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 play roles in the decision, as do 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 Alice Connelly of Wheaton, who recently flew from O’Hare to Detroit on business, that alternative was her parents, who dropped her off outside the United Airlines terminal.
“My parents live about 10 minutes from here, so when I fly I drive over to their house, and they drop me off here,” she said. For most others, who do not have parents who are retired and living a stone’s throw from the airport, the choices are not so easy. Frequent flyer Jay Cors, a field service representative from Aurora, said nothing beats the value he has received from Aurora Limousine Service in Aurora.
“I’ve been using them for years now,” he said as he waited for his limo pickup outside the United Airlines baggage claim area. “It’s the convenience. I don’t have to fight traffic and go to the parking lots. They drop me off at the terminal and pick me up outside baggage claim. They’re prompt. If you can find a good limo company, it’s a lot easier than driving and parking.”
As a regional livery service, Aurora Limo often can offer lower fares than larger services based in other areas. (Cors pays $38 for his Aurora-to-O’Hare ride.) But large firms boast advantages the smaller firms do not have. One of the largest limo firms is My Chauffeur Limousine Service in Schiller Park. With 128 vehicles in its fleet, My Chauffeur reduces the chances that a person might have trouble booking a ride, said Jeff Wiechowski, My Chauffeur’s director of operations. My Chauffeur also accommodates customers from throughout a seven-county area. And My Chauffeur is price-competitive in its favored territories, mainly the north and closer northwest and west suburbs.
“This business is predominantly territorial, with each company staking out the areas where it’s most competitive,” Wiechowski 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 — with at least a day’s notice, most limo companies can arrange a ride for any hour of the day or night — it pays 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 started with in Northbrook in 1976. General manager Dan Coyne said the company covers the entire metro area, but its stronghold is Cook, DuPage and Lake Counties. The company is about to make a push south into communities including Tinley Park, Palos Hills and Alsip.
“We’re less costly than limos, and we don’t have shared rides,” Coyne said. “It’s quiet and you’re alone. Make a reservation with a limo company and cancel, and they still charge you. You also need to give them advance notice for a change. With us, you don’t need to make a reservation a day in advance. 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 where in the village a person lives; $23 in Clarendon Hills; $30 north of 75th Street or $34 south of 75th Street in Naperville; and $36 east of the Fox River or $38 west of the river in Aurora. There’s an additional $2 for each person picked up at the same location, and the rider also pays any tolls.
Travelers who need rides to or from communities nearest O’Hare sometimes have trouble getting taxi service because the fares and commensurate tips are so low. Coyne says 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 and 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. 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 metropolitan 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.
Those prices range from $12 to Park Ridge, $30 to Naperville, $40 to Crystal Lake and $42 to Joliet.
Culloton said he recommends shared-ride livery services for people who want a combination of convenience, comfort and moderate cost, or public transportation whenever possible for people who are willing to give up some comfort and on-demand convenience in exchange for rock-bottom 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. Weekday service includes inbound trains that stop at the O’Hare Transfer Station at 6:22, 6:57, 7:29 and 7:58 a.m. and at 4:24 p.m. Outbound trains stop there at 1:54, 4:49, 5:29, 6:15 and 6:46 p.m.
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 traveler who uses the line whenever she can 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. The 330 runs along Mannheim/LaGrange Road south of the airport and includes Bellwood, Countryside, McCook and Melrose Park.
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. Service on the 330 route starts at 4:30 a.m. and runs through 11:15 p.m., with departures about every half hour, said Pace spokeswoman Mindy LaFlamme. Saturday service on the 220 route goes from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with buses arriving hourly. Saturday service on the 330 route starts at 7:30 a.m.
Private bus companies also serve O’Hare. One is Van Galder Bus Co., 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.”
METRA RAIL SERVICE
The Metra North-Central Service Line runs between Antioch and Chicago, with a stop at O’Hare’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 drop 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.
