Catching city bus at Chicago Union Station

I will be using the 151 bus to get from Chicago Union Station to my hotel. There seems to be a transit station just south of Union Station where I will board it. Is there a direct connection between the two stations? There seems to be a tunnel. How do I get to it from within Union Station?

Yes, there's a tunnel to cross the street. It's honestly hard to describe where the entrance is from the inside of the station. You can ask an employee.

If you can't find it from within the station... just go out the main entrance, go south, and cross the street. The city bus "transit center" is completely obvious on the surface.

Does the van gelder bus use the canal street bus station?

neroden said:

Yes, there's a tunnel to cross the street. It's honestly hard to describe where the entrance is from the inside of the station. You can ask an employee.

If you can't find it from within the station... just go out the main entrance, go south, and cross the street. The city bus "transit center" is completely obvious on the surface.

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I believe the tunnel is located next to Track 2. I'm not sure if there is very good signage or whether it's been updated to reflect that the tunnel can be used to access the Transit Center; as I recall, it previously was signed as the way to walk to the parking garage.

Steve4031 said:

Does the van gelder bus use the canal street bus station?

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Not 100% sure because I've not actually walked around the Transit Center, but everything I've read says that it's just CTA buses using the CUS Transit Center (if that's what you're referring to as the "canal street bus station"). I believe the various intercity buses (Van Galder and the handful of Greyhounds serving the station) still stop on Canal Street.

Many CTA buses pass by CUS on Canal St., and there is a CTA bus depot on Canal @ Clinton. Just past that is where you get the Blue Line into the Loop and out to O'Hare.

I recommend you get a multi-day pass if you're staying more than overnight. You can check out fares and purchase online at https://www.ventrachicago.com/

And you can find all route maps, planners, timetables etc on the CTA website http://www.transitchicago.com

Welcome to the Windy City!

WindyCityTexan said:

I recommend you get a multi-day pass if you're staying more than overnight. You can check out fares and purchase online at https://www.ventrachicago.com/

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Also helpful to the casual user is that CTA has gone to a completely contactless payment system. That doesn't affect single-ride users, since single-ride tickets are contactless (and also have a technology surcharge added to each ticket). But passes are handled exclusively via loading on to a reusable Ventra Card. In order to allow immediate use upon arrival, it saves time to order in advance of arrival, if possible. (If using this method, be sure to follow the activation instructions upon receipt.)