CTA adds summer bus service for beaches, Navy Pier, Chicago museums
This Memorial Day, the Chicago Transit Authority kicked off summer with added bus service to beaches, museums, and Navy Pier.
Through mid-August, Chicagoans can gather up their towels, sunscreen, and beach balls and hop on one of four east-west bus routes that run right to Lake Michigan beaches. Weekend and holiday beach service began Monday on the No. 35 bus for the 31st Street Beach, the No. 63 bus for the 63rd Street Beach, the No. 72 bus for the North Avenue Beach, and the No. 78 bus for the Montrose Beach.
Buses will begin their trips to the beaches between 9 a.m. and 9:30 p.m., the CTA said. Weekday beach service will be added starting Monday, June 9.
Meanwhile — whether the draw is fireworks, the Ferris wheel, Jack Godfrey's "42 Balloons" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, or the Live on the Lake! concert series at the Beer Garden — the CTA is also making it easier to get to Navy Pier this summer. No. 124 Navy Pier service will be extended by 90 minutes each day.
Eastbound service from Union and Ogilvie stations in the West Loop will run until 11:30 p.m., while westbound service from Navy Pier will run until midnight.
The CTA also noted that the No. 65 Grand and the No. 66 Chicago Avenue buses serve Navy Pier year-round. The latter operates 24 hours a day.
For Spider-Man fans — or anyone who wants to take a tour of the U-505 submarine, step into a tornado at Science Storms, or see a Charlie Chaplin movie at the Nickelodeon on Yesterday's Main Street — the No. 10 Museum of Science and Industry bus is back for the season with easy access to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. This route runs from Michigan Avenue and Chestnut Street near the former John Hancock Center to the Griffin MSI, by way of DuSable Lake Shore Drive, and will run a summer service schedule through Labor Day.
The No. 6 Jackson Park Express, which runs from 79th Street and South Shore Drive to Wacker and Columbus drives, also makes stops near the Griffin MSI. The No. 55 Garfield runs to Griffin MSI from the west.
For those who want to visit Sue the T. Rex, pet a stingray, or see an awestriking sky show, the No. 130 Museum Campus bus will also run a summer service schedule through Labor Day. The No. 130 bus runs from the Ogilvie Transportation Center and the Museum Campus museums — the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium. By the way, the Field Museum has a new exhibit coming June 20 on the fascinating world of reptiles, called Reptiles Alive!
The No. 146 Inner Lake Shore Drive/Michigan Express also serves the museum campus — with stops at the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium and a terminal at the Adler Planetarium. The NO. 146 runs north all the way to Broadway and Berwyn in the North Side's Edgewater neighborhood.
The CTA also advises that travelers can purchase multi-day rude passes to get anywhere in the city — a one-day or 24-hour pass for $5, a three-day or 72-hour pass for $15, and a seven-day pass for $20.
