クラーク駅はオヘア空港に向かうブルーラインの駅です。 空港に直通で便利ですが1時間はかかります。…read more地上にはシカゴ名物のループの駅もあります。 シカゴの真冬はミシガン湖の風も相まって射すような寒さ。 駅すぐのリバーウオークは真冬には川に流氷が現れます。 冬以外は観光船で大賑わいです。 昔の話ですが、地下鉄は冬でも暖房はなかったです。 真冬のある日、私は空港に行くため朝4時に地下鉄に乗ると、 男性がベンチに横たわって寝てました。 車両には他に男性ふたり、私は少し離れて座りました。 次の駅で身なりの良い40代位の男性と、 中学生位の男の子が乗ってきました。 確実に親子だとおもいます。 3つ先の駅で降りる寸前、父親は寝てる男性のズボンのポケットに いくらかのお札をねじ込んで降りていきました。 息子は父の姿を見て無言で後ろについて降りていきました。 当然、寝てる男性は気づいてます。 でも、それから1時間近く終点の空港まで微動だにしませんでした。 空港到着、皆が降りていきます。 彼はどうするのだろう。私は最後まで座席にいました。 すると、彼は身体を動かすでもなく、顔を動かすでもなく、 寝たままポケットのお金をだして、 片目で確認するとそのままポケットに戻し目を閉じました。 夜が明けるまで　地下鉄で往復して過ごすのだと思います。 このふたりの男性、住む世界は天と地ほど違うと思うけど、 私は二人に共通する人間の奥にある何かを感じずにはいられませんでした。 帰宅して夫に話すと、そうだねと一言。 昔のことですが、今も鮮明に残っている光景です。 私は数年前から夫に次いで年金生活者になりました。 結婚時からお金は葬式代と僅かなものを残すだけでよいと 若い頃からふたりでたくさん旅に出ました。 歳を重ね、夫と旅の思い出を語る時間が本当に幸せです。 これからも旅に出て、（今は夫はお留守番、土産話聞き役となる） この世を去る寸前まで、この素晴らしい世界を見て行きたいです。 WBC観戦、4年後また絶対に行きます。 その時はシカゴから長距離列車でマイアミへ。 目標ができました。 おしまい。

Clark and lake is one of the superstations where you can transfer to multiple lines. The station…read morecan get pretty crowded on a weekday during rush hour but it looks like they have improved on headway so there are more trains. Looks like they upgraded some of the signage and are currently upgrading one of the entrance under the Thompson center. Curious to see how that ends up though

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.

Union Station (Chicago) is famous for the movies that were filmed there as well as being one of the…read morebusiest stations in the country. It's the main artery for Amtrak serving the midwest. Tons of platforms (close to 30 I think) and several places to choose from to grab a bite to eat. Each time I have traveled in and out of this station has been a decent experience. Though, I do still sometimes get lost. It's an older building but it's pretty well maintained and clean. Folks working there are actually more than willing to help out. That's petty refreshing. I absoluely love the architecture of the station and its Deco nod. Not to mention the grand architectural elements within the interior. Traveling in and out of Union Station is nostalgic; like being in a 1940s romance film.

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!

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!

Stop for ChristKindle Market, Primark, Uniqlo, Chicago Theather etc. Stairs and upwards escalator…read moreonly.

Been riding the blue lines for decades since Jefferson Park was the end of the line before they…read moreextended it out to O'Hare Airport. 1) Use to drive from Mr Prospect to Golf Mill pick up the 270 bus & take it to Jefferson Park & take it downtown. 2). Years later I lived in Oak Park by Harrison & Lyman & took the Blue Line from Austin Ave to downtown 3). Next I lived in Old Irving & picked up the Blue line from Irving Park to downtown 4). Finally I moved to Forest Glen where I have been for over 20 years. When I go downtown I drive to either the Old Irving or Montrose stop & take it downtown. Old Blue has served me for longer than I care to admit. It's fairly reliable of course it doesn't compare the transit systems in New York, Paris or Tokyo but it gets you from point A & somewhere in proximity to point B. I have relied on Old Blue for many years & has been there for me most of the time.

