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Pace Development Guidelines |
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Pace Development Guidelines |
B. PURPOSE
In Chicago's suburbs, Pace now provides public transportation in the form of fixed route bus, express bus, dial-a-ride, ADA curb-to-curb services, subscription bus, vanpool and circulator operations. Pace, the Suburban Bus Division of the RTA, is a public agency established by an act of the Illinois Legislature in 1984. Having jurisdiction in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties (Figure II-1), Pace provides public transportation service throughout suburban northeastern Illinois.
Pace's service area has a total population of over four million and an employment base of nearly two million. Pace serves over 39 million customers on an annual basis. As of 1993, Pace supported 234 routes, 58 dial-a-ride operations, 10 ADA curb-to-curb service projects for people with disabilities and numerous custom services, using both publicly and privately owned carriers under contract to provide the various operations.
Pace is continually expanding and restructuring its transit service to reach newly developed areas. However, public transit is not achieving the levels of use necessary to reduce congestion in some suburban areas. Part of the problem lies in the fact that suburban travelers are very selective regarding their mode of transportation and generally prefer private vehicles. To encourage ridership, Pace must be competitive in terms of travel time, comfort, convenience and cost as compared to the automobile. Fast, direct and reliable service must be offered. Schedules must be flexible to meet the changing needs of the suburban transit user and service must be easily accessible and frequent. Additionally, transit facilities must be, both in perception and reality, safe and accessible.
Pace is tailoring its service to meet the ever-changing demands of the suburban traveler in an effort to provide better service to its customers, increase ridership levels and to help reduce the traffic congestion that the suburbs are experiencing. Yet, as Pace expands its service to meet development expansion and population needs, it is finding that site development greatly--and usually adversely--affects transit's ability to provide service. Often, developments are not accessible or conducive to public transportation and Pace is experiencing difficulty in reaching the population it is trying to serve; walking distances to transit stops are long and indirect and roadway design and construction precludes transit vehicles from serving a development.
The design of transit-oriented developments is needed for Pace to be successful in meeting traveler needs and providing fast, efficient service. Pace depends on the support of the public and private sectors because development decisions are generally made outside the realm of the transit industry. To develop site designs which incorporate public transit and offer high accessibility, safety and convenience to transit users, the cooperative efforts of developers, municipal officials, planners and transit providers are necessary.
Pace has developed this manual, Pace Development Guidelines, to encourage development designs that incorporate public transportation considerations and the use of demand management techniques for controlling traffic congestion, improving job accessibility and conserving public and private resources. The manual outlines transit vehicle operating and physical characteristics and also offers design options for transit vehicle accommodation. In addition, other traffic mitigation techniques are offered for consideration. These guidelines are designed for use by municipalities and individuals within the development and business communities who are interested in encouraging traffic reduction and facilitating the regional development process. The purpose of these guidelines is not to supersede the authority of local governments, employers and developers, but rather to offer complementary criteria for the design of the suburban environment.
Revised: November, 1999.