Okay so last weekend my family went to UChicago just on a quick visit. We were at the subway station looking at a map to see what train to take, our stop, etc. when this old man (who reminded me strongly of Bernie Sanders but that’s irrelevant) and another family of 3 both told us NOT to take the subway and to take just a cab, otherwise we’d be mugged on our way there. We did end up taking their advice, but we spent about $40 on a taxi ride! Is the area around Hyde Park really that dangerous?
The Metra Electric Line will take you to the eastern side of campus. It leaves from Millennium Park in the East Loop and is “safe.” You were probably thinking of taking the Green Line, which would take you to the west side of Washington Park. This probably would not be considered a safe place for a tourist to walk to campus. The cab was good idea.
There are numerous threads on campus safety at UChicago on CC, and you will get various opinions. A conservative rule of thumb is to stay east of Cottage Grove, north of 61st and south of 51st, and you should be fine.
The following is an interactive map that shows the locations of shootings in Chicago.
http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/shootings
You can see the Hyde Park area is relatively shooting free, although the number of shootings in Chicago has skyrocketed in the recent past.
Here is a link to a recent thread discussing safety.
While I appreciate someone cautioning tourists about avoiding a bad area, I don’t think you have to scare them into taking a cab. There were other ways to get to it that did not necessitate that expense. It just takes some researching into it. We spent a week in Chicago when my kids were around 11yrs and 15yrs old and never took a taxi. Even from the airport to the city and back to the airport. Visited the Museum of Science and Industry and wanted to take my kids to visit UChicago but they resisted so I didn’t insist. My D will most likely attend this fall (still waiting on other possible offers).
The red line and green line stops are not the best choice–not that close and the walk to campus wouldn’t feel comfortable to me. However, there are convenient and safe bus lines from Hyde Park to downtown and the metra is also a reasonable option. DS graduated in 2014 and still lives in Hyde Park. He takes a bus to his job in the Loop and uses Uber when public transportation isn’t convenient. If I recall correctly, Uber tends to be about $25 between Hyde Park and downtown.
I concur. We took both the bus 6 and Metra railroad from O’Hare and the loop to the campus a few times when we visited UChicago. Both public transportation routes went to the east side of Hyde Park which we felt very comfortable. The Metra line was fast and clean like a train and it had staffs on board. It stopped at the 59th and 55th/56th/57th which were close to the campus. The 59th stop was just steps away from I-house. Bus 6 stop needed to walk several minutes to the campus and the area looked very comfortable.
We did not take the CTA trains going west side of Hyde Park based on some other people’s suggestion. But I have heard many students taking those CTA trains often and it does not seem to be a problem - maybe during the day.
Many students use Cab and Uber frequently and share the cost when leaving Hyde Park and coming back. It seems Uber is plentiful around Hyde Park while Cab is not so when you leave the campus but both are plentiful when you come back from downtown - even very late in the evening.
I apologize for starting a new thread about safety as I am aware that there are several on the UChicago forum, but I just wanted to see if the natives’ warnings had any truth to them. Thanks for the info, everyone!
Green line to Cottage Grove -> Walk 3 blocks to campus is very safe. Cottage Grove is a major thoroughfare. You’re more likely to get mugged in the loop.
Green line to Garfield -> 55 bus across Washington Park is also very safe. I would be wary of walking across Washington Park at night because it’s dark and there aren’t a lot of people around, but if you take the bus it’s fine. There will probably be lots of people waiting for the bus at Garfield. There’s a girl I know who does this at around 1 am by herself every week and has had no incidents.
Red line to Garfield -> 55 or 59 bus to Hyde Park is probably the least scary option of the three. There are tons of people coming and going at the Garfield Red Line stop (more than at Garfield Green), and the bus will take you straight to campus.
On the CTA the worst you will probably encounter is the normal public transit sort of harassment which happens anywhere. Heck, there are probably more cat-callers at Addison than Garfield. You are not very likely to get shot riding the CTA through the south side.
I have taken all these routes both during the day and at night, alone and with groups.
That said, the 6 and the Metra are good options as well. There’s also the 2. Each route is marginally faster/slower depending on where you are in Hyde Park and where you want to go.
I’m scaredy cat but felt very comfortable on the Metra and bus but did not care for the green and red line trains. For someone who is a total newbie tourist a cab or uber was a safe bet. Metra schedule can be weird at certain times of day. Hyde Park is very safe for students as long as they stay in the immediate Hyde Park area which isn’t difficult.