You’ve consulted a travel agent, the Internet or a favorite airline to book a flight, perhaps to Arizona to watch the Cubs or White Sox in spring training or to Florida where you’ll board a ship for a Caribbean cruise. Or maybe you have a new job and are about to fly to Dallas or Denver or New York on your first business trip.
Before you catch your plane, though, you have to get to O’Hare International Airport, famous as one of the world’s busiest airports. You could drive there yourself, but depending on where you live, you could also take a CTA elevated train, Metra commuter train, Pace suburban bus, privately operated motorcoach, taxi, limousine or shared-ride van service.
How do you figure out which option is best for you?
Competition to get travelers to and from the airport is fierce. Chicago’s Department of Aviation lists 136 taxi and limousine companies that serve O’Hare, 44 of which cover the entire metropolitan area. Problem is, many people don’t know all the options. Even friends of Dennis Culloton, chief spokesman for the Chicago Department of Aviation, sometimes learn by happenstance.
“I knew a guy who lived close to the Blue Line (the CTA elevated train line that serves O’Hare), so whenever he traveled by air, he took that to get here,” Culloton said. “Then he moved to the suburbs and learned from colleagues and neighbors that the best way to get here from there was to call one of the limo companies. That was rich for him, and it was more expensive than the cabs. There are a lot of good options. Clearly, people can drive here themselves, but shared-ride and public transportation are so numerous and reasonably priced that I encourage those.”
The same conundrum exists for those flying into O’Hare and trying to get home, or to someone else’s house. To help people sort out the options, O’Hare has travel information booths in the baggage levels of each terminal and in other areas of the airport.
“Where are the shuttle buses? Where’s the CTA line? Where are the limos? We get questions like those all the time,” Culloton said. “The airport can be overwhelming to some travelers. Our information reps provide answers to lots of questions travelers have.”
What’s the best way for you to get there? Cost, convenience and comfort all play roles in the decision, as does where you live. Not all options are available everywhere, and learning what is available where takes some digging. Good places to start are the Yellow Pages and local travel agencies. Neighbors or co-workers who fly regularly are also a good resource.
For Marcia Munn of Crystal Lake, who flies nearly every week on her job as an underwriting manager for CNA Reinsurance Co. in Chicago, the best option is McHenry Limousine Service in McHenry.
“I’ve been using them nine years now,” she said shortly after arriving home from a business trip to New York. “I use the limo because I don’t have to worry about the weather or parking or anything. I don’t have to walk around that big O’Hare parking garage or remember where I parked my car. It gets rid of a lot of worries.”
She said that a worry-free ride, which she often ends up sharing with one or two other passengers, is well worth the $40 McHenry Limo charges for each trip.
“I get a lot of work done in their cars,” she said of the hour-long ride. “I’m often working on my laptop (computer) or making calls on my cell phone. There’s no way could I do that if I were driving myself to the airport.”
Munn’s choices boil down to cabs or limos, because there is no reasonable public transportation alternative to the far northwest suburb.
As a small regional limo operator, McHenry Limousine Service can often beat larger competitors on price in the areas it regularly serves in Kane, Lake and McHenry Counties. If Munn were to use My Chauffeur Limousine Service in Schiller Park, she would pay another $27 a trip, although it is not quite an apples-to-apples comparison, because McHenry Limousine’s standard ride is shared and My Chauffeur quotes prices for a private limo. McHenry Limousine charges another $15 for a private car.
But with 128 vehicles in its fleet, My Chauffeur is more than 10 times larger than McHenry Limousine Service, reducing the chances that a person might have trouble booking a ride. My Chauffeur also accommodates customers throughout a seven-county area. And My Chauffeur is price-competitive in its favored territories, mainly the north and closer northwest and west suburbs, said Jeff Wiechowski, My Chauffeur’s director of operations.
“This business is predominantly territorial, with each company staking out the areas where it’s most competitive,” he said. “It’s not wild-animal territorial, although it feels that way sometimes. Prices can be two or three times as high from one company to another, depending on the territory. But it’s not like there are boundaries. It’s wide open out there. We’ve taken people to Texas. We’ve gone to Detroit. We’ve been to the Indy 500 more than once. If somebody wants to pay the price, we’ll go.”
So if a person wants the comfort and convenience of a limo, most limo companies — with at least a day’s notice — can arrange a ride for any hour of the day or night. But it does pay to call around.
