Pace (transit)

Pace is the suburban bus and regional paratransit division of the Regional Transportation Authority serving the Chicago metropolitan area. It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to the CTA, Metra, and Pace. The various agencies providing bus service in the Chicago suburbs were merged under the Suburban Bus Division, which rebranded as Pace in 1984. In 2022, Pace had 18.041 million riders.

Pace Suburban Bus

Parent	Regional Transportation Authority
Founded	1983 (1983)
Headquarters	Arlington Heights, Illinois
Locale	Northeastern Illinois
Service area	Cook, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry, and DuPage Counties
Service type	Bus service, paratransit
Routes	218
Fleet	792 buses 616 vans 440 owned vehicles in paratransit service 132 community vehicles
Daily ridership	81,800 (weekdays, Q3 2024)
Annual ridership	20,085,800 (2023)
Fuel type	Diesel, Diesel-Electric, CNG
Executive Director	Melinda Metzger
Website	www.pacebus.com

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 (where Chicago is located), as well as Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry, and DuPage counties, which are the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. Some of Pace's bus routes also go to Chicago and Northwest Indiana. In some areas, notably Evanston, River Forest, Oak Park, Cicero, and Skokie, both Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority provide service.

Many of Pace's route terminals are located at CTA rail stations and bus terminals and Metra stations. The CTA and Pace have shared a payment system since 2014 called Ventra. 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 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 games, Routes 773, 774 and 775 for Chicago White Sox games, Routes 236, 768, 769 and 776 for Chicago Bears games, Route 222 provides extra service to the Allstate Arena in Rosemont for events scheduled there, Route 284 to Six Flags Great America, 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, Edens Expressway, and Stevenson Expressway to avoid traffic congestion.

Pace Pulse

Main article: 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. 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" with the CTA Purple Line's Davis station and the CTA Yellow Line's Dempster–Skokie station. It also connects to Metra stations at Evanston Davis Street on the Union Pacific North Line and Des Plaines 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

Main article: Pace I-90 Express

In December 2016, Pace began an on-highway BRT express bus service between Rosemont Transportation Center and Elgin on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway. The service uses "flex lanes" to avoid traffic and features train station like stops.

ADA services

Pace is responsible for ADA paratransit 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 accessible and have racks accommodating one bicycle, 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 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 transportation purpose (such as demand response service for senior citizens).

Route list

Pace Pulse Routes

Route Name	Northern/Western Terminus	Via	Southern/Eastern Terminus	Operates	Garage
100 Pulse Milwaukee	Golf Mill	Oak Mill Mall	Jefferson Park	Daily	Northwest
101 Pulse Dempster	O'Hare MMF	Downtown Evanston Dempster–Skokie CTA Advocate Lutheran Hospital Des Plaines Metra Allstate Arena	Davis CTA/Metra	Daily	Northwest

