Pace (transit)

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/7 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.[8]

Pace began operating a new rapid transit service between the Jefferson Park Transit Center and Golf Mill Shopping Center on August 11, 2019.[9] The new Pulse service overlaps with part of Pace route 270 which saw a reduction in the route's service frequency.[10]

The Pace Pulse line on Dempster Street spans Evanston, Skokie, and Des Plaines, and terminates at O'Hare International Airport.[11] The Dempster Pulse line inaugural run was on August 13, 2023 with a full launch in fall 2023. [12] 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.

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.[13]

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.[14][15]

Pace is responsible for ADA paratransit service in its service area, and, effective July 1, 2006, for paratransit service in Chicago.[16] Pace also coordinates various Dial-a-Ride projects, usually sponsored by various municipalities and townships.[17] One of the largest is Ride DuPage, sponsored by Du Page County Human Services.[18] 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.[19]

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.[20] 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).[21]