Pace is the suburban bus and regional

paratransit Paratransit (also community transport in the United Kingdom, or intermediate public transport) is a type of public transport service that supplements fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. P ...

division of the Regional Transportation Authority serving the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

. It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to the CTA,

Metra Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...

, and Pace. The various agencies providing bus service in the Chicago suburbs were merged under the Suburban Bus Division, which was rebranded as Pace in 1984. In 2022, Pace had 18.041 million riders. Pace is headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and is governed by a 13-member Board of Directors, 12 of which are current and former suburban mayors. The remaining director is the Commissioner of the Chicago Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, who represents the city's paratransit riders.

Service area

Pace serves

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

(where Chicago is located), as well as

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

Will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, Kane, McHenry, and DuPage counties, which are the collar counties of the

. Some of Pace's bus routes also go to Chicago and

Northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed "The Region" after the Calumet Region, is an unofficial region of Northern Indiana, northern Indiana, United States that is located at the northwestern corner of the state. Though there is no official definition of th ...

. In some areas, notably Evanston, River Forest, Oak Park,

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, and Skokie, both Pace and the

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...

provide service. Many of Pace's route terminals are located at CTA rail stations and bus terminals and

stations. The CTA and Pace have shared a payment system since 2014 called

Ventra Ventra is an electronic fare payment system for the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority which replaced the Chicago Card and the Transit Card automated fare collection systems. Ventra (purportedly Latin for "windy," though the actual Lati ...

. Ventra accounts are required to obtain transfers. In 2015, Metra was added to the Ventra app. Pace buses generally have longer routes than CTA buses. Due to its geographic service area, service is provided by eleven operating divisions (see below), as well as under agreements with several municipalities and private operators (

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...

and motor coach companies). Pace buses provide service from the suburbs to various special events in the city, such as Routes 282 and 779 for

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

games, Routes 773, 774 and 775 for

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

games, Routes 236, 768, 769 and 776 for

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

games, Route 222 provides extra service to the Allstate Arena in Rosemont for events scheduled there, Route 284 to

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park, theme park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The theme park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built ...

, Route 307 for events at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.

Services

Pace Bus

The majority of Pace bus routes run daily, seven days a week. Other routes run Monday through Saturday, weekdays only, or weekday rush hours only. One route, 352 Halsted, runs 24 hours a day/seven days a week, and four routes 390, 392, 395 and 890, run only for weekday UPS shifts changes. During weekday rush hours, Pace buses are authorized to use the shoulder of the

Jane Addams Memorial Tollway Interstate 90 (I-90) in the US state of Illinois runs roughly northwest-to-southeast through the northern part of the state. From the Wisconsin state line at South Beloit, it heads south to Rockford before heading east-southeast to th ...

, Edens Expressway, and

Stevenson Expressway Stevenson is an English language patronymic surname meaning "son of Steven". Its first historical record is from pre-10th-century England. Another origin of the name is as a toponymic surname related to the place Stevenstone in Devon, England. Th ...

to avoid traffic congestion.

Pace Pulse

Pulse Milwaukee Line

Pace began operating a new rapid transit service between the Jefferson Park Transit Center and Golf Mill Shopping Center on August 11, 2019. The new Pulse service overlaps with part of Pace route 270 which saw a reduction in the route's service frequency.

Pulse Dempster Line

The Pace Pulse line on Dempster Street spans Evanston, Skokie, and Des Plaines, and terminates at

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

. The Dempster Pulse line inaugural run was on August 13, 2023 with a full launch on October 29, 2023. The route connects to the

Chicago "L" The Chicago "L" (short for "elevated railway, elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it is the four ...

with the CTA Purple Line's station and the CTA Yellow Line's station. It also connects to

stations at on the

Union Pacific North Line The Union Pacific North Line (UP-N) is a Metra line in the Chicago metropolitan area. It runs between Ogilvie Transportation Center and Kenosha, Wisconsin; however, most trains terminate in Waukegan, Illinois. Although Metra owns the rolling st ...

and on the Union Pacific Northwest Line.

Priority Corridors for Future Development

Pace is also considering adding routes from Cermak Road, Harlem Avenue and Roosevelt Road. All three proposed routes start from the southwest side of Chicago and provide routes to either the West Suburbs or in the case of the Harlem route, further south in Chicago.

I-90 Express

In December 2016, Pace began an on-highway BRT express bus service between Rosemont Transportation Center and Elgin on the

. The service uses " flex lanes" to avoid traffic and features train station like stops.

