Route 379 Pace bus leaves the Midway Airport transit center. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

If the state of Illinois comes through with the extra transit funding, the Pace suburban bus agency plans to use most of the money to add new routes in the areas that don’t have much bus service — something that would primarily benefit the collar counties.

During the March 19 meeting of the Pace Board of Directors, the agency got an update on the ongoing ReVision bus network restructuring plan. Consultants Walker & Associates have been developing three scenarios — one that assumes a 10 percent funding increase and two that assume a 50 percent funding increase. The Plus 50 Ridership scenario assumed that the funding would be used to improve services based on ridership demand, and Plus 50 Coverage would focus on extending the bus route network to as many destinations as possible.

Walker & Associates consultant Daniel Costantino previously said that the Plus 50 scenarios represented the extremes, and recommended that the board choose some combination of the two. During the March meeting, the board agreed to a 70/30 split, with 70 percent of the funding increase going toward expanding the route network and 30 percent going toward increasing service. The directors representing the collar counties argued that the current network doesn’t serve the current needs of their residents and businesses.

All of this is contingent on the Illinois General Assembly to come through with around $1.5 billion in new state funding for Chicago area transit agencies, which are facing the fiscal cliff as COVID-19 stimulus funding runs out and revenues haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels. If the funding doesn’t materialize, Pace will not only pause ReVision, but reduce service hours and end weekend service altogether.

The current Pace network was consolidated from municipal and regional bus systems throughout the suburbs. While the bus agency changed some routes, there are routes that haven’t seen significant changes in the past 40 years. In the collar counties, service tends to be concentrated around major cities such as Waukegan, Aurora, Naperville, Elgin and Joliet.

During the March meeting, Costantino proposed splitting ReVision into two phases. The first phase would be short-term improvements within the current budget.

“Within the status quo level of service, you cannot make massive changes, but you can make a whole lot of smaller changes that could be impactful locally, that could make service easier to use, that could make it more consistent across the region, that increase service on weekends and could generally help people get where they need to go faster, while continuing to generally serve the same areas,” Costantino said.

He reiterated the comments during the earlier presentation about each Plus 50 scenario having positives and negatives. Plus 50 Coverage would mean more riders would have bus stops closer to where they live, while the service they get might not be frequent. Plus 50 would mean more frequent service and some areas gaining service, but it would also mean more areas losing service.

Director Erin Smith, who represents McHenry County, argued that the system’s history makes it ripe for an overhaul, pointing to Elgin as an example.

“There’s a history to those routes that may no longer be rooted in facts and ridership needs,” Smith said.

Director Linda Soto, who represents Lake County, said that this was an issue in all collar counties, pointing to the population growth, and the increase in warehouse and industrial jobs in the suburbs.

“The farms are gone,” she said. “We have new employees, we have hospitals. Lake County is home to many manufacturers.”

Soto believed that providing frequent service was important, since a convenient route would be less practical if riders have to wait an hour to catch it.

Soto also argued that the system comes up short when it comes to serving community colleges. The College of Lake Conty is the largest Lake County Pace bus hub outside Waukegan, but Harper College in northwest suburban Palatine is only served by one bus route, and McHenry Community College is only served by the rush hour only Route 808.

Director William McLeod, who represents northwest suburban Cook County, pointed to the growth of suburbs within his area such as Palatine and Schaumburg. While Pace used to serve much of Palatine, Route 604 currently only serves the village’s northeast corner. He also noted that all Cook County residents pay the same RTA portion of the sales tax whether they get service or not.

“You’ll see more ridership if you see more coverage in the area,” McLeod said. “And people have been taxed, and people should get some returns on that too.”

Smith agreed with the tax argument, reiterating what has long been a grievance of McHenry County officials — that the county gets less Metra and Pace service than the other five counties within the RTA region. That and limited suburb-to-suburb connections with other counties, she said, has consequences for her constituents.

“I have an example in McHenry County, of someone who is currently unemployed, poverty level, found a really good job with benefits about 40 minutes away in the next county over,” Smith said. “The only option for public transportation would’ve taken him 4 hours each way. His only choice was to travel to Chicago [by Metra] and to travel back out, and it wouldn’t been 8-hour commute. So that’s just an example of someone who could’ve bene lifted out of poverty and provided for his young family if he just had access to a bus.”

Director Thomas Marcucci, who represents DuPage County, argued that part of the problem is that the funding split between CTA, Metra and Pace hasn’t caught up with the population and economic shifts other directors described.

“Chicago metropolitan area has been struggling to maintain its commercial and manufacturing base for decades,” he said. “One of the ways you can attract capital investment from employers is to make sure they’re able to [get to their jobs].”