Many suburban taxi companies also are cashing in on the O’Hare transportation trade. One of the largest is American Taxi, which has 460 vehicles in its fleet, up from the two cabs it had when it started in Northbrook in 1976. General Manager Dan Coyne said the company covers the entire Chicago metropolitan area, but its stronghold is Cook, DuPage and Lake Counties. The company is about to expand its base south into communities including Tinley Park, Palos Hills and Alsip.
“With us, you don’t need to make a reservation a day in advance,” Coyne said. “But with a cab company, there might not always be a cab available when you want it. We’re trying to duplicate the limos’ success by booking early-morning rides the night before.”
Like most suburban cab companies, American Taxi charges flat fees for transportation to and from O’Hare. So if there is a traffic tie-up, a rider doesn’t need to worry that the meter is running. Chicago cab companies, which may operate in the suburbs, use the meter.
American Taxi charges $15.50 in Park Ridge; from $19.50 to $25 in Arlington Heights, depending on where in the village a person lives; $30.50 in Mundelein; $36 or $38 in Aurora, depending on whether the pickup or dropoff is on the east or west side of the Fox River; and $54 in Joliet.
Travelers who live in communities nearest O’Hare sometimes have trouble getting taxi service, because the fares and commensurate tips are so low. Coyne said his and many other taxi companies have tried to remedy the problem by putting drivers who make a short run to the head of the line when they return to the airport.
“That way they know they’ll get another fare pretty quickly,” he said.
As with limo companies, taxi companies have their preferred territories, so comparison shopping can pay off. Taxi and limo company officials also caution riders to remember to leave themselves plenty of time to get to the airport. Traffic accidents, bad weather or road work can slow traffic to a crawl. If in doubt, give the limo or cab company your flight itinerary and let them estimate when they should pick you up.
Priced somewhere between many limo and taxi services is Airport Express, a shared-ride van service run by Continental Air Transport in Chicago. Airport Express has kiosks at the baggage claim areas of each terminal and a line of vans waiting outside. Tell the person at the kiosk your destination, pay the fare, load your luggage into the van and in a few minutes you’re on your way. Airport Express also will make pickups at a person’s home for transportation to the airport, but that requires advance notice.
Continental Air Transport President John McCarthy said vans leave O’Hare within 10 minutes of a person’s boarding. If other people are traveling to the same community, you’ll share the ride. If no one else comes along within the 10 minutes, you’ll ride alone.
“At the airport, people don’t need to notify us in advance,” McCarthy said. “Our vehicles wait for you, rather than you waiting for us. We’re less expensive than limos, and we have staff at the airport to answer questions.”
Airport Express serves most of the Chicago area and bases its prices on dropoffs at hotels. Home dropoff costs $5 more. Each additional person in the party costs an extra $4 over the quoted price. Sample prices: $12 to Park Ridge, $30 to Naperville, $40 to Crystal Lake and $42 to Joliet.
One of the big advantages of limos, taxis and the van service over other forms of transportation is that they fit their schedules to customers’ needs. If you can fit your needs into a public transportation schedule, the sacrifice in convenience is made up for in dollars.
Private bus companies also serve O’Hare. One is Van Galder Bus Co. of Janesville, Wis., which operates the Rockford-Elgin-O’Hare line, at least 16 trips a day. Travelers may park their cars free at the Elgin Plaza Hotel at Interstate Highway 90 and Illinois Highway 31 in Elgin and pick up the bus there.
“Our pitch is that parking at O’Hare costs $20 a day in the close lots,” said bus company owner Stephen Van Galder. “We offer free parking at the hotel and charge $10 to get you from Elgin to the airport. From Rockford, it’s only $11. We drop you off at the door to your terminal and pick you up across the street from baggage claim. We have a good schedule and attractive prices.”
One form of public transportation that has grown in popularity since its introduction 2 1/2 years ago is Metra’s North-Central Service Line, a commuter rail line that runs from Antioch in northern Lake County to Chicago. One of its stops is called the O’Hare Transfer Station, at the airport’s parking lot F. From there, a person can ride a free shuttle bus that goes to the electric People Mover train that serves all O’Hare terminals.
The 55-minute ride from Antioch to the O’Hare Transfer Station costs $4.65. From Prospect Heights, the last stop before reaching the station, the cost is $1.75.
The North-Central line includes stops in Lake Villa, Round Lake Beach, Mundelein, Vernon Hills, Prairie View, Buffalo Grove and Wheeling.
Metra spokesman Tom Miller said about 130 passengers use the O’Hare transfer station each day.
