{"id":421577,"date":"2025-12-03T10:17:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T10:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/421577\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T10:17:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T10:17:22","slug":"santa-makes-his-way-around-chicago-atop-the-cta-holiday-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/421577\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa makes his way around Chicago atop the CTA Holiday Bus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Santa doesn\u2019t ride a sleigh in Chicago. Here, he takes public transit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, honking motorists and marveling passersby lined Fullerton Avenue and watched a spruced-up articulated bus decorated to look fresh from the North Pole.<\/p>\n

Santa stuck his head out the emergency hatch, waving to anyone seeking seasonal cheer.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Transit Authority\u2019s Holiday Bus is the younger cousin of the CTA Holiday Train, the well-photographed train that crisscrosses the eight \u201cL\u201d lines. The bus, launched in 2014, illuminates the city streets with its colorful exterior lights. Inside, the customary CTA elves hand out candy canes and snap pictures with the often overjoyed riders.<\/p>\n

The bus entered Evanston briefly on Nov. 29 on Route 97, though you can still catch the bus in Chicago through Dec. 20; for schedules, visit transitchicago.com or call 888-968-7282.<\/p>\n

\"Bus<\/a>The Route 74 bus carrying Santa and his North Pole crew turns onto Fullerton Avenue. (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)
\n\"Santa<\/a>Santa had his own throne in the back of the 60-foot bus \u2026 (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)\u00a0
\n\"Santa<\/a>\u2026 but he often stood on it to poke his head out of the emergency roof hatch (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)
\n\"A<\/a>The CTA elves handed out candy canes, badges and plenty of cheer to the passengers who hopped aboard. (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)
\n\"A<\/a>The CTA decorated every inch of the bus, including the upholstery, lights and more. (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)
\n\"A<\/a>Elves call each other by their North Pole names. \u201cPeppermint\u201d bonded with the passengers who boarded Tuesday afternoon. (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)
\n\"A<\/a>The decorations extended to the articulated part of the bus. (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)
\n\"A<\/a>The CTA will operate the Holiday Bus through Dec. 20. (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)
\n\"Santa<\/a>Santa waves at people near the Fullerton \u201cL\u201d station. (Shun Graves\/The Daily Northwestern)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Email:<\/b> [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n

X:<\/b> @realShunGraves<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Stories:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 Photo Gallery: Local businesses light up the streets with festive window displays<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Gallery: Holiday lights illuminate Northwestern campus and downtown Evanston<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Here comes Santa Claus: Santas share their motivation for spreading holiday cheer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santa doesn\u2019t ride a sleigh in Chicago. Here, he takes public transit. On Tuesday, honking motorists and marveling…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":421578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-421577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115655126884755067","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}