NIU continues to provide the Elburn Shuttle service offering students another option to get to Chicago.

Students interested in using the service can take the Huskie Bus shuttle service Friday and Sunday to and from the Elburn station.

The shuttle is $4 for students, $5 for NIU staff and $7 for the public. Tickets can be purchased at the box office located in the Holmes Student Center. The total cost for a one-way trip to Chicago’s Ogilvie Station for a student is $10.10.

A one-way ticket to Chicago on the Metra is $6.10 and needs to be purchased on the train because there is no attendant at the Elburn station, according to the Metra’s Web site.

“Shuttle runs do sell out,” said Matt Weinberg, safety and training manager of the Huskie Lines. “Friday runs are usually pretty packed.”

The Elburn Train Station has been offering rail service since January 2006.

Many students who attend NIU come from Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

During the fall of 2007, there were 9,461 students at NIU that were from Chicago, suburban Cook County and DuPage County, said Suman Gupta, a statistician at NIU’s Institutional Research Office.

Students who use the shuttle tend to be repeat customers.

“I travel frequently, it’s very good,” said Latha Laxman, computer science graduate student. “It’s a very convenient way [to travel] instead of taking the Greyhound.”

During long or holiday weekends the regular schedule doesn’t make sense, said Laxman, who had to wait in long lines at the Greyhound station in Chicago to make it back on Monday.

Before Metra service was extended to Elburn, the Huskie Line offered shuttles to Geneva which at that time was the closest rail service to DeKalb, Weinberg said.

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