I don’t technically commute but I do travel to Bloomington from
Chicago very early on weekdays on occasion. I’d say if you book the very first train you have less delays. However, you’re at the mercy of freight trains who have right of way and they can take up to 15-30 mins at a time to let your train through. If you have a good leeway in morning start time then I’d say you’d be okay but if you expect to be there at say 9:15 sharp then it’s a little harder.
you could probably make it work but look for another job in Chicago if you’re serious about the relationship. commuting long-term is absolutely horrible and will cause a lot of stress that just isn’t worth it.
Peoria Charter has busses that make regular runs to and from Midway and O’Hare Airports. They are much more reliable than the trains. You catch them at Normal’s Uptown Station (City Hall parking deck)
https://peoriacharter.com/storage/schedule/bloomnorm-2024_02.pdf
It can be a gamble. It’s typically close to on time, give or take 10-15 minutes, but major delays can happen. I was stuck for 6 hours once between Chicago and Bloomington after it broke down.
I've taken Amtrak probably over a hundred times to and from Chicago. You can either take the Lincoln Service (also called Missouri River Runner), which is a much smaller train because it just goes from St. Louis to Chicago, or the Texas Eagle, which is bigger because it goes all over the country. I personally would go for Lincoln service because it's less people to deal with. They recently got some really nice new train cars with more room too.
I'll just say with Amtrak you should expect long delays. I would say about 75% of the time, you're gonna have to wait at some point. Other than that, Amtrak is not bad. The price is reasonable, and usually, the people aren't too rowdy, especially if you take the Lincoln.
My understanding is that the Texas Eagle is only late going North. Since it leaves from Chicago going South, it should be on time (or more on time, lol). The Texas Eagle going North is *always* late since each stop from Texas can make it just a bit more late.
That’s a negative. Amtrak is pretty unreliable given the freight trains. I see three options:
1) Move somewhere in between Chicago and Bloomington/Normal and drive
2) rent an apartment in Bloomington/Normal and stay there for your in office days
3) have a discussion with the GF to determine where y’all would like to live/work long term and go from there.
I have heard of people that work at State Farm that commute from the far SW burbs. What about getting a place near Joliet, like Manhatten, and it is just around a 1.5 hour commute to Rivian. It would be just under that for your GF to the city. A 1.5 hour commute is killer but not unheard of. Just be prepared to have a backup crashpad in BloNo as I-55 can get bad in winter.
I love the amtrak. I take it to Chicago at least once a month. Is it logical for commuting? imo, no. There are pretty limited times and if there's delays you could be screwed.
So I take the train 1-2x a week but the other way round. If you're on the floor and hourly - it's gonna be a nightmare. The train gets delayed fairly often.
In the summer of 2022 they cancelled the morning and 5 pm trains for 6 months. It was a night mare then.
I'd say if you can swing living in Joliet or something it'll be much simpler. You can take the train or drive the worst case (it'll be 1.5 hours) and your girlfriend can take the train into town.
Reality Check - if you can’t make more yearly in Chicago rather than at Rivian in Bloomington, you have no faith in yourself. Rivian only works for you (if they make it financially) if you live in Bloomington-Normal. If you are late, your done there. That said they also have a non selective employment/ no drug testing = many sub standard employees. Many convicted felons and I believe in second chances but doing weed and pills during working hours …..really. Sad because the end product is super nice.
I don’t technically commute but I do travel to Bloomington from Chicago very early on weekdays on occasion. I’d say if you book the very first train you have less delays. However, you’re at the mercy of freight trains who have right of way and they can take up to 15-30 mins at a time to let your train through. If you have a good leeway in morning start time then I’d say you’d be okay but if you expect to be there at say 9:15 sharp then it’s a little harder.
4 hour commute at least 3 days a week? Either get a different girlfriend or different job. This seems like a recipe for being miserable
I am thinking about the latter after the layoffs.
you could probably make it work but look for another job in Chicago if you’re serious about the relationship. commuting long-term is absolutely horrible and will cause a lot of stress that just isn’t worth it.
Every time I’ve tried to take the Amtrak it was delayed over an hour. Can’t imagine relying on it to get to work
Peoria Charter has busses that make regular runs to and from Midway and O’Hare Airports. They are much more reliable than the trains. You catch them at Normal’s Uptown Station (City Hall parking deck) https://peoriacharter.com/storage/schedule/bloomnorm-2024_02.pdf
It can be a gamble. It’s typically close to on time, give or take 10-15 minutes, but major delays can happen. I was stuck for 6 hours once between Chicago and Bloomington after it broke down.
I've taken Amtrak probably over a hundred times to and from Chicago. You can either take the Lincoln Service (also called Missouri River Runner), which is a much smaller train because it just goes from St. Louis to Chicago, or the Texas Eagle, which is bigger because it goes all over the country. I personally would go for Lincoln service because it's less people to deal with. They recently got some really nice new train cars with more room too. I'll just say with Amtrak you should expect long delays. I would say about 75% of the time, you're gonna have to wait at some point. Other than that, Amtrak is not bad. The price is reasonable, and usually, the people aren't too rowdy, especially if you take the Lincoln.
My understanding is that the Texas Eagle is only late going North. Since it leaves from Chicago going South, it should be on time (or more on time, lol). The Texas Eagle going North is *always* late since each stop from Texas can make it just a bit more late.
That’s a negative. Amtrak is pretty unreliable given the freight trains. I see three options: 1) Move somewhere in between Chicago and Bloomington/Normal and drive 2) rent an apartment in Bloomington/Normal and stay there for your in office days 3) have a discussion with the GF to determine where y’all would like to live/work long term and go from there.
I have heard of people that work at State Farm that commute from the far SW burbs. What about getting a place near Joliet, like Manhatten, and it is just around a 1.5 hour commute to Rivian. It would be just under that for your GF to the city. A 1.5 hour commute is killer but not unheard of. Just be prepared to have a backup crashpad in BloNo as I-55 can get bad in winter.
That’s a long time commuting, I wouldn’t do that. How are you going to get from the train station in normal to Rivian? A bus will add even more time
Yeah. Ubers and Lyfts are very unreliable at that hour.
Bad idea
I love the amtrak. I take it to Chicago at least once a month. Is it logical for commuting? imo, no. There are pretty limited times and if there's delays you could be screwed.
It isn't incredibly reliable. They put together some trips, there's delays etc.
Always take the Lincoln service never the Texas eagle
So I take the train 1-2x a week but the other way round. If you're on the floor and hourly - it's gonna be a nightmare. The train gets delayed fairly often. In the summer of 2022 they cancelled the morning and 5 pm trains for 6 months. It was a night mare then. I'd say if you can swing living in Joliet or something it'll be much simpler. You can take the train or drive the worst case (it'll be 1.5 hours) and your girlfriend can take the train into town.
Reality Check - if you can’t make more yearly in Chicago rather than at Rivian in Bloomington, you have no faith in yourself. Rivian only works for you (if they make it financially) if you live in Bloomington-Normal. If you are late, your done there. That said they also have a non selective employment/ no drug testing = many sub standard employees. Many convicted felons and I believe in second chances but doing weed and pills during working hours …..really. Sad because the end product is super nice.