Pace's Randall Road route might see reductions

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Despite the county’s hopes to improve public transportation along the Randall Road corridor, Pace budget deficits may be cutting services there and elsewhere around the county.

At a meeting Monday morning with Pace, county officials were informed that several routes, including one along Randall Road, are being considered for reductions because of budget shortfall of $6.5 million.

Steve Coffinbargar, chief of planning and programming for the county’s department of transportation, said the proposed service elimination will mainly affect Saturday services on routes that “don’t meet the threshold for ridership.” 

Those lines pegged for Saturday elimination include the Randall Road Route 529, Route 528 Aurora Transportation Center/ Rush Copley Medical Center, as well as the DuPage Connection Route 747.  

The proposed plan also includes the complete elimination of the Fox Valley Shuttle Route 535, which provides service northbound and southbound between the Route 59 Metra Station and several major shopping centers.

Doug Sullivan, marketing manager for Pace, said that in 2005, officials thought extending the Randall Road corridor was going to be “very valuable,” but ridership “hasn’t grown the way everyone thought it might.”

Pace expects the service reductions to save $3.8 million, adding to another $2.7 million in savings through administrative cuts, including employee furloughs and marketing cutbacks.

Though news of the budget deficit did not come as a surprise, it does come at an “unfortunate” time, Coffinbargar said.

Just last December, the county gave $25,000 to help fund a study by the RTA, which put up $100,000 in funding to determine how to improve service and increase ridership in the area.  The results of the study are expected in 2010, Coffinbargar said. 

Sullivan said Pace's board of directors will vote on the budget Nov. 11 at their regular meeting. 

More information about the proposed budget can be found at www.pacebus.com/sub/about/annual_budget.asp.