Pace expands bus service through Kane, McHenry counties

Pace has extended its Randall Road bus route from its northern end in Elgin to the Crystal Lake Metra Station, expanding hours and adding a new midday service through Kane and McHenry counties.

Previously, buses operated between the Pace Elgin Transportation Center in downtown Elgin - near the Metra Station - and the Northwest Corporate Park, providing service to Judson University, the Big Timber Metra Station, Sherman Hospital and other destinations.

The route extension provides new service to riders in Carpentersville, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and Crystal Lake, connecting with the Metra Union Pacific-Northwest Line at the Crystal Lake Metra Station and other Pace routes serving McHenry County.

Buses along that route now run from 5:30 a.m. - an hour earlier than before - until 8:22 p.m. - more than an hour later than the previous schedule. The previous route did not operate between 9:43 a.m. and 3:15 p.m., which changes with the new schedule maintaining service throughout midday. Buses also will operate more frequently during certain parts of the day.

During the first week of service, 24 riders used the service along the expanded route, averaging about five riders daily.

"The new section of routing has modest ridership, but we believe that will trend upward over time as we continue to promote the route and we work with the communities to build awareness," Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot said. "We typically don't do projections of ridership, but we do look at trip generators that are located around a route. There is a lot of potential. There are connections to three different Metra stations, which is somewhat unique. There are a number of retail destinations along Randall Road, (and) further north there are a number of residential developments."

Those residents now can commute easier to employment destinations, such as the Northwest Corporate Park near Randall Road and Northwest Parkway in Elgin.

"We are excited to provide this new connection between Elgin and Crystal Lake, which will provide better access to jobs, shopping and other destinations on the Randall Road corridor in McHenry and Kane Counties," Pace board Chairman Richard Kwasneski said in a news release. "We're grateful to the local communities for their support on this project, and particularly to the RTA (Regional Transportation Authority) for providing the important ICE program funding for the additional service."

Connecting Crystal Lake with Elgin was a key recommendation of the McHenry County Transit Plan, prompting the route expansion.

The RTA provided $524,666 to fund the service extension for one year.

"It allows us to try service extensions like this in order to determine whether there is a transit market available," Wilmot said. "If so, we can look at our options for making the service permanent."

Typically, Pace expects to recover about 36 percent of its operating cost from fares collected.

"Some routes do quite better than that. Others are below that 36 percent threshold," Wilmot said. "Altogether, transit throughout the region, including Pace, Metra and CTA, we recover about 50 percent of our costs of operation from the fare box."

For new schedules, visit the Passenger Notices section of PaceBus.com.