Train-Only! No, Wait, We Meant Bus-Only!

We use the CTA Trip Planner any time we don't know the best way to get around in the city, so we're the first to say that we're happy it exists. The only thing that's always bugged us about it, though, is when you know you're relatively close to a train and all you get is bus routes. You look out the window into a dreary/snowy/winter mixed/rainy/cold day and sigh. Sometimes you'd just rather walk to a train and then take a bus, instead of, you know, waiting for a bus twice or even three times.

Well, the newest version of RTA's Trip Planner may just solve those problems. In order to make it easier for passengers to find alternative travel routes during the Brown Line reconstruction project, the RTA is now offering an option to search for bus-only or train-only itineraries. The new option will also be available for the people with the high-tech portable gadgets.

To be honest, we've had around zero problems riding the train during morning rush hours, thanks to all the less lazy people who really did go out and find alternative bus routes, like the Lake Shore Drive express ones. We've been meaning to thank them for that.

We're pretty glad about it, though, because we can run train and bus only routes and then mix and match for our favorites which, while highly dorky, will save us a lot of time and energy waiting in the wild outdoors at some random time of night because we forgot the bus we took to get there already stopped running.

Image via sci.gaulladet.edu.