Aurora — Attraction in Aurora Township

Parking is an absolute joke, especially now that they have put some utterly moronic contractor in place to fix the worst of the damage to the parking lot, which seems to take far longer than it should. More than half of it is closed off and with a waiting list approaching three years for monthly passes, they have decided to limit daily parking access even further and closed off half of what had previously been available, instead opening it up for permit holders only. Despite the fact that this section remains mostly empty, the imbecilic city parking gestapo (and they really are a bunch of strategically shaved monkeys in neon yellow t-shirts who can barely speak two sentences cohesively) are having a field day handing out parking fines to anyone forced to park there when the daily lot is completely packed (this happens when you suddenly reduce capacity by half...) Another fine example of the dimwits running the city of Aurora doing everything in their power to...

Being the last stop on the route has some perks – you can come early to board the train and pretty much pick any seat you want. You can also sleep and not worry about missing your stop. The BNSF Metra train to Chicago Union Station operates out of this station.

There are 2 daily parking lots and I have been able to find plenty of parking at the lot that’s off of Lincoln. Prior to 8am, there seems to be plenty of parking. Around noon, there are still a few spots left in the lot. Parking cost $2/day and you just type your license plate number into the machine and insert bills, quarters or credit card (extra fee applies when using credit) and you get a printed receipt. There’s a tunnel from that lot that goes right to the train. One-way ticket to Chicago Union Station is $8 and the 10-ride cost $72. Weekend unlimited ride costs $8. If you want to buy ticket at this station, there’s a short term parking area right in front of...

Interior of station is clean, neat, and historic. Cool.

Parking, not so much.

Oh there is a large lot but the front 2/3 is now reserved for monthly permit holders. The very back 1/3 is designated for daily commuters. Until last week this was closer to 50/50 with the division down the middle of the lot (if you arrived early enough you could still park reasonably close to the Metra train platform). Not anymore. Daily parkers are now very much the "lower class" in this lot. Showing up last Monday at the normal time to find the newly designated daily lot almost full was an unpleasant surprise. I'm sure it was worse for those who showed up later. It's infuriating to have to show up even earlier now to get in the daily lot and then to see all that close by wide open empty monthly permit parking space as the...