CTA, Metra add train, bus service for Riot Fest, football games

The CTA and Metra are adding service this weekend for riders going to Riot Fest and Northwestern University’sfootball game Saturday night.

For Riot Fest — which runs from noon to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday at Douglas Park in North Lawndale — the CTA is running longer Pink Line L trains from 9 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. all weekend and says it’s offering more frequent trains from 10 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Friday and noon to 11:45 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Pink Line’s California Avenue stop is two blocks from the festival’s east entrance.

The CTA says it’s also adding bus service on the #12 Roosevelt line starting at 3 p.m. Friday and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and continuing until 7:30 each night and on the #49 Western, #52 Kedzie/California and #94 South California lines from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Metra says it’s scheduling Metra BNSF trains to make extra stops at Western Avenue all weekend for Riot Fest.

The CTA also is running longer trains on the Purple Line two hours before Saturday night’s Northwestern-Duke game, which starts at 7 p.m. at Ryan Field — a few blocks west of the Central Avenue L stop.

And Monday night, for the Bears’ home-opener at Soldier Field against the Philadelphia Eagles, the CTA will be running the #128 Soldier Field Express bus between the stadium and Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center.

It’s also adding service on the #146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express starting two 2 hours before game time and continuing for one hour after the game ends. Free train rides will be available for two hours after the game at the Roosevelt station courtesy of Miller Lite, according to the CTA.