Idling Pace buses waste precious fuel
I am writing to express my disappointment with the management and staff of the Pace Suburban Bus Service. With the state of fuel prices today and the impact those costs have on our economy, there is little tolerance for waste. It is precisely because of these rising costs that the need for public transportation has exploded in the suburbs and I am glad to see that Pace has met these needs by providing affordable commuter bus service.
However, I have watched on numerous occasions as Pace buses idle for up to 20 minutes while waiting for passengers at Metra stations. Idling their engine, they waste fuel, emit noxious smoke that contains cancer-causing agents and exacerbates asthma, and pollute the environment with greenhouse gases. The average Pace bus in the North and West suburbs run a 30-minute route from one terminal to the other and spends the next 15 minutes or more idling. Close to one third of their fuel is consumed while they are not in transit!
Since 2006, Illinois has had in place a law that prohibits idling for more than 10 minutes, of diesel vehicles over 8,000 pounds, or for over 15 minutes if the vehicle must idle to maintain the comfort of passengers other than the driver on the bus. The full text of the law can be found at: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=094-0845.
Over the last several weeks, I have approached many Pace bus drivers while they were idling at Metra stations and asked them whether they knew about the anti-idling law. All of them said they had never heard of it and disregarded my suggestion that they should turn off their engines to save fuel and promote healthy air quality. So I wrote to Pace's customer service. Twice. And I followed up with e-mails and phone calls. At one point, I was told that my "issue" was being investigated. I have not heard from them since.
Certainly for many days this summer, temperatures will call for extra idling to maintain air conditioning inside buses. But the fall season is only a few months away, and with the sluggish response of Pace's management, it may behoove us to start calling for policy changes now to ensure we all breathe easier in September.
Julia Geynisman
Naperville