Wheeling's bus plans stop - temporarily

Wheeling's plans to implement a free bus service have hit a roadblock, but are expected to come to fruition next spring, not this summer.

The village has been meeting with Pace on a monthly basis to iron out a contract that would allow Wheeling to rent two of Pace's 15-passenger buses for the service.

The cost is expected to run about $500 a month, not including the cost of insurance or drivers. The village is estimating the full cost to be about $120,000 a year for the buses, which would be paid for by money from the village's general fund.

Trustee Ken Brady and former Assistant Village Manager Ken Bonder, who has been doing consulting work for the village since his retirement in January, have both been working on starting the program on behalf of the village board since trustees approved it last November.

"We've been meeting with Pace monthly and at our last meeting they told us that they were now buying their buses from a different manufacturer, and they would not be able to meet the demand of our fleet until mid- to late October," he said.

"Once we get the buses some additional work will need to be done to paint them and prep them for service. By then it could be the middle of winter before they're ready, and we were advised by Pace that it wouldn't be best to start the service in winter," Brady said.

"Our goal is to have the bus service up and running by spring, possibly as early as March or April."

The village has created preliminary routes for the service, which will use the Metra Station at Northgate Parkway and Dundee Road as starting points for north and south routes.

The routes may be adjusted and more buses could be added over time, officials say. Brady said the village has worked with Pace to ensure the routes feed into the three existing Pace routes in the village to give residents the best transportation coverage.