You can talk with Pace at upcoming hearings

Got questions or suggestions about Pace service? This is your chance to engage with bus agency staff members at hearings this month held to explain updates in policy.

Pace's changes do not involve any fare increases or route changes, but public hearings are required by law.

The clarifications include Pace defining a major service change as one that affects 25 percent or more of riders on a specific bus route. When that occurs, a public hearing is required.

Also, Pace clarified its “disparate impact” policy which involves minority riders. The bus agency is required to analyze if service changes to bus routes would disproportionately hurt minority riders and, if so, take steps to avoid or minimize them.

Riders also can use the sessions as an “opportunity to engage with us to ask questions or let us know if they have suggestions,” Chairman Richard Kwasneski said in a statement.

Upcoming hearings include:

• 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, at the Crystal Lake Municipal Complex, 100 W. Woodstock.

• 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22, at the DuPage County Government Center, 421 N. County Farm Road, Wheaton.

• 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Waukegan Public Library, 128 N. County Street, Waukegan.

• 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24, at Pace headquarters, 550 W. Algonquin Road, Arlington Heights.

• 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at the Kane County Government Center, 719 S. Batavia Ave., Geneva.

The hearings are required by the federal Civil Rights Act's Title VI that concerns public transit.