One of the few good things to come out of the pandemic was the rise in hybrid employment options that allow for a mix of remote and in-office days each week. This definitely makes it much easier to rationalize two hours of commuting between Naperville and Chicago for work.
My wife still commutes to work a few days a week, and the train option makes it a lot easier.
Driving from Naperville to Chicago can take anywhere from 40 minutes to two and a half hours. In my experience, it’s about 90 minutes in rush hour on a good day. That time is often spent stressing out and swearing at the car in front of you. You face the eastern sun in the morning and the western sun in the evening. Basically, you leave your sun visor down the whole day. It’s not an ideal way to start or end your workday.
Most Napervillians take the train instead. Once you’re on the train, you can triage email, check your Slack messages, or just sit back and relax with a true crime podcast. It’s less stressful, or at least more productive.
Generally, the best train option is the Metra BNSF Line. The train begins its inbound commute in Aurora. The next station, Route 59, sits along the Naperville–Aurora city limit. Downtown Naperville is next. Finally, a few commuters might be best served by the Downtown Lisle station to the east of Naperville.
There are a zillion stops between Naperville and Union Station in Chicago, so the trick is to find the express trains that bypass most of those stations.
For example, the train that leaves Naperville Station at 7:41 hits every stop and arrives at Union Station at 8:52. The next train, departing six minutes later at 7:47, makes three more stops in the western suburbs, then expresses all the way to Union Station, arriving at 8:30. These express trains allow Naperville commuters to make their trip nearly as fast as commuters in suburbs much closer to Chicago.
Most commuters park at the stations. There are daily and monthly options. Some bike, and some even bring their bikes with them on the train. Once downtown, those last-mile commutes are often on foot, bus, or water taxi, though some buildings offer their own free shuttles during rush hour.
Finally, the downtown Chicago employer culture is often somewhat tolerant of train commuters. As long as you’re working from the train, getting in a little late or leaving early might be an option.
Photo courtesy of @Jack-u7e1o
Napervillian 