Chicago scrooges who take public transportation may be unable to avoid holiday cheer in the coming weeks.
CTA’s decked-out holiday bus is hitting the road Tuesday, and its dazzling holiday train will start ferrying customers across the city on Friday.
Themed CTA vehicles have been spreading holiday cheer across the Windy City in some shape or form since 1992, when a sign with the phrase “Season’s Greetings from the CTA” was put on the front of an out-of-service Blue Line train used to deliver food to charity, according to the CTA.
This year, when the holiday train pulls into a station, Santa will wave to riders from a sleigh on a flatcar outfitted with reindeer and decorated trees. Each train car will be well wrapped with seasonal images and twinkling lights.
The train is scheduled to run over 18 days, beginning Friday, until Dec. 23. It will travel on all lines; on some days it will travel on two lines and on others it will travel just on one line.
The holiday bus became part of CTA’s holiday tradition in 2014. Chicago residents might be able to hear the bus before they see it: The bus will be blaring holiday music and Santa will be “waving and greeting all the good boys and girls of Chicago from the roof hatch of the bus,” according to the CTA website.
From Tuesday until Dec. 21, the bus will travel on various routes over 20 of the days.
CTA riders can follow the train with CTA’s train tracker, which will indicate where the holiday train is with a candy cane. People will be able to locate the bus with a dedicated tracker.
Additionally, Metra’s holiday trains will make nine journeys on six different lines, beginning this Saturday and ending on Dec. 21, the Saturday before Christmas. Tickets for the trains are sold out.