Carol Hurtig, who uses a wheelchair, attended a Pace bus public forum in Aurora on Monday because she had heard rumors that the bus route that serves as her lifeline from her senior apartment in Montgomery might be cut.
She left breathing a sigh of relief after Pace planner Daniel Dembinski told her there were no changes planned for Route 522–although other routes are not as secure.
“I take the bus everywhere,” Hurtig said. “It’s my only transportation.”
PACE is considering dropping, restructuring or expanding 45 bus routes in the Fox Valley/Southwest DuPage Initiative, which affects riders in Aurora, Bolingbrook, Lisle, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora, Oswego, Sugar Grove, Warrenville and Woodridge.
Some routes that have existed for many years are no longer needed, said Pace spokesman Michael Bolton.
“A number of jobs and people these routes used to serve aren’t there any more,” he told an audience of concerned bus riders at the Aurora Community Center. “Ridership in Aurora has been going down, down, down for the past 15 years.”
Bolton said Pace is faced with demands for increased services, but has only so many dollars to spend. “So we’re taking a long, hard look at existing [numbers of riders] so we are able to identify the areas where we can move some of the resources around,” he said. “We are spending about $3 million a year in Aurora, and we will continue to spend about $3 million a year here.”
Some little-used routes will be restructured, and some routes to new destinations will be added, he said.
Routes that serve senior centers, medical centers and shopping facilities have been preserved, he said, because many older adults “have no other way to get around.”
Lynn Otte, managing consultant with TranSystems Corp., a consulting firm for transportation planning, said Pace is considering extending services to corridors south along Ogden Avenue to Oswego and the Randall Road corridor west of Aurora. A new route to College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn also is being discussed.
Segments of routes are being considered for elimination if fewer than 12 passengers get on or off those segments throughout the day, Bolton said.
Forums are scheduled in Woodridge Tuesday and Naperville Saturday.
The best way for bus riders to find out if their route is being affected is to attend a forum or call the Fox Valley/Southwest DuPage hot line at 847-228-2499, said Blaine Krage, public relations specialist for Pace. Maps showing all routes and detailing possible changes are on display at the forums.
After the forums are finished, recommendations will go to Pace’s board of directors, Bolton said. A more formal public hearing will then be held.