Needed to get back to the airport. Didn't want to make our daughter drive back and forth from UIC…read moreto U Chicago to the Museum of Science and Industry back to UIC and back and forth to Midway. You get the idea. UBER was $50+. LYFT was $60+. And lots of traffic delays. How about the L? A six minute walk from the hotel to the CTA Adams/Wabash station. A Good Samaritan helped me with my bags up the stairs. Watch the monitors. The train was a couple of minutes early. Tap your card. It was just $2.50 per person and the orange line goes directly to Midway. This is the last stop on the line. Plus, we got there at least 15 minutes earlier than the UBER/Lyft ETA. There is Hope. Interesting to see the suicide & crisis lifeline information at the station. Call, chat or text 988 if you need help. A shocking murder-suicide in Houston earlier this week, this sign really made me think. On this Mother's Day, hug your mom, your children, your grandparents a little tighter.

While staying downtown Chicago, CTA - Adams/Wabash was within accessible walking distance…read moreto-and-from my hotel. Via the green line, I was able to commute to this station from the west-side of the city. An efficient station that will connect you to sights within downtown Chicago like Grant Park, The Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park, and even the Historic Route 66 Begin Sign; the iconic Historic Route 66 Begin Sign which is located downstairs of this elevated platform. At this station you can also transfer to other lines like green, pink, purple, orange, and brown. Opened by Lake Street Elevated Railroad in 1896 before being incorporated into Charles Yerkes's Union Loop in October 1897. From back then to now, the station has had its share of renovations and makeovers. It is well-maintained, yet with some clear signs of cracked paint and rust on its interior frame. And I also could not ignore the faded out social distancing signs which will forever remind us of covid-19 in the years to come. I have to say that my visits to-and-from CTA - Adams/Wabash have been very pleasant, thankfully! And with that, it makes me very open to making it part of my commutes into downtown Chicago. ~Keep it simple. ~ Thomas G

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.

I haven't road the train , well I can't remember when. My son lives in South Bend, my daughter…read morelives in Chicago. I always try to visit both of them. Visiting my daughter entailed paying tolls, when I get to Chicago I pay for parking. If I only stayed for a day it would cost me excess of $75.00. Well guess what ? The Southshore ticket from Millennium Station to South Bend Is less than $15.00. The train was clean, no problem finding a seat. I was one of 6 people in the train car. They had many , I guess it was not a busy day. This saves me a when I visit my daughter in Chicago. The train ride was about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes longer than it took me by car. Great value !!!!!!! I save money so I can buy that bottle of Casamigos or not. . The South Shore has many stops in Chicago and stops in South Bend at the airport.

I love the South Shore- conductors "Moose" and Sean were amazing & very kind. They truly love their…read morejobs and their dedication to great service did not go unnoticed. My sister was not feeling well on the train and they went above and beyond to help her be more comfortable. Always a smooth ride with smiling faces, great way to travel around the area. Thank you Moose and Sean!!

Closest stop to Chase Tower and Chagall's Four Seasons if those are your itineraries. There are…read moreonly stairs and escalators going up. No elevators. The direct entrance through the Chase Tower building has been closed off since Covid. Probably never to be opened due to security measures.

This is a great spot to catch public transportation into Chicago. Parking was under $10 and the…read moreride is about $5.

You know what's really fantastic? Intelligent design! For example, this station's stairwells have…read morelittle ramps on the sides to make it easier to bring a bicycle into the station, without having to carry it awkwardly - bonus for those who have heavier bikes, or less upper body strength. However, if instead of a bike you're carrying a cartful of groceries, or need to avoid stairs for any other reason, the station is fully accessible with elevators. There's a lot more to love: The station is very easy to navigate, with large, abundantly clear signage to help you find the right train direction. Bonus points for whoever thought to put the departure screens just outside the stairwells to platform level, with only departures in that direction. It is also aesthetically very pleasing, across the board. The ceilings are high, and feature tiled mosaics. There is also a large silhouette of the skyline behind glass tiles. Even the floor of the main level contains a simple, yet thought-out design: rays before the gates and a compass rose after. All throughout, the station is well lit and clean. The platform level is more utilitarian, but still maintains the themes of being well lit, relatively clean, and having some tiled designs on the back wall. Final verdict: CTA stations are usually small, narrow, and in need of a power wash and elbow grease, if not also a lighting upgrade. CTA's Grand Red Line Station needs none of the above, and is one of my favorite stations in the system!

Enjoy the experience of riding the trains and subways of cities I visit, and always compare them to…read moreJapan Aside from the line that travel to and from the airport, the other lines were not very clean, and in the evening they were filled with shady characters, and creepy crawlers with two legs.