4/5/06
The CTA has long been the best way for baseball fans in Chicago to get to the ballpark. The Chicago Cubs home opener is Friday, April 7 at 1:20 p.m. against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Red Line serves Wrigley Field via the accessible station at Addison. Fans can transfer to Red Line trains from all other 'L' lines and from most east-west bus routes.
Trips to Addison take less than 20 minutes from stations in the State Street subway downtown, or from Howard, where fans can connect from Purple or Yellow Line trains serving the northern suburbs. Fans using these stations also can take advantage of convenient Park & Ride lots at Howard, Linden and Skokie. Parking fees at these lots are $2.
Additional rail service will be provided for weeknight Cubs games. For those games, southbound Purple Line Express trains will stop at Addison enroute to downtown from Linden. On game nights, Yellow Line trains will operate two hours later (until midnight) from Howard. This provides a convenient option for fans to Park & Ride by using the more than 700 parking spaces available at the Skokie Yellow Line station, just three blocks east of the Edens Expressway.
In addition to rail service, Cubs fans can access Wrigley Field from several CTA bus routes; #8 Halsted buses that operate north on Halsted from 79th Street to Broadway/Waveland, #22 Clark buses that operate north through the Loop on Dearborn and south on Clark from Howard, and #152 Addison buses that operate on Addison from Cumberland on the west to Lake Shore Drive on the east.
For all games, additional service will be provided on the #152 Addison route as crowds warrant, starting two hours before game time and operating until one hour after games end.
For fans who prefer to drive part of the way to the games, another option is the #154 Wrigley Field Express which operates for all night and weekend games. #154 buses provide direct service to Wrigley Field from parking lots at DeVry University on Rockwell, a quarter-mile west of Western and a quarter-mile south of Addison. Service begins three hours before each game and runs until one hour after night games end, and two hours after weekend games end. A $6 fee includes parking at DeVry and round-trip bus transit for a carload of fans.
Bus customers who use CTA fare media pay $1.75 to ride and may transfer for a 25 cent fee. Rail customers who use Chicago Card or Chicago Card Plus pay $1.75 and transfers are an additional 25 cents. For rail customers who use a magnetic strip transit card, or for customers who pay cash on either the bus or rail system, the fare is $2. Transfers are not available for customers paying fares in cash.
For details about all CTA service, call 836-7000 (all local area codes) or visit the CTA web site at www.transitchicago.com.
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