May not always be on time depending on traffic conditions and buses getting caught by freight trains thanks to street level railroads, but Pace is consistently on time, clean, safe, and reliable. Much better than CTA buses that's for sure in many more ways than one. One thing I don't like about Pace is the fact that there are so many routes that are short such as 308 and the 357 which I use to take. Another thing being that not all routes run when they should on weeldays and on weekends, two things that CTA looks to have corrected a long time ago. Otherwise, all I can say is that it's recommended. read more

They left a disabled man stranded at work. No call, no text but they had his number as they texted him for the morning pick up. Their reason? No drivers available. What imbeciles are accepting reservations, dispatching and making sure they are staffed for the day? Stay away if you can. read more

Pace is good, but there are some flaws to the service such as delays. They have to get better service than that. I think they should be on time, than be delayed. read more

Well, gotta say Pace has been the gamut of experiences for me. They have ranged from being very enjoyable, to being an annoying necessary evil(due to the fact that sadly, the only access to a car I have is using my parent's one). Until my very recent experience waiting for an eastbound #92 bus, the only times I'd ever been blown off by any bus drivers waiting for a bus had been for Pace routes(*looks mostly at the older white male drivers who've been guilty of that*). Another annoying aspect about Pace is you have to carefully research the frequency of buses on whatever route you're taking to somewhere and/or make sure the time you wanna catch a bus isn't a short run that does not cover a whole route, so that you don't end up waiting 60-90 minutes in the middle of the burbs at times for a bus, and/or get totally stranded in the burbs after a last bus for a route. Now for the good about Pace. The seats are much more comfy than on CTA buses, and usually cleaner too. They do a decent job of providing Pace schedules on buses for whatever bus you may need to take somewhere, in case you were lazy and forgot to print out a pdf schedule online. Finally, in case you either forget to put enough money on your transit card/Chicago Card/CC+, or forgot to bring one of those altogether, you still can purchase a transfer for other buses(though only valid for other Pace routes). Try doing that on CTA buses with cash, since nowadays you will be set back $2 for EACH CTA bus ride you take. Now since probably most of you don't realize which places you can possibly get to via Pace, I'm gonna reveal a few hidden/mostly unknown destinations their buses go to below, and I've used them to get to some of these places: #250 Dempster(and IMHO, may in actuality be a better way than taking the #290 west to the Cumberland Blue Line stop, due to the Rosemont-O'Hare Blue Line closure): downtown Evanston, Skokie Swift station, downtown Des Plaines, Allstate Arena, and the airport transit tram #208 Golf Rd.: Old Orchard Shopping Center, Golf Mill, downtown Des Plaines, Woodfield Mall (#209 used to go to Woodfield, but nowadays you have to transfer in downtown Des Plaines, if you're taking it to head towards Woodfield) #330 Mannheim Rd./Lagrange Rd.: downtown La Grange, the Countryside shopping center area, Archer/Harlem #322 Cermak Rd.: Broadview shopping area(where the closest Super Target to Chicago is located), Oak Brook Center, Yorktown Mall I could go on and on all day listing more examples, but I won't. One last negative about Pace: the trivia they show on the bus TVs are way too easy. :) read more

I actually miss CTA after moving and having to use Pace. Everything about Pace is terrible compared to CTA. -The drivers don't open the back door, which is the door they have to open for people to leave. I have to yell and run to the front of the bus sometimes when drivers just ignore me trying to exit the back door. -Bus drivers will often ignore people standing at stops and just zoom past them. -The stops only light up right before the stops, and also the audio is extremely quiet. So you have to memorize the stops/schedule instead of relying on the actual bus. -Dirty. -There have been so many times where I've been late because the bus scheduled to come just disappears. Never comes, disappears from the tracker, and doesn't show up at all. I've tried emailing them and calling them so many times, but they always send a copied and pasted thing that says "we'll forward this to the appropriate department" and then nothing happens, and nobody answers the phone. EDIT: now when you try to submit an inquiry online, you get a response that says: Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups: JOHN dot ROSENGARTEN at pacebus dot com The email address you entered couldn't be found. Please check the recipient's email address and try to resend the message. If the problem continues, please contact your email admin. read more

Bus late and did not stop to pick up passengers. Very disappointing and and inconvenient

Lousy service. The Milwaukee line from Jefferson Park to Golf Mill made 70 stops, now only 10. Then the CTA ruined a reliable am rush service by changing pickups from every 15 minutes to every hour. I have to walk a half mile now to catch the Pulse bus instead of the hourly 270. I can't make it to work on the 270 schedule. Nice way to manipulate people into using Pulse only. I wonder if Pulse / CTA management gave themselves a fat bonus for this fiasco. I pity the old and handicapped. The schedule changes in August 2019 has brought more hardships than benefits, except for the CTA / Pulse morons. read more

I had to catch the 301 from the Forest Park Transit Center to and from work for more than a year. The 301 was just awful. After work I sometimes waited anywhere from 30-60 mins. When that happened the bus was jam packed. It would break down frequently before it got to my stop hence the wait. There was one instance where the bus never came. I waited for over an hour and had to order Uber. Luckily Uber and Lyft work in that area. It was just an awful route. And even tho losing my job sucked I don't have to deal with the awful commute which was the LaSalle blue line stop to the end of the line, Forest Park, a 15 min bus ride to the corner and walk four blocks then reverse. Ugh. read more

This is speaking on behalf of the 550 bus that either never shows as it's scheduled or is usually extremely late. Moved from Chicago, and am truly missing the CTA at this point. read more

