MDW to downtown - transportation options?

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Matthew
I'll be in Chicago in a couple weeks. I'll be flying into Midway, commercial, but will need to to get a ride to a downtown hotel (close to Navy Pier) that doesn't have it's own airport shuttle. I won't be renting a car.

Any ideas on cab fare (4 people)? Airport shuttle buses? Other?

Thanks,

Matt
 
Matthew said:
I'll be in Chicago in a couple weeks. I'll be flying into Midway, commercial, but will need to to get a ride to a downtown hotel (close to Navy Pier) that doesn't have it's own airport shuttle. I won't be renting a car.

Any ideas on cab fare (4 people)? Airport shuttle buses? Other?

Thanks,

Matt
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Orange Line. It's easy to get to from the terminal, and the ride into the Loop is reliably quick (the Orange is probably the best-run of all the CTA train lines). It'll be $2.00 per person per trip.

The only downside is that if you'll have decent amount of luggage, it'd be a bit of ahike from State/Lake to near Navy Pier. Not a bad walk... Maybe 15-20 minutes tops. It's just kind of a ways with a suitcase. Cabs are plentiful downtown, though, so if your goal is to save a few bucks, take the Orange downtown to the State and Lake stop, and take a cab from there. I think a shared-ride fare from Midway to Downtown is in the neighborhood of $20 per person, whereas from State and Lake, it'd be maybe $10 total.

HTH!
 
Million Air will drive you over to the CTA train station, and the Orange train is a great value for money. If you elect to call a cab, get an estimated fare first, but I suspect $20/head for four people would be in the ball park.

BTW -- don't even think about Jet Aviation -- gas is more than a buck a gallon more than Million Air, and they don't waive the first night's parking for taking fuel. MA treated us great when we were there two weeks ago.
 
I was in Chicago about a month ago and flew into Midway. We took a cab to a hotel about 3 blocks from Nay Pier. It cost $25 for two of us plus we gave the guy a few bucks tip on top of that. On the return trip to the airport a few days later, the hotel arranged for a Limo for us for $40.
 
Ron Levy said:
Million Air will drive you over to the CTA train station, and the Orange train is a great value for money. If you elect to call a cab, get an estimated fare first, but I suspect $20/head for four people would be in the ball park.

BTW -- don't even think about Jet Aviation -- gas is more than a buck a gallon more than Million Air, and they don't waive the first night's parking for taking fuel. MA treated us great when we were there two weeks ago.
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Thanks, but I'll be going commercial, rather than GA. But it sounds like the orange line might be an interesting way to go. It's a family trip so getting there is half the fun. I'll look into it.

I haven't had time yet to call the hotel to see if they have any kind of deals with anybody.
 
Another vote here for the 'L'. I've gone into Midway (via GA) a few times now and have always taken the 'L' downtown.

Easy, inexpensive, and goes right to the airport.
 
Matthew said:
Thanks, but I'll be going commercial, rather than GA. But it sounds like the orange line might be an interesting way to go. It's a family trip so getting there is half the fun. I'll look into it.

I haven't had time yet to call the hotel to see if they have any kind of deals with anybody.
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Commercial, you can walk to the Orange line station from the terminal. It's a serpentine hike of a mile or so but no biggie if you don't have to carry vs. roll your luggage.

You can take a bus from the L to Navy Pier and Michigan Avenue. Get off at Quincy (the station in Planes, Trains and Automobile, for the Sears tower!) and you'll find most of the buses around the commuter train stations a few blocks west. Use the RTA trip planner on the link above and it'll tell you how and when to connect.
 
mikea said:
Commercial, you can walk to the Orange line station from the terminal. It's a serpentine hike of a mile or so but no biggie if you don't have to carry vs. roll your luggage.

You can take a bus from the L to Navy Pier and Michigan Avenue. Get off at Quincy (the station in Planes, Trains and Automobile, for the Sears tower!) and you'll find most of the buses around the commuter train stations a few blocks west. Use the RTA trip planner on the link above and it'll tell you how and when to connect.
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Thanks - I'll check the link. I got the following directions from the hotel:

MIDWAY Airport: Orange train line from outside airport terminal to downtown takes about 20 minutes. Train runs every 20 minutes and runs only from 5:20am to 11:30pm daily. Exit at Randolph/Wabash Station, which is about 14 blocks away, a 15-minute walk or a $7.00 cab ride to hotel. Train fare is $2.00 one way per person. **Trains should only be used if you’re traveling light**

They also had estimated cab/shuttle fares.
 
Thanks, all. Looking forward to it.

This'll be the first time I've been to Midway/Chicago for something other than a funeral in a long time. My folks are both from the south side, so I've driven and seen a lot of Cicero from MDW all the way south. Just never travelled via L or cab or anything else in the opposite direction.
 
Thanks for the hints - we ended up taking a cab (4 people, MDW to downtown hotel $32).

The L would have been cheaper, but with the luggage, and then transferring to bus, cab, or both plus not really knowing our way around, it just seemed like too much trouble.

Note: there are shuttle buses that run the airport to downtown route. For 1 person, the prices are cheaper than a cab, especially since they will sell a round-trip ticket for another discount. But, if you are trying to get 2 or more people downtown, the shuttle is more expensive (It would have been around $52 each way for the four of us).

Great weather out there the last 4-5 days and can't wait to get back.
 
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