$5 family train rides: Harvard to Chicago

3 comments May 1st, 2008

Today’s top story in the Register Star about an Elgin-Belvidere-Rockford route picked for future commuter rail got me thinking about the very cheap way for individuals and families to get to Chicago on weekends.

The Metra route that starts and ends in Harvard in McHenry County (35-minute drive northeast from Rockford) charges just $5 for an adult, who can take up to three kids under age 12 on that same five-buck fare, to ride on Saturdays and Sundays as many times as you want to any stop along the way and to the end in Chicago.

I lived in Harvard for about two decades, and more than a few times a year would take the kids into the city to see the lighted store windows at Christmas or to go to the air and water show and other fun places. We’d catch a cab or walk to wherever we were going. A few times we took the bus or the elevated train, though for the occasional user those latter options are harder to navigate.

There are nine trips in and an equal number of trips back on the weekend from and to Harvard.

Way cheaper these days than driving into the city, finding and paying for a place to park, and way less stressful.