Pace Suburban Bus Routes

Route Name	Northern/Western Terminus	Southern/Eastern Terminus	Operates	Garage
208 Golf Road	Davis CTA/Metra	Northwest TC (Schaumburg)	Daily	Northwest
209 Busse Highway	Cumberland CTA	Des Plaines Metra	Weekdays	Northwest
210 Lincoln Avenue	Lincolnwood Town Center	Glenbrook Hospital	Weekdays	North Shore/ Northwest
213 Green Bay Road	Howard CTA	Highland Park Metra	Mon-Sat	North Shore
215 Crawford – Howard	Howard CTA	Old Orchard	Daily	North Shore/ Northwest
221 Wolf Road	Wolf/Piper (Wheeling)	Rosemont CTA	Weekdays	Northwest
223 Elk Grove – Rosemont CTA	Tower/Mark (Bensenville)	Rosemont CTA	Daily	Northwest
225 Central – Howard	Oakton/Harlem (Niles)	Jefferson Park	Weekdays	Northwest
226 Oakton Street	Oakton/Diane (Arlington Heights)	Jefferson Park	Weekdays	Northwest
230 South Des Plaines	Algonquin/Linneman (Mount Prospect)	Rosemont CTA	Weekdays	Northwest
234 Wheeling – Des Plaines	Buffalo Grove Park-n-Ride	Des Plaines Metra	Weekdays	Northwest
240 Dee Road	Golf Mill	Cumberland CTA	Weekdays	Northwest
241 Greenwood – Talcott	Golf Mill	Cumberland CTA	Weekday Rush	Northwest
250 Dempster Street	O'Hare MMF	Davis CTA/Metra	Daily	Northwest
270 Milwaukee Avenue	Glenbrook Hospital	Jefferson Park	Daily	Northwest
272 Milwaukee Avenue North	Hawthorn Mall	Golf Mill	Mon-Sat	North
290 Touhy Avenue	Cumberland CTA	Howard CTA	Daily	Northwest
301 Roosevelt Road	Wheaton Metra DuPage County Judicial Center (weekday rush) Oakbrook Center (weekends)	Forest Park CTA	Daily	West
302 Ogden – Stanley	La Grange Metra	Cermak/Cicero	Mon-Sat	West
303 Forest Park – Rosemont	Rosemont CTA (weekdays) North/9th (Melrose Park) (weekends)	Forest Park CTA	Daily	West
305 East Roosevelt Road	Cicero Blue Line CTA	Forest Park CTA	Daily	West
307 Harlem	Grand/Nordica (Montclare)	Bridgeview Transit Center	Daily	West
308 Medical Center	Forest Park CTA	Hines Hospital (Hines)	Daily	West
309 Lake Street	Elmhurst Metra	Lake/Austin	Daily	West
310 Madison Street – Hillside	Harrison/Wolf (Hillside)	Forest Park CTA	Daily	West
311 Oak Park Avenue	North/Narragansett (Austin)	47th/Lawndale (Lyons)	Daily	West
313 St. Charles Road	Branding/Finley (Downers Grove)	Lake/Austin	Daily	West
314 Ridgeland Avenue	Lake/Cuyler (Oak Park)	Morton College	Mon-Sat	West
315 Austin Boulevard	Lake/Austin	Central/38th (Cicero)	Daily	West
316 Laramie Avenue	Cicero Blue Line CTA	Morton College	Mon-Sat	West
317 Westchester	Balmoral/Canterbury (Westchester)	Forest Park CTA	Daily	West
318 West North Avenue	Northlake Commons (Northlake)	Forest Park CTA	Daily	West
319 Grand Avenue	North/Wolf (Northlake) Bensenville Metra (weekday rush)	Grand/Nordica (Montclare)	Mon-Sat	West
322 Cermak Road – 22nd Street	Yorktown Center	54th/Cermak CTA	Daily	West
330 Mannheim – LaGrange Roads	O'Hare MMF	Archer/Harlem (Summit)	Daily	West
331 Cumberland - 5th Avenue	Cumberland CTA	La Grange Metra (weekdays) Brookfield Village Hall	Daily	West
332 River Road – York Road	Rosemont CTA	Oakbrook Center (weekdays) O'Hare Delta Cargo (weekends)	Daily	West
348 Harvey – Riverdale – Blue Island	Blue Island Metra	Harvey Transportation Center	Weekdays	South
349 South Western	79th/Western (Ashburn)	Harvey Transportation Center	Daily	South
350 Sibley	Morton/Willow (Hammond, IN)	Harvey Transportation Center	Daily	South
352 Halsted	95th/Dan Ryan CTA	Chicago Heights Terminal	Daily	South
353 95th – River Oaks – Homewood	95th/Dan Ryan CTA	Ring Rd & Victory Centre (Calumet City) Homewood Park-n-Ride	Daily	South
354 Harvey – Oak Forest Loop	Harvey Transportation Center (loop)		Mon-Sat	South
356 Harvey – Homewood – Tinley Park	Homewood Metra	Harvey Transportation Center	Daily	South
357 Lincoln Highway	Lawrence Manor (Matteson)	Woodlawn/13th Pl (Ford Heights)	Daily	South
358 Torrence	Hegewisch South Shore (weekdays) Ring Rd & Victory Centre (Calumet City) (Saturdays)	Chicago Heights Terminal	Mon-Sat	South
359 Robbins – South Kedzie Avenue	95th/Dan Ryan CTA	Homewood Metra (weekdays) Stonebridge/Kedzie (Hazel Crest)	Daily	South
360 Harvey – Amazon Monee Express	Harvey Transportation Center	Monee Amazon MDW7	Daily	South
361 Harvey – Laraway Crossings Express	Laraway Crossings Amazon MDW2, MDW4 (Joliet)	Harvey Transportation Center	Daily	South
364 159th Street	Herion/Wheeler (Orland Park)	Morton/Willow (Hammond, IN) Hegewisch South Shore (weekends)	Daily	South
366 Park Forest – Chicago Heights	Downtown Park Forest	Chicago Heights Terminal	Daily	South
367 University Park – Park Forest	Downtown Park Forest	University Park Metra (weekdays) Thornwood House (Saturdays)	Mon-Sat	South
