Can anyone point me to a thread or tell me about bus travel to and from Chicago Midway Airport to UIUC? Or is O’Hare the better airport to travel by bus to UIUC? What about flights to and from UIUC? Student traveling from Denver and used to travel Southwest Airlines that flies to Midway only, as I remember. Are flights to Indianapolis ever a good way to travel to UIUC? So is there bus transportation from Indiana or better to fly to Chicago?
Champaign is a 2 to 3 hour ride from the Chicago airports (O’Hare & Midway). I’d suggest flying into Champaign/Savoy airport if you can. If flying Southwest Airlines, you have to fly into Midway or Indy. Maybe also consider flying Frontier? I don’t have any experience with riding a bus from either airport but Midway would seem the better choice. It may not be easy, but I have known people to take the Chicago Transit (CTA) train from the airport to Union Station to catch the AMTRAK train to Champaign. Bottom line: Fly into Champaign / Savoy if you can.
Going from the airports to Urbana-Champaign by ground has 3 good options.
- Take a Peoria Charter bus
- Take the subway from the airports to union station and then get on an Amtrak train
- Rideshare
There are pros and cons to each of the options
Peoria Charter:
-expensive, ~$55 roundtrip
-can be slow if leaving during rush hour and getting stuck in traffic
-most direct route, will pick you up at either airport (O’Hare has more times though) and drop you off at a number of locations in the area
Blue/Orange line -> Amtrak:
-theoretically the shortest time if you can match up a flight to a train
-tickets can be very cheap if bought in advance, I’ve gotten roundtrip tickets for <$30
-only three trains daily
-drops you off at Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign, about a 5-10min public bus ride from campus
-the most comfortable option
-trains can get delayed due to heavy freight traffic, the line only has around a 60% on-time rate
Rideshare:
-requires finding someone in the UIUC ridesharing facebook group
-also subject to road conditions
-cheapest option
I’ve used all 3 of these at my time here, feel free to ask any more questions.
Thanks for all the info. I found an Illini Shuttle bus , has anyone tried that:
http://www.illinishuttle.com/schedule.html It looks to be $29 each way. So maybe out of price range for students.
But it avoids the extra train/subway to airport as it goes directly to the airport from UIUC locations.
No no no no no. Do not ride Illini Shuttle / Suburban Express. Their owner is completely off the wall and an antisemite, they have terrible business practices, and basically just rely on predatory behavior towards freshmen who don’t know any better here.