06/22/99
Visitors to the Taste of Chicago Festival in Grant Park Friday, June 25, through Monday, July 5 will find CTA service the most effective way to travel. Longer 'L' trains will operate into the Loop until late every evening, and extra buses will be available for festival participants to leave downtown toward the close of each evening's activities.
Taste of Chicago, on Columbus Drive between Monroe and Balbo, is within easy walking distance of the Adams/Wabash L station, which is served by Brown, Green and Orange Line trains, and during weekday rush periods by Purple Line Express trains. Nearby are Jackson stations in the Red Line subway at State Street and the Blue Line at Dearborn, which are both accessible to riders with disabilities.
During Taste of Chicago, Blue, Brown, Green, Orange and Red Line trains will operate through the Loop with extra cars up to 2 ? hours later than usual. Yellow Line trains will run daily until about 11:30 p.m., linking the 800-car parking facility just off the Edens Expressway at 5001 Dempster in Skokie with the Howard station, where riders can connect with Red Line trains to complete their trips downtown. On weekends, Brown Line trains will serve the Loop until 10 p.m., while Purple Line shuttle trains between Linden and Howard will operate with extra cars from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m.
Additional Customer Assistants will be on duty at several Loop stations to help riders with the automated fare collection system and travel information. Travel assistance will also be offered at a mobile CTA information facility on Jackson just east of Michigan, where CTA Transit Cards will be on sale at vending machines. Riders are encouraged to purchase Transit Cards to speed their trips home by bus or 'L'.
As Taste activities wind down each evening, extra #3 King Drive and #4 Cottage Grove buses will await riders southbound on Michigan at Jackson. Service from downtown on the #6 Jeffery Express route, which regularly runs until 10:30 p.m. on weekdays, will be extended from 7 until 10:30 p.m. Saturdays and until 9:30 p.m. both Sundays of Taste. Extra #6 buses will be ready for service from State and Wacker, while extra #151 Sheridan buses will be staged northbound on State near Congress. Extra buses will also be available downtown on the #20 Madison, #60 Blue Island/26th, #62 Archer and #126 Jackson routes for patrons leaving Taste. All bus lines with extra service to the Taste except for #6 and #126 are accessible to persons with disabilities.
For information about all CTA service, call 836-7000 (all local area codes).
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