As the 172 bus arrives at the corner of Kimbark Avenue and 59th Street, a large group of Lab students flash their IDs to the driver — their ticket for the route — and quickly rush to find seats. The bus pulls away from the stop, leaving behind school, and turns North onto Woodlawn Avenue.
For senior Alexander Saratovsky, this has been his after school routine since fifth grade when he began taking the bus home from school.
U-High students navigate their long commutes in various ways, balancing factors such as distance, convenience and safety.
A large part in Alexander’s decision to take public transportation regularly is the freedom it provides.
Alexander said, “It’s nice to have the freedom of public transportation, so if I’m doing something after school I have a ride home.”
Although safety is a concern for many people when traveling via the CTA, Alexander said that being conscious of your surroundings during the times when you’re commuting is key.
“You have to be smart about it,” Alexander said, advising people to be careful of traveling on the CTA after dark.
A major inconvenience about the bus is the inaccuracy of tracking apps, Alexander said.
“It’s inconvenient mostly because they don’t have a great way of tracking the bus, so you don’t know when it will come,” Alexander said.
For sophomore Ilana Schopin, the distance from her house to school deterred her from taking public transit. Instead she relies on a van service to get to and from school.
“Since I live far away and my parents weren’t always available to pick me up, especially after volleyball practice, we decided to take the van, just for convenience purposes,” Ilana said.
Much like Alexander, when Ilana does take public transit, awareness is her biggest tip to feeling safe.
“As long as you pay attention and make sure you’re responsible with your items and your actions, I really don’t think public transport is a non-useful tool,” Ilana said.
Senior Maxine Hurst relies on driving to get to school, despite her brother’s passion for the CTA. Carrying her golf clubs makes commuting on public transit difficult.
“I mostly drive because I carry my golf clubs with me wherever I go,” Maxine said. “I’m on the golf team, and sometimes I want to meet up with my dad and play, and it’s harder for me to carry my clubs and my backpack on public transit.”
On the weekends, Maxine regularly uses public transit rather than driving.
“Whenever I’m traveling downtown, where parking is a nightmare, I would definitely take the bus over the car,” Maxine said.
Although navigating public transit can seem overwhelming at first, once routes are learned it is straightforward.
“Once you clear the initial hurdle of learning what route you need to take to get to a destination that you’re going to, it becomes very easy,” Maxine said.
Sophomore Justin Salomon takes the Metra Electric to get to and from school every day. Before Justin moved to the downtown area, he was commuting via a van service, a commute that was very frustrating for him.
“It was just long to get home, the rush hour traffic especially with the construction,” Justin said. “It just took forever to get home, which just really made me angry.”
Now, Justin enjoys commuting alongside some close friends who live near him.
“There’s a couple of people who I’m really close with who live in the Loop, and it’s really nice to get to see them every day and talk with them a little bit,” Justin said.
While the students on the 172 bus pull away down Woodlawn, other U-High students are opening the doors of vans, hopping into the driver’s seat of their cars, and rushing off to the nearest Metra stop to begin their own long journey home.
