JAGM

Driving for a 4 day trip to Chicago. Would like to leave car at either Joliet or Aurora and get on train to downtown Chicago. I looked at station web sites, parking doesn't appear to be secure. Would we be foolish to leave car for 4 days in station area?

Citylghts

The parking lots at most Metra stations are operated by the community in which they are located. Most spaces in those lots are leased to regular commuters M-F, so the open spaces fill quickly each morning. Some do not allow overnight parking and require you to pay daily.

Call the parking contact numbers on the Joliet and Aurora station pages to see if they allow long-term parking.

exiledprincess

Have you even confirmed that these two stations even have overnight - or, in your case, extended - parking? I had the understanding that none of the Metra stations allowed either.

IMHO, you should be calling Metra on this.

It might also be that the municipality doesn't allow overnight parking on their streets or considers vehicles left for a specific period (more than a certain number of days) abandoned and they could be towed.

IMHO, no matter what the area, anyone who leaves their vehicle unattended for a longer period (especially one with out-of-area license plates) is just inviting trouble.

tomfuller

Would you consider riding the Amtrak train from Plano? The Plano station is right on Main street. Two trains per day the Illinois Zephyr and the Carl Sandburg. The morning train is $22 and the evening and return trains are only $8.
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...mtrak/HomePage
The phone # to call is 1800-USA-RAIL.

JAGM

Valuable information. Thank you all. It didn't occur to me that perhaps overnight parking isn't allowed. We did leave our car overnight a few years ago at a small station in Vernon Hills. I'll check into Plano. Again - thanks.