(The following story by Monifa Thomas appeared on the Chicago Sun-Times website on December 27.)
CHICAGO — Football, fireworks and fancy New Year’s Eve parties.
With all of these events drawing throngs downtown, Sunday night has the potential for a transportation nightmare. CTA and Metra are changing the schedules of their game day buses and trains, now that the Bears game is at night.
Metra’s “Bears Extra” train on the Metra Electric will leave University Park at 5:30 p.m. to arrive at Roosevelt Road by 6:23 p.m., and a train will leave Roosevelt 20 minutes after the game.
The CTA is also offering penny rides on all buses and trains from 8 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday. “We don’t know what kind of dilemma [the rescheduled game] is going to present,” one CTA bus driver said.