PACE lays out "Revision" plan for Lake County: electric garage, expanded Sunday service and new routes

PACE Executive Director Melinda Metzger and planning staff presented the agency’s "Revision" draft network and Lake County‑specific pilots to the Lake County Public Works & Transportation Committee on May 5.

Metzger said PACE is preparing a phased electrification of its Lake County garage, including an outdoor charging shelter already completed and an interior garage build‑out slated to start in summer. "We're now beginning to get ready for phase 2, which is to complete the entire garage," she told the committee, adding PACE expects to expand from one electric bus in Lake County to about a dozen as buses arrive this year and aims to electrify its full fleet over the long term.

Why it matters: PACE framed Lake County as an early site for fleet electrification because local routes are sufficiently short to avoid midday charging; Metzger cautioned that electric bus delivery is constrained by few U.S. manufacturers and delayed orders, a practical limit to the speed of the rollout.

PACE Chief Planning Officer Eric Llewellyn outlined a draft network that would shift service toward more frequent corridors while keeping some coverage service. The plan would run most fixed routes seven days a week in Lake County, add more routes operating at 30‑minute or better frequencies, and create a new Route 575 linking Downtown Waukegan with the Hawthorne Mall in Vernon Hills. "There'd be more frequent service and improved hours of service on most of the routes in the county," Llewellyn said.

Metzger and Llewellyn said the changes respond to pandemic‑era shifts in travel patterns, citing ridership increases on weekend and night pilots. Metzger said pilots have shown weekend ridership growth of roughly 20% and pointed to special requests — including outreach from the Great Lakes Naval Base — in shaping weekend service decisions.

Local pilots: Metzger described two Lake County programs: a school partnership with Waukegan high schools that gives students a pass for regular travel and a station‑based Van Gogh vanpool pilot that lets subscribers reserve a vehicle parked at stations for last‑mile trips. "You subscribe in advance... you call the day before," Metzger said. PACE supplies vehicles, maintenance and training for Van Gogh and charges a modest fare per trip.

Funding and timing: Metzger noted the Northern Illinois transit governance changes (the NEDA/NITA transition) take effect June 1 and that regional vote and tax actions by the RTA could release funds. She cited an RTA estimate that about $564,000,000 could be available regionally in 2026 if a collar‑county sales tax increase is approved, while cautioning that allocation and service standards will be set by the new regional board.

Implementation concerns: Committee members raised persistent implementation questions: how service standards will be weighted under the new regional law, how sidewalk and shelter gaps in suburban corridors will be funded, and whether hybrid on‑demand services would be fairly evaluated. Metzger said PACE can provide shelters and pads but not sidewalks, which are usually municipal, county or state responsibilities; she encouraged local governments to coordinate on walkability and permitting to speed shelter installation.

What comes next: PACE says the draft network is a proposal for public outreach. Metzger and Llewellyn asked the committee to encourage county representation on the new regional board and said their next step is public engagement once the NEDA board’s policies and available funding are clearer.