today, they said then don't use our service. I won't. One other thing, they won't refund my money for the ticket I could not use and they have no operators during non business hours, so you can't talk to anyone if you have major problem like we did. Use PEORIA CHARTER, they are flexible customer service oriented, have a live person to talk to on the weekends and after hours and are the exact same price. Oh and their shuttles were all booked up, whereas Suburban/Illini Shuttle was not, I wonder why??? read more

If you want to make it to your destination safely DO NOT USE this service. I put my 2 children (17 & 14) on the shuttle to see their dad near Chicago. We had used this service before with no huge problems. The tickets were purchased for the 7:30 a.m. bus. The driver took their tickets, loaded their luggage and they got on the bus. The bus then left and transported them to another stop. At that stop, the driver approached my son and told him and his brother that they had one ticket printed off twice and that they would have to get off the bus. This was not true, the tickets were clearly two different tickets and the ticket numbers were different. He then kicked off 2 teenagers and left them at a place where they had no idea where they were. Luckily my son had his cell phone and was able to call me to come and pick them up. We had no idea where they were and he had to stop someone to ask where he was. This was at 8:00 a.m. and it was 17 degrees. We were unable to get in contact with anyone. Their dad met the driver where the kids were supposed to be dropped off and all he could say was "I'm sorry, I must have read the tickets wrong". They suggested that I follow the next bus around Champaign to see if there were any seats available at the last stop (full of course). They offered them a seat on the 4:30 bus, but since this was 9 hours later, and we do not live in Champaign we were unable to make that bus. Now they are refusing to refund the money for the tickets and since they never made it to their destination the return tickets were no good to us. They will not refund that either. The driver had already admitted fault, but now they are saying that it was our fault. Can anyone tell me how this would be a fault of ours. I have the original tickets that the driver gave back to my son (two different tickets with two different numbers). Now this isn't just about the money, they endangered the lives of my children. If there was a problem with the tickets, (which there was not) they never should have been let on the bus and transported to a different location and then kicked off the bus and stranded in a strange place. The driver did tell him that only one of them had to get off. As if the older brother was going to leave his younger brother. The fact that this driver could even suggest this is ridiculous. How can anyone leave two teenagers stranded in a strange place like that? And offer no refund, or apology, but to now blame us. They do not care about the customers or the safety of their passengers. read more