Frequent Flyers
Blue Line (O'Hare) & Orange Line (Midway)
This agency serves as Chicagoland's primary commuter rail service. +200 points if you know the LEGAL name of this agency.
Metra (legally, the "Commuter Rail Division of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority")
What are the two bus agencies that operate in the Chicagoland area, and what is their difference?
CTA operates buses within the city of Chicago and some bordering suburbs, and Pace Suburban Bus operates buses primarily in Chicago's suburbs.
What is the name of the bus that takes you between the Northwestern's Evanston campus and its Chicago campus, and what do you do to ride it?
Northwestern Intercampus Shuttle! Tap your Wildcard on the scanner and ride for free.
True or false? The CTA operates a ferry service along the Chicago River in the Loop.
False. The Water Taxi is owned by a private company.
O'Hare International Airport serves as the primary base and global hub for which airline, whose critical Network Operations Center is located just northwest in Arlington Heights?
United Airlines
Name the 2 closest CTA and Metra lines to Northwestern's campus.
CTA's Purple Line, Metra's Union Pacific North (UP-N)
What bus line runs straight through Northwestern's campus and shares stops with those of the Intercampus Shuttle?
CTA 201
Where can you find Northwestern's Transportation Library, which contains more than 500 thousand items, and is one of the largest transportation information centers in the world?
University (Main) Library, 5th floor
What is the name of the authority established in September 2026 to oversee the operations of CTA, Pace, and Metra?
NITA (Northern Illinois Transit Authority)
What was the name of the Chicago airport that ceased operations in 2003, following an "overnight destruction" by former Chicago Mayor Richard M Daley? Double points if you also know the airport code.
The CTA operates lines labeled by colors. How many lines are there, and what colors correspond to them? Double points if you can name their termini.
Eight lines:
Red (Howard to 95th/Dan Ryan)
Orange (Loop to Midway)
Yellow (Howard to Dempster-Skokie)
Green (Oak Park to 63rd/Ashland or Cottage Grove)
Blue (O'Hare to Forest Park)
Purple (Linden to Howard or Loop)
Brown (Kimball to Loop)
Pink (54th/Cermak to Loop)
True or false? You can transfer (between trains and buses) on the CTA system up to twice within two hours for free.
True!
Name all the major university shuttles that operate on Northwestern's Evanston campus.
Hint: there are 5 of them
Intercampus, Chicago Express, Evening Loop, Gameday, and Frostbite
Downtown Chicago hosts four major transit hubs for commuter and intercity rail. What are they?
Ogilvie Transportation Center (Metra), Chicago Union Station (Metra, Amtrak), Millennium Station (Metra, South Shore Line), LaSalle Street Station (Metra)
What was the original name of O'Hare, which received its current name in 1949?
(Hint: The airport code, ORD, derives from the original name.)
Orchard Field Airport
In the picture, there are four major distinct elements. You will receive 100 points for each major element you can name, for a total score of up to 400 points. (James, cue the picture.)
Tracks, ties, ballast, and fasteners.
What reservation-based program provides door-to-door, ADA-accessible, rideshare services to 11 designated zones in the Chicagoland area?
Pace On Demand
How many Divvy bike racks are located on Northwestern's campus? +50 points for each location you can name.
5 or 6.
Orrington/Clark (next to Rebecca Crown Center)
Chicago/Sheridan (next to Allison)
Main Campus (next to Women's Center)
University Library (between Main and Norris)
Sheridan/Noyes (across the street from Tech)
Clark Street Beach (just south of campus, across the street from Jones)
What year was the CTA founded?
1945. Service started in 1947 from acquisitions of previous streetcar networks.
To the nearest million, how many passengers did Chicago-Midway International Airport handle in the year 2025? Answers within +/- 5 million will be accepted. Double points if you get the exact # of millions.
(Hint: O'Hare handled ~84 million passengers in 2025.)
22 million passengers.
MDW is the largest "medium hub" in the US.
How many CTA stations are there? How many Metra stations are there? (We will grant 500 points per question if your answer is within +/- 10 stations for each one.)
146 CTA stations
243 Metra stations
How many CTA bus routes are there? Points are awarded for answers within 5 routes.
127 bus routes
The Northwestern Transportation Center is located in Chambers Hall. When was the Transportation Center founded, and who is the "Chambers" in question? (250 points for each question)
The center was founded in 1954 by President J Roscoe Miller. In 1999, Chambers Hall was built, and is named after Jerry Chambers, founder of Clipper Exxpress, a land transportation company.
Free space (lol)
Free space (lol)