With ridership sliding dangerously low on a Pace bus route serving southwest Elmhurst, city officials have expressed concern that the route could be canceled.
City Manager Thomas P. Borchert said officials recently were notified by the suburban transit service that Pace Route 642 Southwest Elmhurst had performed below minimum farebox-recovery standards for the last three quarters. The Pace standard is that at least 18 percent of operating costs on a route be covered by farebox receipts.
“When we get these warning letters, we are definitely concerned that the route could be removed,” Borchert said. “We have lost a number of shuttle routes here in recent years, and we are engaged in getting the word out to people that they should take advantage of the 642 route. It’s use it or lose it.”
Blaine Krage, a Pace spokesman, said the transit service also has a minimum ridership requirement of 50 passenger boardings a day on a route. In June, an average of 44 passengers boarded the 642 route bus each day, Krage said. The July average was 31 a day. Figures for August are not yet available.
“The route isn’t at the point where it is in imminent danger of being eliminated next month, but whenever ridership is low we do have concerns,” Krage said.
Krage added that ridership had picked up recently with the start of the school season. The Route 642 bus makes two midday trips on school days to serve students at Bryan Junior High, Timothy Christian, Hawthorne, York and Immaculate Conception Schools and Elmhurst College.
The bus also makes four trips each morning through the southwest part of the city to serve commuters headed for the Elmhurst Metra station and four trips each night to serve returning commuters.