<p>Im visiting one of the grad schools next week and do not want to rent a car to save some cash. Is it difficult to get around Hyde Park without a car? Are cabs easy to catch?</p>
<p>Also, anything I should know about taking Metra into the city? I live in downtown Atlanta and know from experience that it is usually not a good idea to ride the trains after about 9pm. Same thing hold true for Chicago?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any advice!</p>
<p>You can walk everywhere you want to be in Hyde Park in my experience. I don't know much about the cab situation unfortunately, nor do I know much about that area of the metro.</p>
<p>My dad's from Chicago though and the one thing he always says about the train is to be sure that you just dont ride it into certain neighborhoods or at certain times of day (IE late at night like in Atlanta)</p>
<p>"The South Side certainly has some great areas, but it also has some horribly bad ones, so be careful where you get on/get off"</p>
<p>^^^What my dad says</p>
<p>There is a permanent cab stand at the University of Chicago hospital (right in the middle of campus) so if you do need one, it's very easy to go over there.
In terms of public transportation, it's safe on the north side until well into the night, but I probably wouldn't ride it after 9:00 pm or so into the south side. On that note though, there are dedicated U of C bus routes operated by the CTA, one of which runs a loop between the campus, downtown, and Lincoln Park well into the night. These buses are extremely safe, convenient, and popular among students. Especially on weekends, you'll see a lot of students using these to go into town for the night. If you go to the university's web site, there is a transportation site that lists details. Also, if you are going to/from the airport during night time hours, the Omega Shuttle service is less than half the cost of a cab and is very convenient from center campus to both Midway and OHare.</p>
<p>Omega to Midway: $17
Taxi to Midway: $21 (about)</p>
<p>I had a bad Omega experience. I boarded at one of the organized stops a block from the Max quad, and after 57 minutes of driving around picking people up we picked up someone at Max West. An hour of my time is not $5, and I don't think yours is, either.</p>
<p>Buses are easy to take into the city from Hyde Park. If you're with people, I think you can safely take the 6 home from downtown at midnight. From there you can catch a free U of C shuttle that will probably go somewhere near where you're trying to go.</p>
<p>I appreciate all of the input. The free shuttle (with decent routes) was unbeknownst to me. That is a definite bonus.</p>
<p>Just a note that if you are flying into O'hare, the cab fare is significantly higher than it is for Midway (more on the order of $50 and can even be higher during traffic).</p>
<p>The Metra is the communter train system. I don't think there are too many times of day that it's not safe. The CTA trains, on the other hand, are probably not best used at night, alone, in the wrong places.</p>