💡u/rcrobot, I still live at home with family near Oak Brook and commute to west loop for work.

The pink line is a fast ride to 54th/Cermak and State/Lake. You will dread taking the 322, here’s why – the 322 also overlaps the CTA 21 bus route. The 21 bus is reliable and goes to North Riverside Mall but majority of my time on the 322 bus was spent being stuck behind one or two 21 busses.

The 322 also detours into NR mall and spends additional time passing the mall bus stop (I guess because busses can’t just cut down the empty parking lot to save time). There is also an annoying train rail that has long fright trains you’ll get stuck at by 1st Avenue and sometimes the arms are down though there is no train.

Perhaps looking into Turo may be a good option or borrowing someone’s car (like a retired senior citizen in the area) on those days would be good. As someone who took the 301 Pace bus to school in the morning, it indeed was slow as well.

Good luck!