# Help with METRA



## DaveKCMO (Sep 15, 2006)

i'm trying to get to the west elm furniture store in oak brook (2155 w. 22nd street) and the "el" doesn't go out that far. it appears that the metra commuter trains go out that way, but i can't tell which line to take (or which one is actually closest to the store). we arrive in chicago at around 3:30 saturday on the SWC and would like to head straight to the store before they close. unfortunately, the CTA trip planner doesn't incorporate the commuter trains (at least that i can tell).

thanks in advance!

dave


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## AlanB (Sep 15, 2006)

Dave,

With the understanding that I'm definately not the best expert on Chicago, it would look to me like your best and only option would be to ride the METRA BNSF Line out to the Hinsdale stop. There is a slight chance that the West Hinsdale stop might be closer to where you want to be, but I don't think so.

Either way, it looks like that would still leave you at least 2 to 3 miles away from where you want to be. One advantage to the BNSF line though is that it does leave from Chicago Union Station, making a transfer from the Chief to the METRA train very easy.

Also since the METRA line uses the very same tracks as the SW Chief, if you were running a bit late or for that matter even if you aren't running late, you might want to consider jumping off the Chief one stop early at Naperville. You could then catch a METRA BNSF Line train heading towards Chicago and get off at the Hinsdale stop. This would avoid the need to double back and probably cut a 1/2 hour off of your total trip time.


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## Trogdor (Sep 16, 2006)

The trip planner is actually run by the RTA, not the CTA. The RTA trip planner does include all RTA services, including CTA, Pace, and Metra. I'm not familiar with the area you're trying to get to, but if the closest service stop (Metra) is a couple miles away, the travel planner may not produce an itinerary. If Pace (suburban bus system) runs by that location, then the travel planner should be able to produce an itinerary for you (provided, of course, that the Pace route in question operates at the time of day and day of week that you're going).


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## MrFSS (Sep 16, 2006)

DaveKCMO said:


> i'm trying to get to the west elm furniture store in oak brook (2155 w. 22nd street) and the "el" doesn't go out that far. it appears that the metra commuter trains go out that way, but i can't tell which line to take (or which one is actually closest to the store). we arrive in chicago at around 3:30 saturday on the SWC and would like to head straight to the store before they close. unfortunately, the CTA trip planner doesn't incorporate the commuter trains (at least that i can tell).
> thanks in advance!
> 
> dave


My daughter travels from Indy to Oak Brook every week for some classes she is taking. She had wanted to get to her hotel in Oak Brook via Metra but there isn't any type of Metra service she could find without having to take a cab from a Metra station (which can be tricky, too, unless it is a big station) so she gave up on the idea.


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## DaveKCMO (Sep 18, 2006)

this ended up being quite a disaster. the metra service performed like a champ, whisking us from naperville to westmont without delay. once in westmont, finding the PACE bus we needed (#715) proved tricky. we opted for a cab, which was $12 before the driver became completely confused and i completely frustrated. we made it to the store, but when calling for a cab to take us back to westmont, they didn't arrive on time and we missed the 6:49 train (they run every two hours on sat/sun). not wanting to wait, we asked this second cabbie to take us to the nearest El station (the blue line's harlem stop), which cost us another $22.

in short, suburbs suck. had we taken the bus we would have been stuck walking along 8-lane arteries and to wading through huge surface lots to get to our destination on foot.

the rest of our chicago trip was great, including a perfect on-time arrival back in KC.


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