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07/30/2005 Archived Entry: "Bus Parking in Chicago"

One of the friendliest signs a motorcoach driver can see in a city not all that familiar to him is this one -- "Tour Bus Parking" -- or similar. This sign (photo at right) stands by the entrance to official tour bus parking in Chicago on Kinzie Street (near Canal). Even better, parking here is free, and it's within walking distance of much of the downtown area of Chicago.

Chicago is reasonably bus friendly. It's easy to make your way around the city, provided you have a good map; I haven't figured out any system or pattern to the naming of the streets like New York City (midtown Manhattan, anyway) or Washington, DC. But many streets are two way, and except for a few streets with elevated trains, maneuvering is pretty easy. Even streets with the elevated trains are passable; you just have to be careful of all those pillars, and some turns are very tight. Right turns on red are legal except where marked otherwise.

Like Philadelphia, Chicago has designated locations for dropping and loading passengers. Unlike Philadelphia, there are many more of them in Chicago. And Chicago has done a good job at putting resources for motorcoach drivers online -- better than any city I've seen. I'm not sure how current the information is -- some of it may not be up to date -- but most appears correct from what I've been able to find so far. Here are a few of those resources -- print out the first one before you leave on your next trip to Chicago; I'll get some of these links added to the Links page here on EightWheels.com:

Chicago Motorcoach Guide (PDF file): http://www.tourillinois.org/chicago/05MotorMap.pdf

Chicago Motor Coach Regulations: http://www.tourillinois.org/chicago/regulations.html

Day and Overnight Motorcoach Parking in Chicago: http://www.tourillinois.org/chicago/parking.html

Motorcoach Loading Zones in Chicago: http://www.tourillinois.org/chicago/loading.html

Motorcoach Map of Chicago, including printable PDF version: http://www.chicago.il.org/travel/motorcoach.html

Interactive Map of Chicago, showing bus loading zones, on-street and off-street parking: http://www.choosechicago.com/maps/index.asp