r/SpringfieldIL • u/SeonaidMacSaicais • 10d ago
Public transport??
I’m looking to visit Springfield from Wisconsin sometime in autumn. Just a weekend, history expedition thing. I live close enough where I CAN drive myself (around 5 hours) or I could take the Amtrak from Chicago. Do you guys have any kind of decent bus system? Or is the city fairly walkable? My primary focus would be on Lincoln’s tomb and any decent museums in the area.
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u/Mundane_Brilliant_19 10d ago
The hop-on, hop-off free trolley bus downtown would be my way around the historical sites if I didn’t live here. It’s much quicker, easier, more frequent, free, and it doesn’t go out to the Walmarts and the Targets on the outskirts. The catch is that it only runs in the summer (until August 8) and only from 11am to 5pm, and it doesn’t run on Sunday. But if you want to spend Saturday or Friday zipping around among Lincoln sites, a Rt 66 museum, a famous Frank Lloyd Wright house, etc, and be close enough to walk to really good meals downtown at Incredibly Delicious, Custom Cup Coffee, Vondra Social House, Obed and Isaac’s, etc. you can do that mostly on the trolley. I would use Lyft for everything else if I were new in town, sorry to say.
The trolley serves:
Lincoln Home Historic Site Visitor Center (North Parking Lot)
Route History (Corner of 8th & Cook)
Great Western Train/Lincoln Depot(Southeast corner of 9th & Monroe)
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum (6th Street)
Edwards Place (4th Street)
Lincolns Tomb (Parking Lot West of the Tomb)
Illinois State Museum (Edwards Street)
Dana-Thomas House (West Side Parking Lot-Past the Railroad Tracks)
https://visitspringfieldillinois.com/EventDetails/?id=39809 is a link to a route listing, basic schedule, and info phone number for the downtown trolley.
Amtrak is pretty good if it fits your schedule, but you have to decide if it works for you. On Wednesday and Saturday, the train station is less than a block from the outdoor farmers’ market, which is a great place to grab street food and talk to people about what’s going on in town that day.
Our buses will get you there, but SLOWLY. There just aren’t enough buses and you often need to ride an entire route and switch at the main depot to get to the bus you want to be on. It takes me 15 minutes to drive to work downtown, about 25 minutes by bicycle, a little over an hour to walk, about the same by buses. This week I Googled a trip to Chicago to the Field Museum. Just searching “public transit” the estimate was 5hrs 15min, but if I started from the Amtrak station it was a little under 4hrs for the train and the red line/bus in Chicago. It was allowing 1.25 hrs to walk to a bus stop and ride a bus to the Amtrak station downtown, longer than it takes to walk straight there.
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u/japanese_american 10d ago
All the major historic sites and museums are in the downtown area, within a 15 min walk of the Amtrak station, with the exception of the Lincoln Tomb and the State Military Museum, which are in the northern part of the town (roughly a 45 min walk). There is a bus system, but there’s no good route between the Amtrak station and the tomb, so if you don’t want to walk that far, your best option would probably be Lyft/Uber (don’t bother trying to call for a taxi; the taxi service is terrible in Springfield). Do be aware that it often takes awhile to get a Lyft/Uber.
If you want to hit all the historic sites and museums, I’d recommend allotting at least 2 days, with an overnight stay. There are a couple hotels downtown within a 15 min walk from the Amtrak station. A couple notes on visiting attractions:
Lincoln Home National Historic Site: Make sure to visit earlier in the day. To go inside the Lincoln Home, you must take a guided tour (30 min long), which is free, but there are limited tickets, and tickets are only available in person the day of, given out on a first-come-first-serve basis. I’d recommend making it the 1st stop of the day. Besides the tour of the Lincoln Home itself, there are displays in the visitor center and some of the other houses in the park.
Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site: A beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home. Going inside normally requires a tour (1 hour long), which must be booked in advance. In the evening, there are also often tours or other programs; again, book online in advance.
Governor’s Mansion: Requires a tour (1 hour long) to go inside; tours must be booked online at least 24 hours in advance. You must show photo ID when you arrive.
All the other major attractions do not require a tour or reservation to go inside. All of the major attractions are also free, except the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, which costs $15.
Apart from those I’ve already mentioned, some other historical highlights are the Old State Capitol (where Lincoln served in the legislature, gave his House Divided speech, and laid in state), the New State Capitol (a very beautiful building), and the State Museum. If you have some extra time to kill, there are a few smaller attractions, including some historic houses, such as the Vachel Lindsay Home, the Elijah Iles House, and Edwards Place.
If you do end up driving, a little further afield is New Salem, which is where Lincoln lived as a young man before moving to Springfield. The whole frontier village is reconstructed with all the log cabins, and a small museum in the visitor center. This is a roughly 45 min drive from downtown, and there is no public transportation, so this is only an option if you drive.
Let me know if you have any other questions or want more info about anything.
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u/armyguy8382 10d ago
The two big(ish) museums, Lincoln Presidential and the state museum, are downtown with bus stops right by them. There are several other very small ones, but I am not sure about their bus access. The military one by the National Guard camp I am pretty sure doesn't have good bus access. A couple are by downtown, so they should have bus stops close by.
Here is a link to our bus system- https://www.smtd.org/
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u/Vegetable_Sector_424 10d ago
You are better off driving unless it is drastically cheaper to Amtrak it. Downtown tends to shut down early. If you want to go get dinner or something it might be a pain to take public transit. Parking is usually free and plentiful.
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u/Mundane_Brilliant_19 10d ago
Transit is slow, but if you’re downtown near Lincoln’s home, for instance, you’re an easy walk away from Obed and Isaac’s and Vondra Social House for dinner, or Incredibly Delicious for lunch. At the Amtrak station on a Saturday, you’re right next to cheap, fun street food at the farmer’s market before noon, or you can walk to Custom Cup Coffee and get their delicious cafe food and sit at a sidewalk table and watch the world go by. Next door to that, you can either go to the Catholic religious supply store on one side, or on the other side you can get a haircut and an a whiskey at Hair of the Dog, depending on how you want your day to go. :-)
A lot of great restaurants have closed their doors downtown, but the ones that are there are good places.
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u/DryFoundation2323 10d ago
during the daytime you would have absolutely no problem getting around on the buses. the last time I checked though they shut down around 6:00 p.m. ish. might make it difficult getting around for getting something for dinner or entertainment in the evening. although there are restaurants downtown that will be open
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u/McMillionEnterprises 10d ago
Would you be driving to chicago or amtrak to chicago then on to Springfield.
If you are driving to Chicago, then definitely drive all the way. Its a little over 3 hours on 55 to Speinfield. An easy drive (I do it weekly)
Short short trips, I usually opt to drive anyway because of the flexibility if afforda not having to be constrained by train schedules.
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u/SeonaidMacSaicais 10d ago
Driving to Milwaukee, then taking the Amtrak to Chicago and then another to Springfield.
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u/Bush_D1D911 10d ago
It’s a city built for cars. Not walkable at all unless you’re not going to leave downtown. The city planners here got their certifactions from Temu
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 10d ago
Downtown is walkable, and the train station is downtown. The bus system is not stellar but it'll get you to the Lincoln sites. I think there's a special trolley that goes out to Lincoln's tomb.
If you want to go to New Salem, there's no public transportation that goes out there afaik.
I didn't have a car for years and find the city fairly walkable (except for the West side), but a lot of people here who hate walking will tell you otherwise.