ORDAirport Guide

Coach buses from O'Hare to Madison, Peoria, Champaign and Purdue

Four operators run scheduled coaches from O'Hare to Madison, Peoria, Champaign and Purdue. Who goes where, their phone numbers and where the coaches load.

Close view from below of a row of overlapping orange and yellow oval fins hanging from the slatted white canopy of the O'Hare Multi-Modal Facility, with a white column at the right edge and hazy sky between the fins.
Horizon Light's coloured fins hanging from the canopy edge, seen from below, Multi-Modal Facility, O'Hare

If your trip ends outside Chicagoland, four operators run scheduled coaches from O’Hare’s Multi-Modal Facility to Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. The airport lists each with its destinations and a phone number. It publishes no timetable and no fare, so you call the operator for both.

Who serves which place

Operator Places the airport lists Phone
Coach USA and Van Galder Madison and Janesville in Wisconsin, South Beloit and Rockford in Illinois 1-800-747-0994
Peoria Charter Coach Peoria (Bradley, City Link), Normal (Illinois State, Illinois Wesleyan, Amtrak Uptown Station), Bloomington/Normal Airport, Champaign (University of Illinois, Amtrak Illinois Terminal), and in Chicago, Midway Airport and Amtrak Union Station 1-800-448-0572
Lafayette Limo Purdue University campus, West Lafayette, Indiana 1-765-498-3828
Reindeer Shuttle Chicago, Purdue (West Lafayette), Indianapolis and Crestwood, Illinois 765-637-5124

Purdue is the one place outside the Chicago area that two listed operators serve, Lafayette Limo and Reindeer Shuttle. Call both and take whichever departure fits your landing.

Where to board

Scheduled regional coaches load at the Multi-Modal Facility, 10255 W. Zemke Blvd. From any terminal, ride the free Airport Transit System, which runs around the clock, every 3 to 5 minutes at peak times. End to end from Terminal 1 takes about 10 minutes, so leave time for the ride. The airport’s regional bus page names no bay or door for the coaches, but its terminal map marks Regional Buses at bus bays 5, 6 and 7 in the Multi-Modal Facility. The map doesn’t say which operator uses which bay, so ask your operator where it loads. If no coach fits your landing, the rental car counters sit in the same building as the coaches, so the same ride reaches them.

Charter buses aren’t allowed at the Multi-Modal Facility, so a group on a charter meets its bus on the lower-level commercial lanes at Terminals 1, 2 and 3, or in the outer commercial lane at Terminal 5, Door 5D.

What the airport leaves to the operators

The airport calls its list a courtesy to travelers and says it isn’t an endorsement of any provider. It tells you to visit each provider’s website for current offerings. Coach USA’s own site lists Chicago O’Hare among its airport routes and says its airport shuttles run daily on a set schedule, but that is the company’s statement and not the airport’s.

Greyhound and FlixBus aren’t on the airport’s list, and their home pages don’t mention O’Hare.

Sources