Travel Information Center Instructions
Go to specific instructions for:
Results PageClick Here to See a Sample Itinerary
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Please enter your starting point and destination.
These can be an address, an intersection, the location of a bus stop or a common landmark. Entries may be typed without regard to case. "Buckingham Fountain", "BUCKINGHAM FOUNTAIN" and "buckingham fountain" all produce the same result.
TripsWeb examines all transit stops near your starting location. An itinerary may begin at any of these transit stops. If there is no stop within the indicated walking distance of your starting location, try selecting another location to begin your trip; for example, a Park and Ride lot or a train station. Requests for the fastest trip or the trip with the least walking take into consideration the distance to the stop and will apply a conservative walking rate. This will apply more time to trips which involve greater walking distances.
Entering locations is easy. You can enter:
- Addresses (1060 W Addison). Use only the initial (N,S,E,W) of the street direction. DO NOT use the full word (North, South, East, West). DO NOT use a period following the direction.
- Intersections. Street names separated by a comma (Addison,Clark). If your intersection is not recognized, try including the type of street; for example, Green Bay Road (Green Bay is a good example of a street name that WILL NOT work without a street designator) or Torrence Avenue. If you are still unsuccessful, try another nearby intersection.
Landmarks (Wrigley Field). Click in the list of landmarks to the right of the entry field. Type the first letter of the landmark for which you are looking. TripsWeb displays landmarks beginning with that letter. You may click on a landmark to select it. It will be copied into the entry field.
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You may enter a city name. This is optional. If you enter a city and do not see the expected location in the choices presented to you, hit your browser's 'Back' button until you return to the data entry page, delete the city and try again.
If TripsWeb finds more than one location which matches your request, or if there is an error in the input, you will be presented a list of choices to select from. At times the geographical data underlying TripsWeb has several entries for the same location. You will have to choose one option in that case, as well.
On occasion, TripsWeb may try to be helpful by presenting options which have no relation to what you entered. It really is trying to help (in case you misspelled), so please make your choice from the list and continue.
If you cannot determine which option to choose, click 
and try entering a different intersection, a known transit stop location,
or use a nearby landmark.
Using the drop-down boxes, enter the date and time you wish to travel.
TripsWeb is programmed to use Weekday, Saturday, Sunday, and other special schedules from CTA, Metra and Pace. It is extremely important to correctly enter the date and time you want to depart your starting point -or- the date and time you need to arrive at your destination.
Indicate whether you require accessible accommodations for your trip. If you require a lift, a ramp, an elevator or an accessible station, please choose 'YES' from the drop-down box.
TripsWeb defaults to an allowable walking distance of 1/2 mile. You may adjust this to 1/4 mile, 3/4 mile or 1 mile
Indicate which you prefer. The trip that:
- is quickest,
- has the fewest transfers possible, or
- has the least amount of walking.
All that's left to do now is to hit the 
button.
If either the starting point or the destination are not recognized, you will see a short paragraph telling you that this is the case. You will also see a list of possible matches, like the following, received after entering Clark,North:
Click on your choice and click 
.
You may encounter this process for either the origin or destination, or
it might apply to both.
Once you have successfully identified your origin and destination, and fulfilled all other necessary input, your itinerary or itineraries will be presented to you.
TripsWeb calculates the trip time from the time you need to leave to board the first leg of your trip (or selected as the time you would prefer to leave) until you arrive at your final destination. This includes not only the time spent on transit vehicles, but also includes the time necessary to walk to the first boarding point, to transfer, and to walk from the final alighting to the final destination based on a conservative rate of walking. When calculating an itinerary with the least walking distance, TripsWeb strives to produce an itinerary with the absolute least walking distance, occasionally producing itineraries which require substantial travel time and distance.
Each itinerary leg contains information on:
- Vehicle to board and direction of the vehicle (Take CTA BUS #36 BROADWAY SOUTHBOUND).
- (NOTE: At your location, a vehicle might not actually be traveling the direction shown. For example, if you are told to board the southbound #151 at Adams & State, the vehicle will actually be traveling west on Adams. However, the vehicle is on its southbound run and so is shown as southbound.)
- Where and at what time to board that vehicle (Depart: NORTH & CLARK At 03:23 PM)
- Where and at what time you will depart that vehicle (Arrive: DIVISION & CLARK At 03:27 PM)
At the bottom of the itinerary, you will be informed of the fare for your itinerary. Both the regular and the reduced fare will be shown:
If there are further possible itineraries, they will be
presented immediately following the first.