Rosemont launches lunchtime bus service hoping to help restaurants

Rosemont began a lunchtime bus service today that will transport workers from village office parks to area restaurants.

The service — free for riders — will help reduce lunchtime traffic congestion on village roads, especially when conventions are taking place, and eliminate the hassle of workers having to drive or search for parking during their limited lunch hour, Mayor Bradley Stephens said.

“It’s moving more people in bigger units,” Stephens said.

The Rosemont village board recently approved an agreement with Pace Suburban Bus Service to run the lunchtime bus circulator for roughly $2,700 a month.

“It’s a 60/40 split with Pace. They are subsidizing the rest,” Stephens said.

Two Pace buses will provide the service from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday at roughly 10-minute intervals. The buses will make four designated stops along the route, which runs along Devon, Higgins and River roads, east of the Jane Addams Tollway.

Stephens said once the upscale Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall opens Aug. 1 along Balmoral Avenue, the service will be expanded to transport office workers and residents to the mall between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

There will be pick up points at multiple locations in town, including the Chicago Transportation Authority’s Blue Line station, the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, and the MB Financial Park at Rosemont.

“We’re working out the details of that right now,” Stephens said.