Federal Stimulus Enhances Pace Infrastructure

New, thirty-foot buses will modernize Pace’s fleet

President Obama recently signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, perhaps better known as the Federal Stimulus Plan. Pace will be receiving roughly $33 million to fund infrastructure improvements.

As called for in the legislation, the money must be spent on “shovel-ready” projects, meaning that it should be used within 180 days of being received. Federal guidelines state that this money must be used for capital infrastructure, such as the purchase of buses and construction of buildings, and cannot be used to fund operations. As a result, the money cannot be used to enhance or expand bus service.

Pace has been working for several months to develop plans for the stimulus funding, and will easily meet this deadline. Doing so may enable Pace access to additional funding if other parts of the country aren’t able to use their stimulus money in the time allowed.

Once the funding is received, Pace will purchase the following:

• 190 Paratransit vehicles

• 58 Thirty-foot fixed route buses

• Additional vehicles including service trucks and vans for operational supervision

Newer buses use less fuel, cleaner emissions and have lower maintenance costs, which will immediately help to reduce our operating expenses. Earlier this year, the State of Illinois approved two capital investment plans that will provide Pace with approximately $205 million over the next five years to further our efforts toward the replacement of aging vehicles and making other infrastructure improvements.