Talks between three townships and two villages have concluded as additional times and destination for the Pace Dial-A-Ride program are expected to roll out Feb. 1, along with some rate increases.
Dial-A-Ride is a busing service provided by Pace that transports senior citizens and people with disabilities from the curb of their homes to the curb of a requested destination. Various municipalities buy into the program on a local level.
Libertyville, Libertyville Township and Mundelein for 30 years have collectively bought a package and named it the “Central Lake Partners,” according to Libertyville Township Supervisor Kathleen O’Connor. Residents can pay $1 and get a ride to anywhere in those three boundaries between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
New times and destinations are being added thanks to a $164,000 federal grant that was collectively matched by Pace and Lake County, according to O’Connor, who chairs the Lake County Coordinated Transportation Services Committee.
“Everyone involved was keenly focused on their constituents’ need for education and jobs, while recognizing that health care was another demand,” O’Connor said. “We had to make some difficult decisions with the money, but I think we were respectful.”
Starting Feb. 1, O’Connor said, the rate for rides in the normal zone will increase to $3 per one-way trip; however, a new array of services will be covered by the $328,000 pool of new federal, county and Pace money.
The new busing hours will be 5:30 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. and new destinations include anywhere in Fremont and Shields townships, O’Connor said, because they joined in applying for the grant.
Other destinations, as described in a Libertyville village memo, include College of Lake County, Advocate Condell Outpatient Services center and Northwestern Grayslake Outpatient Services center — all in Grayslake — as well as the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Waukegan, Lake County Health Department in North Chicago, Captain James A. Lovell Veteran’s Affairs facility in North Chicago, the Lake Forest Metra Station and shopping centers on the south side of Townline Road in Vernon Hills.
“Through discussions, we kept hearing people say they were unhappy about the bus taking them to the (Westfield Hawthorn) mall but not across the street, which is technically Vernon Township,” O’Connor said. “Target was the popular request. People like to shop and get their prescriptions there. Now we can take them.”
Any trips to the new destinations, however, will cost $10 and reoccurring medical trips, such as dialysis, will cost another $5 per one-way trip, according to the Libertyville memo.
“There’s nothing worse than rolling out a program you can’t sustain,” O’Connor said. “The grant money is designed to help us identify patterns that could lead to further cost-saving partnerships and scheduling. The longer we spread the money out, the more data we can collect.”
All riders will be required to register in a new system so times and trips can be recorded. O’Connor said her staff will spend much of January contacting and re-registering current riders.
The proposal was unveiled in September and the five municipalities signed off at various points throughout December.
Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler said the $1 regular fare is not realistic anymore given the rising costs over 30 years, but he’s glad it stayed in place during the harsh recession. He said he hopes the collected data helps pinpoint efficiencies that will both maintain the expanded services and prevent future fare hikes.
One of the stated goals earlier this year was to create a countywide system, but O’Connor said after talking with 17 other township leaders, she realized that may be a hefty goal.
“There’s a lot of money being spent on transportation in Lake County, but not all for the same reasons,” O’Connor said. “It’s not that other townships and villages aren’t interested in building a larger, shared network, but they don’t want to lose their local focus. That’s something we’ll probably look at and slowly think about over time. For right now, we’ve expanded our reach and are working toward making it sustainable.”
Vernon Hills, for example, operates its own completely free senior bus service that in 2014 gave 2,216 rides, according to Vernon Hills Assistant Village Manager Joe Carey. In June, Vernon Hills considered leasing a bus from Pace for $100 a month while saving up money to buy a new van, but meeting minutes show village trustees on Nov. 17 voted to spend the $55,000 now instead of agreeing to leasing terms that would limit times and make the bus open to the general public, rather than only Vernon Hills senior citizens.
O’Connor said Wakegan and Vernon townships have similar specialized offerings.
Twitter @Rick_Kambic