379 Midway – Orland Park	Orland Square Mall	Midway CTA	Daily	Southwest/West
381 95th Street	Moraine Valley Community College	95th/Dan Ryan CTA	Daily	Southwest
383 South Cicero	Midway CTA	Oak Forest Health Center	Daily	Southwest
384 Narragansett / Ridgeland	Midway CTA	111th/Natchez (Worth)	Daily	Southwest
385 87th – 111th – 127th	Midway CTA	Ridgecrest Shopping Center (Crestwood)	Weekdays	Southwest
386 South Harlem	Midway CTA	North Creek Business Center (Tinley Park)	Daily	Southwest
390 Midway CTA – UPS Hodgkins Limited	UPS Hodgkins	Midway CTA	Weekdays	Southwest/West
392 Little Village – UPS Hodgkins	UPS Hodgkins	Cicero/Lake	Weekdays	West
395 95th/Dan Ryan CTA - UPS Hodgkins Limited	UPS Hodgkins	95th/Dan Ryan CTA	Weekdays	Southwest/South
410 East Niles Local	Golf Mill	Village Crossing	Daily	Contracted to Village of Niles
411 West Niles Local			Daily
412 North Niles Circulator	Golf Mill (loop)		Daily
421 Wilmette Avenue	Northfield Plaza (Northfield)	Linden CTA	Weekdays	North Shore
422 Linden CTA – Glenview – Northbrook Court	Northbrook Court Old Orchard	Linden CTA	Weekdays	North Shore/ Northwest
423 Linden CTA – The Glen – Harlem CTA	Linden CTA	Harlem/Bryn Mawr	Weekdays	North Shore/ Northwest
471 Highland Park – Northbrook Court	Highland Park Metra	Northbrook Court Crossroads Shopping Center (Highland Park)	Mon-Sat	Contracted to Highland Park
472 Highland Park – Highwood	Fort Sheridan Metra	US-41/Park Ave (Highland Park)	Mon-Sat
475 Ravinia	Ravinia Park-n-Ride	Ravinia Festival	Special events
501 West Jefferson	Rock Run Business Park (Joliet)	Joliet Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
504 South Joliet	Joliet Transportation Center	Laraway Crossings (Joliet)	Weekdays
505 West Joliet Loop	Joliet Transportation Center		Mon-Sat
507 Plainfield	Louis Joliet Mall	Joliet Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
508 East Joliet	Joliet Transportation Center	Silver Cross Hospital	Mon-Sat
509 Joliet – Fairmont	Joliet Transportation Center	Fairmont School (Fairmont)	Mon-Sat
511 Joliet – Elwood – CenterPoint	Joliet Transportation Center	CenterPoint Intermodal Center	Weekdays
512 Joliet – CenterPoint	Joliet Transportation Center	CenterPoint Intermodal Center	Weekdays
524 West Aurora	Woodman's (North Aurora)	Aurora Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
530 West Galena – Naperville	Galena/Constitution (Aurora)	Naperville Metra	Mon-Sat
533 Northeast Aurora	Walmart (Aurora)	Aurora Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
540 Farnsworth Avenue	Walmart (Aurora)	Rush-Copley Medical Center	Weekdays
541 Northeast Elgin	Elgin Transportation Center (loop)		Mon-Sat
542 Bluff City	Elgin Transportation Center	Elgin High School	Mon-Sat
543 Dundee – Carpentersville	Meadowdale Shopping Center	Elgin Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
546 Orange – Walnut	Elgin Shopping Mall	Elgin Transportation Center	Weekdays
547 Wing Park	Wing/McLean (Elgin)	Elgin Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
548 Highland	Ascension St. Joseph Hospital (Elgin)	Elgin Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
549 South Randall	Meijer (Elgin)	Elgin Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
550 Elgin Transportation Center – Crystal Lake	Crystal Lake Metra	Elgin Transportation Center	Weekdays
552 North State – Spring Hill Mall	Spring Hill Mall	Elgin Transportation Center	Mon-Sat
554 Elgin – Woodfield	Elgin Transportation Center	Northwest TC (Schaumburg)	Mon-Sat
559 Illinois Route 59	Monarch Landing (Naperville)	Fox Valley Mall IL-59/High Meadow	Mon-Sat
561 Castlecrest via McAree	Newcastle/Edgewood (Beach Park)	Waukegan Metra	Mon-Sat
562 Gurnee via Sunset	Gurnee Industrial Park	Waukegan Metra	Weekdays
563 Great Lakes Naval Station	Waukegan Metra	Naval Station Great Lakes	Weekdays
564 Jackson – 14th	Fountain Square	Waukegan Metra	Mon-Sat
565 Grand Avenue	College of Lake County	Waukegan Metra	Daily
566 McAree – Keller	McCall School (Beach Park)	Whispering Oaks Apartments (Waukegan)	Weekday rush
568 Belvidere	Fountain Square	Waukegan Metra	Daily
569 Lewis	Lewis/Edgewood (Waukegan)	Lovell Federal Health Care Center	Weekdays
570 Fox Lake – CLC	Fox Lake Metra	College of Lake County	Mon-Sat
571 Zion	Downtown Zion	Waukegan Metra	Daily
572 Washington	College of Lake County	Waukegan Metra	Mon-Sat
573 Green Bay Road	McCall School (Beach Park)	Whispering Oaks Apartments (Waukegan)	Weekday rush
574 CLC – Hawthorn Mall	College of Lake County	Hawthorn Mall	Mon-Sat

