McHenry County seniors and disabled individuals will soon have a ride-service option for their public transportation. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

McHenry County senior citizens and people with disabilities will be able to book an Uber at a discount starting June 1 thanks to the MCRide Connect program. 

The program is a collaboration between the McHenry County Department of Transportation, Pace suburban bus transportation agency and Uber. It will work similarly to Pace’s long-running Taxi Access Program, which subsidizes taxi trips for riders with disabilities within the city of Chicago and the neighboring suburbs.  

Under MCRide Connect, eligible McHenry County residents pay the first $4 for any Uber trip within the county, with the county covering up to $20 of anything on top of that. Riders will have to cover anything above $20.

The program is part of Pace’s push to expand travel options for riders in the collar counties, by, among other things, experimenting with subsidizing ride-hailing trips.  

This is especially important in McHenry County, which has fewer transit options of any collar county, especially during evenings and weekends. Officials also acknowledged a stumbling block — in the more rural parts of the country, there aren’t as many Uber drivers as there might be in, for example, Crystal Lake, which would make it harder for riders to take advantage of the program. 

Unlike TAP, which is limited to riders with disabilities, MCRide Connect will be open to seniors as well. Riders must live in McHenry County and have a Reduced Fare Permit issued by the Regional Transportation Authority, and an account with Uber. Once the rider gets a permit, he or she will need to fill out a MCRide Connect Enrollment Form on the program page at the county website.  

Jazmin Vega, a county transportation planner, warned that it may take a week, if not longer, for residents to get the RTA permit, and another seven to 10 days to get enrolled in the program. Once that’s out of the way, she said, riders will receive electronic vouchers that they can use when booking Uber trips. 

Getting an RTA Reduced Fare Permit also allows riders to take regular Pace fixed routes for free. 

Transit access is a major issue at McHenry County, which has fewer services than any other county within the Chicagoland six-county region. It has only one Metra line, Union Pacific Northwest Line, and McHenry branch is rush-hour only. The county is served by only four Pace bus routes. Route 550 links together downtown Elgin and downtown Crystal Lake, mostly traveling along Randall Road corridor. Route 806 links downtown Crystal Lake and downtown Fox Lake, with stops at the City of McHenry and Johnsburg. Route 807 links together Woodstock and McHenry. Route 808 runs parallel to Union Pacific Northwest Line between Chrystal Lake and Harvard, providing service to intermediate destinations.  

But as Scott Hennings, the county’s assistant director of transportation, noted, only Route 550 provides off-peak service, while the other three are rush-hour only. None of them operate on weekends. 

“We got really one true fixed route [in McHenry County] — Route 550,” he said. “The other three, nobody can build their lives around those. They stop running for five hours in the middle of the day.” 

The county operates MCRide Dial-a-Ride service to help fill those gaps. It uses Pace minibuses to pick up and drop off passengers anywhere in the county, and, unlike the county’s fixed routes, it runs on weekends. But the buses are on first-come, first-serve basis, and the service guide warns that anyone who books a trip less than two hours ahead of time may not get a spot.  

Vega said that both MCRide programs fundamentally serve the same purpose – to give most transit-dependent riders more options. 

“With MCRide Connect, the goal is to fill the gaps that MCRide might not be able to fill, but in the way that compliments each other,” she said. 

Vega said that, when the planning for the program started a few years ago, the dial-a-ride service stopped running at 6 p.m. Last year, the hours were extended to 11 p.m. — but there were still riders who might need service later than that, such as shift workers. 

When asked about the challenges the program might face, Vega pointed to potential scarcity of drivers. 

“One of the challenges that we’re anticipating for is the availability of Uber drivers,” she said. “Even opening the app right now, if I was at Woodstock, I wouldn’t have a difficult time [booking a trip], but if I were in a more remote area of the county, it might be harder to get a trip on Uber.” 

Another issue, Vega said, was that “there aren’t that many riders in McHenry County who currently have [the RTA Reduced Fare Permit],” so they’ve been trying to get the word out to make sure as many eligible riders as possible receive them in time for the June 1 launch. 

“We’re really focused on getting the MCRide Connect program launched, and get prepared for that date,” she said. 

For more information about MCRide Connect, visit https://www.mchenrycountyil.gov/departments/transportation/mcride-connect