A 50% overall spike in bus service across the region is among the promises in Pace’s ambitious ReVision plan…
“Travel patterns have changed, and fewer people commute downtown every day. Public input and ridership trends show growing demand for nontraditional transit trips — and when we increase frequency and make our service faster, ridership grows.”
The aim is to increase ridership with more frequent buses and reduction of transit deserts in far-flung communities from rural McHenry to south suburban Cook counties…
Another priority is 50% growth on fixed routes, Pace Pulse lines on corridors like the Dempster Street Line and Cermak/22nd Street Line, as well as On-Demand service.
Given the difficulties bus service has faced in the Chicago suburbs for decades, here is what I could image would provide hope for increased ridership:
- Increased suburban densities. Suburban areas sprawl out from the city but a number of suburban population centers in the Chicago region have pursued denser development in their downtowns and other locations. Buses could link some of these job and residence centers where driving is currently the only option.
- High gas prices. When would suburbanites find it too expensive to drive everywhere and instead take advantages of bus routes when they could? It might require really expensive gasoline.
- A changing view of buses and mass transit compared to drive. Americans tend to drive when they have the resources to do so. They like the freedom driving offers and prefer not to be with others. Could bus travel have a higher status in the suburbs?
- Increasingly bad traffic. More residents and more vehicles on the road could push people to mass transit.
And the article notes that this is possible because of funding created through the creation of the Northern Illinois Transportation Authority.
Driving is so part of American suburban life that it will be interesting to see if this expanded bus service is successful. Suburbs change – but will they change in such a way that bus travel becomes common?