“The line has been a huge success as far as growth,” Miller said. “From 1997 through 1998, we saw a 34 percent increase in ridership. It’s a good service for travelers if their departure or arrival is in the hours when the trains are running.”
One frequent Metra traveler is Gail Rada, a United Airlines flight attendant from Vernon Hills.
“It’s easy, a lot easier than driving in and paying those high parking fees,” she said as she waited in the transfer station after arriving at O’Hare from a San Diego flight. “I’d like to see more trains. It’s pretty much a rush-hour service. When I can’t get the train, I take a cab. That’s $30, which is way too expensive. It costs me $3.50 on the train.”
The Pace suburban bus system also offers low-cost transportation to and from the airport. One way is by linking its routes with a CTA rapid transit line that serves the airport. For instance, Pace has express service from Oak Brook to the CTA Blue Line. Pace also has two routes, the 220 and 330, that serve O’Hare directly. The 220 route runs from Glenview through Des Plaines to the airport.
(Pace’s 606 route takes a circuitous path to O’Hare. It begins at the Schaumburg Transportation Center and eventually ends up at the Rosemont CTA station. From there, you transfer to the elevated train. Total cost: $1.80.)
Monday through Friday service on the 220 route starts at 6 a.m. and runs through 6:30 p.m., with a bus arriving every 20 to 30 minutes.
With Chicago-area roads choked by traffic and seemingly locked in an endless cycle of disrepair and construction, some drives into O’Hare can take longer than a person’s flight. That’s why these tips from Crystal Lake’s Munn apply no matter how you get to or from the airport: “Pack efficiently, so you’re not hauling around a lot of luggage; make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get there, because it’s not good to be rushed; if you use a limo or other service, stick with one that you find to be reliable.”
WHEN BEING FARTHER FROM THE AIRPORT IS BETTER
Even though Chicago’s Midway Airport handles fewer flights and passengers, getting there is often more difficult than getting to O’Hare, according to Bruce Lerner, owner of South Suburban Limousine and Airport Service in Oak Lawn.
“It used to be easier to get to Midway, but now it’s easier to get to O’Hare, even from the south suburbs,” Lerner said, citing an increased number of traffic signals and a higher volume of traffic. “There’s just no easy way get to Midway anymore. The travel time from Homewood-Flossmoor is about the same to Midway as it is to O’Hare. It used to take a half-hour from there to Midway, now it’s 45 minutes to an hour.”
Not only is getting to O’Hare easier, so is getting through it, according to Lerner, who said he and other limo and taxi drivers generally prefer O’Hare because traffic flows better there. “Midway is not a friendly airport to be at anymore,” he said, pointing out that Midway is not laid out as well and it has become more congested.
Despite working the south suburbs nearer Midway, South Suburban Limousine and Airport Service still does most of its business into and out of O’Hare.
“Since American started flying out of Midway, I’m picking up more Midway business, but a good 80 percent of my business is still from O’Hare,” Lerner said. “Most corporate clients prefer to fly United and American out of O’Hare because they have more flight options, and they like the frequent flyer mileage perks.”
Even though driving times from the south suburbs are about the same, the mileage to O’Hare is greater, so Lerner charges $10 more for rides to or from O’Hare.
From Summit, his Midway rate is $20 for a private car. He charges $43 for the Midway-Harvey drive; $45 in Orland Park, Tinley Park, Homewood and Flossmoor; and $65 in New Lenox, the areas that give him the bulk of his business. Add $10 to get to O’Hare from any of those areas in a South Suburban Limo car.
METRA RAIL SERVICE
The Metra North-Central Service Line runs between Antioch and Chicago, with a stop at O’Hate’s Parking Lot F. From there, an airport shuttle bus takes passengers to the airport People Mover, which stops at each terminal. The train costs $4.65 from Antioch to as little as $1.75 from Prospect Heights. The shuttle bus and People Mover are free.
PACE SUBURBAN BUS SERVICE
Pace operates two lines, the 220 and 330, which serve O’Hare directly. The 220 starts in Glenview and winds its way through Des Plaines and other towns. The 330 runs along Mannheim/LaGrange Road south of the airport. The cost for both lines is $1.15. Pace also serves several rapid transit stops, including an express bus from Oak Brook to the CTA’s Blue Line, which runs to the airport. From Schaumburg, Route 606 will dropp off passengers at the Rosemont CTA station, where an elevated train will take them to the airport. The cost, with the CTA transfer, is $1.80.
