Chicago to Milwaukee by bus

Typical ride 2h 00m over 145 km. Starting fares around $8 ($8–20). Compare operators - we don't sell tickets.

Route snapshot

Duration

2h 00m

Distance

145 km

Typical price

$8–20

Tip

Amtrak's Hiawatha takes about 90 minutes, so rail is usually faster. Buses are frequent and often cheaper, and Milwaukee's Intermodal Station serves both.

Over 145 km the starting fare works out at $5.52 per 100 km - cheaper per kilometre than 93 of the 475 $-priced routes we track. See the bus fare index. Fares are editorial starting prices, not live quotes.

Trip plannerEstimates

Chicago to Milwaukee: bus, train, flight or drive?

We compared the ways to travel for Tue 3 Nov 2026 and 1 traveller. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive are our estimates, not live prices. We don’t sell tickets - the real fares are with the operators below.

Best overall

Train

Strong on time, cost and CO2. Scores 83/100 on our weighted mix of time, cost, comfort and CO2.

Score weights: time 35% · cost 30% · comfort 20% · CO₂ 15%

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Door to door: 2h 50m2h on the move
Estimated fare: $8–21per person
Carbon: 5.8 kgCO₂e per traveller

Cheapest

Bus

$8–20

Typical fares are within a few percent of the train - treat it as a tie.

See live bus fares

Quickest

Drive

2h 20m door to door

Door to door about 2h 20m - 30 min quicker than the next fastest (train).

Look at car hire

Greenest

Bus

4.4 kg CO₂e each

About 4.4 kg CO2e per traveller, roughly 82% less than drive.

See live bus fares

Door-to-door time

The real trip, not just the ride: getting to the station or airport, check-in and waiting all count.

Estimated cost

Typical cheap-to-flexible range. The dot marks the middle of the range. Not live prices.

Scorecard

Each way scored 0-100 on four things. A bigger shape means a better balance.

Bus 82 out of 100
Train 83 out of 100
Drive 59 out of 100

Train: step by step

83/100

Leave your door for the station20 min
Security-free boarding buffer15 min
Train ride2h
Station to your final stop15 min

Door to door2h 50m

Time weight 35%82 out of 100

Cost weight 30%94 out of 100

Comfort weight 20%66 out of 100

Green weight 15%84 out of 100

Rough estimate - assumes a direct intercity rail service exists; check timetables.

Our estimate

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Split the cost

Even with four people sharing, the typical bus fare is still lower per person than the car.

Per-person figures use the middle of each estimate. The low end of the car range assumes your own car (fuel and tolls); the high end adds a one-day hire car.

Flight: not practical here - Too short - airport time would outweigh the flight.

See the numbers (table)

Estimated comparison of ways to travel from Chicago to Milwaukee
Way	Door to door	On the move	Fare	CO₂e each	Score
Train*	2h 50m	2h	$8–21	5.8 kg	83/100
Bus	2h 55m	2h	$8–20	4.4 kg	82/100
Drive*	2h 20m	1h 55m	$15–110	25 kg	59/100

* Our estimate, not a quote. Bus: duration, distance and fare range from our route data.

How we estimate

Bus uses the duration, distance and typical fare range in our route data (editorial figures, not live quotes).
Train, flight and drive are estimated from the 145 km road distance (with fixed average speeds and per-kilometre price bands, scaled to this route’s own bus fare level). A straight-line distance of about 80% of the road distance is used for flights.
Door to door adds the time that is not travelling: about 55 min for a coach (to the station, boarding, onward), 50 min for a train, 195 min for a flight (to the airport, check-in and security, baggage, into town) and 25 min for a car (loading, parking).
Cost is a cheap-to-flexible range per person; flights include airport transfers; cars are priced per car (fuel and tolls at the low end, plus a one-day hire car at the high end) and split between up to four people.
CO₂e per traveller uses typical factors per passenger-km: coach 0.03 kg, train 0.04 kg (0.015 kg on electric high-speed lines), short-haul flight 0.14-0.23 kg without radiative forcing, car 0.17 kg per vehicle-km shared between the people in it.
Scores run 0-100: time (fastest door to door = 100), cost (cheapest typical total = 100), comfort (our editorial rating, lower for very long rides) and green (lower emissions per km = higher). Best overall weights them time 35%, cost 30%, comfort 20%, CO₂ 15%.
Not every corridor has a direct train or airport service, and car journeys may involve ferries or tolls we do not know about. Treat everything except the bus figures as a starting point and check the operators.

The cheapest way from Chicago to Milwaukee is the bus (about $8–20 per person); the quickest is the drive (about 2h 20m door to door); the best overall balance is the train; the lowest-carbon choice is the bus (about 4.4 kg CO2e per traveller). The bus takes about 2h on the road over roughly 145 km. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive figures are our own estimates, not live prices.

Fares and times other than the bus figures are estimates for planning only - they are not offers or live prices. We don’t sell tickets; compare live prices with the providers further down this page.