Chicago CTA suggestions

September 23, 2010 5:30 AM

Which Chicago CTA train stop is most efficient in my situation?

We will be in Chicago in a few weeks. While it's far from our first time there or riding the train, I'd just like to ask which transfer would be most efficient in our situation.

We are flying into Midway and taking the Orange line to the loop. From here we need to get to the Clinton stop on the Blue line for our hotel. I see we can transfer at Jackson or Clark/Lake. Which would you suggest?

Additionally, we will be headed to Wrigley from the Clinton stop on the Blue line. That one looks like a pretty easy one to catch the Red line at Jackson.

Thanks everyone!!!

posted by Jackie_Treehorn to Travel & Transportation around Chicago, IL (8 answers total)

Best answer: Clark/Lake will be easier for the transfer because...well, it's hard to explain but though the Jackson stop is a free transfer, you'll find yourself feeling like you're leaving the station (if it's how I remember it); Clark/Lake is the Illinois Center and it's just a lot better marked.

Red line to Addison is the best (and only really) way to Wrigley by CTA... though you may find it easier to transfer at Washington.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:35 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Clark and Lake is your better marked way to go and it's just 3 Loop stops farther along but also 3 stops back the other way on the Blue Line . If you do Jackson you have to come down the stairs and walk the half block to Dearborn and Van Buren. It is fairly easy to get turned around there unless you know where you're going. But you are then right next to the giant eyeball, so there's that.
posted by readery at 7:16 AM on September 23, 2010

Red line to Addison is the best (and only really) way to Wrigley by CTA... though you may find it easier to transfer at Washington.

There is no Washington stop on the Red line subway anymore. (It was demolished to build a potential new stop connecting the tracks of the Red & Blue lines - a project there's no money to complete anymore, so it's staying closed.)

Jackson is really the only Blue/Red transfer point. There's a tunnel from one platform to the other.
posted by dnash at 7:23 AM on September 23, 2010

Here is a video showing how to get between the Jackson Red and Blue Lines. It's pretty simple (you can only go to one end of the tunnel or the other), but the signage on the Red Line platform leaves something to be desired. Basically, you just want to be going down a level rather than up when you get off the Red Line in order to transfer to Blue.
posted by Meg_Murry at 8:02 AM on September 23, 2010

What hotel? I work at Madison/Clinton and when I take the Orange Line, I just walk from Washington/Wells. If the hotel is north of Clinton/Congress (the blue line station), then I would get off the Orange Line at Quincy and walk. It takes like 5 minutes. Much faster than waiting for the Blue Line.
posted by jrockway at 8:23 AM on September 23, 2010

Response by poster: What hotel?

Holiday Inn. It's south of the highway.
posted by Jackie_Treehorn at 9:59 AM on September 23, 2010

I'm sorry -- I walk past what I guess used to be the Red line stop doing the underground walk to work as well as a Blue line stop and I thought they were connected. I didn't realize that the red line station that I was walking through that's next to Marshall Fields wasn't the Washington one anymore. Please ignore my advice about Washington. (But I still think Clark/Lake is easier for the Orange/Blue transfer)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:59 AM on September 23, 2010

Clark/Lake will be easier for the transfer because...well, it's hard to explain but though the Jackson stop is a free transfer, you'll find yourself feeling like you're leaving the station (if it's how I remember it); Clark/Lake is the Illinois Center and it's just a lot better marked.

In addition, if you're travelling with luggage the Clark/Lake stop has two easy elevators to get you from the Orange Line down to the Blue Line, and you're always within the same building. The Jackson stop requires you to leave the turnstiles and it's a lot more difficult to negotiate luggage.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:13 AM on September 23, 2010