News

Pace riders plead for routes

Posted October 19, 2009 11:00 pm

Marni Pyke

It's not just losing a bus route, it's losing a chance to get an education, hold down a job and stay healthy, Pace riders said Monday at a hearing into service cuts and fare increases.

The transit agency is facing shortfalls in its suburban bus and paratransit budgets. To bridge the gap, Pace is proposing eliminating or reducing service on 51 bus routes across the region. The routes were picked because of low ridership, Pace planners said. In total, they represent 750,000 trips a year.

Paratransit, Pace's pickup service for disabled individuals, would see fares going up to $3.50 in the suburbs and up to $5 in Chicago.

More than 65 people from local workers to Harper College students to elected officials spoke their minds during the forum in Arlington Heights.

"I don't want to lose my job," Pace rider Patricia Rush said. The Route 616 bus she takes to work in Itasca is slated for elimination. "There goes my income, there goes my health care, there goes my livelihood."

Harper College President Ken Ender presented Pace leaders with a resolution asking the agency to avoid cutting routes that serve the Palatine campus and pledged to work with the agency to try and avoid a worst-case scenario.

Harper Student Senate President Carl Evans told Pace that bus Routes 696 and 699 are a part of life for many undergraduates. "For some it's environmental responsibility, for others it's an economic reality," he said. "If you deny these two routes, you're denying students the opportunity to realize their own potential."

Pace officials have defended the changes saying they have little choice because sales tax revenues, which fund area transit, have dipped significantly.

"Pace is experiencing several financial hardships," Pace board Director Vernon Squires said. "These services are our least productive routes."

But Mount Prospect resident Larry Alanis said bus Route 699 is his livelihood. Cutting buses "will mess around with a lot of people's lives," he said. "Don't cut the routes, we need them."

Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder also made a case for keeping local bus routes. "Mass transit is an absolute essential," she said. "We don't all have a car we can just jump into."

Evelyn Graves of Arlington Heights, who is blind, said she needs Pace services to get to her doctor. "Without it, I wouldn't survive," she said.

Pace is also instituting $2.7 million in administrative cuts to save money that include employee furloughs and cuts to the marketing budget.

Pace officials have some hopes that Illinois lawmakers will approve legislation giving priority to paratransit when transit funds are dispensed but the measure is opposed by Metra and the Chicago Transit Authority.

One-way paratransit trips currently cost $2.25 in Chicago, $2.50 in the collar counties and $3 in suburban Cook and DuPage counties but the fare will be set at $3 across the region on Nov. 15 - as an attempt to solve a 2009 budget gap.

Pace will hold additional hearings this week.

• 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. today, College of DuPage West Campus - OCC Bldg-128A, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn

• 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Kane County Government Center Auditorium, 719 S. Batavia Ave., Geneva

• 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Waukegan Public Library, 128 N. County St., Waukegan

Threatened species Here are some of the routes that could be eliminated by Pace: • 326 Weekday West Irving Park • 535 Weekday Fox Valley Shuttle • 616 Weekday The Chancellory Connection • 637 Weekday Wood Dale - Rosemont CTA • 654 Weekday South Glen Ellyn • 657 Weekday Bloomingdale/Glendale Heights • 661 Weekday Southwest Westmont • 668 Weekday Burr Ridge-Hinsdale • 669 Weekday Western Spring-Indian Head Park • 676 Weekday Naperville-Cress Creek • 685 Weekday Naperville-West Wind Estates • 687 Weekday Naperville-Farmstead • 689 Weekday Naperville-Hobson Village • 690 Weekday Arlington Heights Road • 696 Weekday Woodfield-Arlington Hts.-Randhurst • 699 Weekday Palatine-Woodfield-Elk Grove • 711 Weekday Wheaton-Addison • 767 Weekday Congress/Douglas-Prairie Stone • 781 Weekday North Naperville Office Complex • 821 Weekday Woodridge-Belmont • 822 Weekday Woodridge-Lisle • 1012 Weekday Evergreen Park-Prairie Stone • 643/645 Weekday NW Elmhurst-Elmhurst Industrial • 234 Saturday Wheeling-Des Plaines • 422 Saturday Linden CTA-Glenview-Northbrook Court • 528 Saturday Aurora Transportation Center-Rush Copley Medical • 529 Saturday Randall Road-5th Street • 535 Saturday Fox Valley Shuttle • 715 Saturday Central DuPage • 747 Saturday DuPage Connection • 209 Sunday Busse Highway • 223 Sunday Elk Grove-Rosemont CTA.

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