ADA services

Pace is responsible for ADA

service in its service area, and, effective July 1, 2006, for paratransit service in Chicago. Pace also coordinates various Dial-a-Ride projects, usually sponsored by various municipalities and townships. One of the largest is Ride DuPage, sponsored by Du Page County Human Services. All Pace buses are

wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...

accessible and have racks accommodating one

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

, available during all hours of operation. Pace claims itself as the nation's largest paratransit service provider, providing approximately 17,000 daily trips on paratransit, dial-a-ride and ADvAntage vanpools.

Vanpool incentive program

Pace operates a

Vanpool Vanpools or vanpooling is an element of the transit system that allow groups of people to share the ride similar to a carpool, but on a larger scale with concurrent savings in fuel and vehicle operating costs and thus usually a lower cost to the ...

Incentive Program, where groups save by commuting together in a van owned and maintained by Pace and driven by one of the participants. There is also a Municipal Vanpool Program, under which Pace provides a van to a municipality, for any

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

ation purpose (such as demand response service for

senior citizens Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

Route list

Operational structure

Given Pace's large service area, it is broken up into 11 operating divisions. Additionally, Niles, Highland Park and Schaumburg operate routes on behalf of Pace.

Bus fleet

In 2011, Pace received its first diesel-electric hybrid buses from Orion Bus Industries, a couple of years before the latter folded. These Orion VII buses were the first buses in the Pace fleet to not be powered directly by diesel. In 2015, Pace received its first fleet of

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in ...

buses from ElDorado National; these buses operate mainly in the southern suburbs. {, class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" , , - !Year !Manufacturer & Model !Length !Engine Type !Numbers !Divisions !Notes , - !2006–2010 , ENC EZ-Rider II MAX , , Diesel , align=center, 2600–2825
(222 buses) , Fox Valley, Heritage, Highland Park, Northwest, River, Southwest, Village of Niles , {{bulleted list, Retirement in progress , - !2011 , ENC EZ-Rider II BRT , {{convert, 32, ft, m, abbr=on, disp=br() , Diesel , align=center, 2826–2829
(4 buses) , Fox Valley , , - !2011 , Orion VII , {{convert, 30, ft, m, abbr=on, disp=br() , Diesel-electric
(Hybrid) , align=center, 2830–2831
(2 buses) , Highland Park , {{bulleted list, Used on routes 471 and 472., First hybrid buses ordered by Pace, painted in a green livery. , - !2013–2015,
2017 , MCI D4000CT , {{convert, 40, ft, m, abbr=on, disp=br() , Diesel , align=center, 6950–6979
(30 buses) , Heritage , {{bulleted list, Used on routes 755, 850, 851 and 855 as part of "Bus on Shoulder" operations on I-55. , - !2012–2018 , ENC Axess BRT , {{convert, 40, ft, m, abbr=on, disp=br() , Diesel , align=center, 6323–6575
6700–6786
(337 buses) , North, North Shore, Northwest, River, Southwest, West , , - !2015–2020 , ENC Axess BRT , {{convert, 40, ft, m, abbr=on, disp=br() , CNG , align=center, 15500–15520
17500–17571
18500–18510
20500–20505
(108 buses) , South , {{bulleted list, First CNG powered buses ordered by Pace , - !2020 , New Flyer Xcelsior XD40 , {{convert, 40, ft, m, abbr=on, disp=br() , Diesel , align=center, 20400–20485
(85 buses) , West , , - !2021 , ENC Axess BRT , {{convert, 30, ft, m, abbr=on, disp=br() , Diesel , align=center, 20300–20322
(23 buses) , Fox Valley , - !2023 , Proterra ZX5 MAX , 40ft (12 m) , Electric , N/A (20 buses) , North , {{bulleted list, Announced on 4/5/2022: Proterra won a $26.5M contract from Pace Suburban Bus to deliver 20 Proterra ZX5 Max electric transit buses (675 kWh battery) and EV fleet charging infrastructure, with the first electric bus delivery in 2023. * Individual units in a series may be retired or out of service (also, a few units in a mostly retired series might still be operating). * No buses with fleet numbers ending in 13 (20400–20485 consists of 85 buses, and there is no 20413). * Some routes operated with paratransit or community vehicles.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Pace Suburban Bus website
{{Illinois public transit {{Authority control 1983 establishments in Illinois Bus transportation in Illinois Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois) Transportation in Chicago Transportation in Cook County, Illinois Transportation in Lake County, Illinois Transportation in Will County, Illinois Transportation in Kane County, Illinois Transportation in McHenry County, Illinois Transportation in DuPage County, Illinois Transit agencies in Illinois Special districts in Illinois