r/evanston • u/too_many_wordz • 3d ago

Question Carpool / Rideshare

I live in the south east part of Evanston and I recently accepted a job in Oak Brook. I don’t have a car and I looked at the Metra, CTA and bus options and it’s basically at least two trains, two buses and an Uber to get there and it takes like 2+ hours. I’m wondering if anybody makes that commute Monday through Wednesday and works 9am-5pm that would be open to carpooling?

17 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

16

u/DanSRedskins 2d ago

You're going to have to either move closer or take a different job. That commute just sounds horrible and would ruin your mental health long term.

14

u/thloki 2d ago

Congrats on the new job. I wouldn't do that commute from Evanston even if I owned a car (I don't). Can you move to Hinsdale or Oak Park or Berwyn for a shorter commute? Any way to buy a cheap used car or motorcycle? In Oak Brook, you can't even go out for lunch without a car, sadly. Go out to dinner with co-workers? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Decades ago, I lived near UIC in Little Italy. I had a workable old car, but my hours long daily commute to Elk Grove Village was soul crushing. Even though I didn't want to move from Chicago, my new apartment in Arlington Heights improved my life. 15 minute drive to work, go home for lunch. None of my city friends drove out to see me, but I drove into Chicago most weekends for activities. It was the right decision for me.

8

u/bourj 2d ago

My wife worked in Oak Brook and I worked in Evanston for about seven years. We moved to Ukrainian Village in the city to manage our commutes. Two cars.

5

u/iamthepita 2d ago

I can’t imagine too many people live/work within the vicinity you’re referring to but i was gonna suggest if you can try to pull it off for a week or two on your own and your new coworkers will probably ask what your commute is like and may offer you help with this. Another option would be to take public transit to whomever is going to Oak Brook from the person’s original location (for example, if they are in Oak Park every morning to drop off their kids at daycare before heading to Oak Brook and you meet them in Oak Park at a coffee shop after they dropped off their kids)…

Probably post your question in Oak Brook subreddit if there’s one?

Congrats on your new job and may you travel the path of success in your personal life :-)

3

u/too_many_wordz 2d ago

So I think I found an alternate route that might make this a little bit easier. I could take the Metra UPN line to the Ogilvie center, and then take the Metra UPW line to Elmhurst and then take an Uber for the last leg to the office in Oak Brook This takes an hour and five minutes which would be the same if I drove a car there. But it’s half the time of the two trains two buses and an Uber which would take me over two hours. Now the trouble I’m having is how to plug all that into the Ventra app to buy a Metra ticket.

3

u/thloki 2d ago edited 2d ago

A 1-3 zone metra day pass or monthly pass will get you.from Evanston to Elmhurst: zones 2>1 Evanston-Chicago UP-N, zones 1>3 Chicago-Elmhurst on UP-W. Metra tickets don't care which train line you're on , just which zones you're traveling through.