Operational structure

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

Pace bus #2741 in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Pace bus #20405 at Yorktown Center.

Division	Garage Location	Areas Served	Notes
Fox Valley	North Aurora	Aurora and Naperville
Heritage	Plainfield	Will County
McHenry	McHenry	McHenry County
North	Waukegan	Waukegan and Lake County
North Shore	Evanston	North Cook County and southeast Lake County
Northwest	Des Plaines	Northwest Cook County
River	South Elgin	Elgin Area and Far western suburbs
South	Markham	Southern Cook County and DuPage County	The only garage with CNG buses. As of September 2022, under construction to become a CNG bus maintenance facility. (Currently only offers CNG fueling.)
South Holland	South Holland	n/a	Acceptance facility for new buses and maintains electronic equipment on buses
Southwest	Bridgeview	Southwest Cook County and DuPage County
West	Melrose Park	Western Cook and DuPage counties

Bus fleet

In 2011, Pace received its first diesel-electric hybrid buses from Orion Bus Industries. 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 buses from ElDorado National; these buses operate mainly in the southern suburbs.

Year	Manufacturer & Model	Length	Engine Type	Numbers	Divisions	Notes
2006–2010	ENC EZ-Rider II MAX	30 ft (9.1 m)	Diesel	2600–2825 (222 buses)	Fox Valley, Heritage, Highland Park, Northwest, River, Southwest, Village of Niles	Retirement in progress
2011	ENC EZ-Rider II BRT	32 ft (9.8 m)	Diesel	2826–2829 (4 buses)	Fox Valley
2011	Orion VII	30 ft (9.1 m)	Diesel-electric (Hybrid)	2830–2831 (2 buses)	Highland Park	Used on routes 471 and 472. First hybrid buses ordered by Pace, painted in a green livery.
2013–2015, 2017	MCI D4000CT	40 ft (12 m)	Diesel	6950–6979 (30 buses)	Heritage	Used on routes 755, 850, 851 and 855 as part of "Bus on Shoulder" operations on I-55.
2012–2018	ENC Axess BRT	40 ft (12 m)	Diesel	6323–6575 6700–6786 (337 buses)	North, North Shore, Northwest, River, Southwest, West
2015–2020	ENC Axess BRT	40 ft (12 m)	CNG	15500–15520 17500–17571 18500–18510 20500–20505 (108 buses)	South	First CNG powered buses ordered by Pace
2020	New Flyer Xcelsior XD40	40 ft (12 m)	Diesel	20400–20485 (85 buses)	West
2021	ENC Axess BRT	30 ft (9.1 m)	Diesel	20300–20322 (23 buses)	Fox Valley
2023	Proterra ZX5 MAX	40ft (12 m)	Electric	N/A (20 buses)	North	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.

External links

• Pace Suburban Bus website