So let me begin with how I started taking the Pace bus from my local station in 2015. I started a new job in down town Chicago, and assumed the only way I would get to work was either driving the 35 miles each day or taking Metra. I took Metra, and by the 2nd week, I was over it, but knew I would definitely not drive in the city every day. So I had to stick it out. It was not all that bad but it was so many people in Union Station that it made me nervous. I remembered a friend saying she never took Metra in, and that I should look into using Pace instead. She located the bus route information for me and ever since I haven't looked back. The buses are comfortable and the service drivers are friendly. One of the best choices I made when having to use public transportation to get me to the job in a timely manner. read more

I have used Pace Bus 302 east bound and west bound for about 2 months and they are EXTREMELY UNRELIABLE. I held off giving this review just to make sure this wasn't the pattern, because stuff does happen. But consistently, they are hardly ever on time. Sometimes they don't even have the decency of updating the schedule to delayed instead they claim the bus already departed which is obviously a lie-SHAMEFUL! Very very disappointed, will not recommend this bus to even my worse enemy. read more

Air conditioned to the max in the summer (padded bra needed- unless you want to point) and warm and cozy in the winter. I really don't mind taking the bus in the burbs. You have to do a bit of schedule planning if you want to connect to other Pace routes, and sometimes the buses can run way off from the printed schedule. But there is one plus: There are some of the buses that are more like charter buses, with huge, comfy, high-backed, reclining seats, reading lights, and overhead baggage room. read more

you know what the thing about PACE is? it's been always on time for me. i take it to work (the blue line to rosemont- and the 606 from there to woodfield & then back). the 606 is always waiting for me as i get off the blue line in the morning. and in the afternoon, arrives exactly when it's supposed to at woodfield. so good times about that. the problem with it, though, involves the drivers. the other day i got on and immediately noticed the driver had some severe ticks going on (jaw drops, shoulders that raised up and down, his head was moving in all sorts of directions... just to name a few). now, i'm not discriminating on ticks, here- that's not what im about. what concerned me, however, was that his ticks were DEFINITELY affecting his driving. crazy jerky braking, sometimes in the middle of the road for no apparent reason. i could see his ticks from the back of the bus! i kid you not, i fell off of my seat entirely a total of three times. before i came to my senses and realized i should get off the bus for my own safety, he got on the express way and there was nothing else i could do. we all made it to rosemont fine, but it was scary getting there. another time, the driver got stuck in a ton of traffic on 90 (shocker). he put the bus in park, got off and peed on the side of it. this is some crazy shit, my friends. read more

I like Pace better than the CTA. The buses are normally on time. I use the 226 and 270 routes a lot to get to my Aunt and Uncle's house. The 226 runs only on the weekdays. Other routes I take and I love the trips I go on because you go through really cool parts of the burbs. The buses are always clean and the drivers are much friendlier than the CTA a-holes. I wish there was a Pace bus that goes to Gurnee Mills Mall. There might be but I haven't seen it. What's also nice about pace is that they are still cheap to ride. 1.75 one way and they still offer transfer cards unlike the CTA where you have to pay per ride. read more

What is wrong with these people! We had a blind client who was waiting for a van to come at 1:30. Knowing how awful they are, we sent someone to keep look out for the van at 1:15. They pulled up, within 5 minutes they were gone. 15 minutes early, didn't call or come in and just left. We called to see what was going on, were put on hold for 25 minutes. When someone finally answered, they just answered to hang the line up. AWFUL. read more

Wait for an hour regularly at rush hour for 301. Many buses just fall off the schedule and never show. Where does a bus go when it disappears? read more

So my 290 bus to Cumberland was scheduled at 9:45 tonight. Finally called a Lyft at 10:55 because the bus hadn't shown up. The tracker kept pushing back the arrival time in 5-10 minute increments. Over an hour late is just absurd. read more

Ok and reliable bus service in the Chicagoland area

Hi, I was on the South bound 386 6.06pm from Midway Friday 9/28/2012 with bus driver #3116. Then during the ride the Bus Driver #3116 yelled, I mean YELLED at a rider (an old polish lady, looked confused) to not be by the front door because of safety. (NOT A PROBLEM yet..but #3116 did get another rider while boarding to mouth "shut up!" while walking past #3116 to the back of the bus). Then shortly after all that - for several stops between 63rd and 79th - an Off Duty Pace Bus DRIVER/TRAINER was chatting up the driver and leaning on the front window/rail talking and laughing to driver #3116 (in front of the Door and in front of the white line). They were friends and were talking Driver shop about the lady and guy #3116 yelled at. After about 81st I asked "should you also be behind the line?" Then the off duty driver trainer got nasty and began to call me names ... mind my own business and said she had every right because she works for Pace... how am I to know that? No uniform/badge, but she looked familiar. The drive shrugged her shoulders and said she "can't do anything" and said yes the other person was an Off Duty Pace Supervisor or Trainer. At that the off duty driver went to the back of the bus making rude comments and offering to drop her pants. Then I went to the front of the bus because I get off at 86th and the off duty Pace employee came forward and said I should get off the bus now and out of her face. She came out of her seat to see what I was saying to the Bus Driver #3116. She, the the off duty driver/Trainer continued to call me names until I said maybe we should video this behavior and call the Police. She challenged me to Video and call the Police (I wish I had called Police) I did Video some and the part -her standing forward the white line and I may be able to get witness riders of what happen. I choose NOT to make it a Police matter but something you maybe able to look into. But it was getting tense. I know the Bus Driver #3116 can ID the Pace Employee and I know I can when she drives again. I have some video as do other riders I think, but if you can not resolve from Pace I will appeal somewhere else. I will send one video if it will help ID the Off Duty Driver.. if you can get Driver #3316 to ID the other Driver. I have seen the other before driving the 385/386 routes and will again I am sure. I ride the 386/385/379 for over 17 years, I don't fancy rude drivers and hope you can fix this one or two so riders don't fear retaliation. read more

The jury is out. This bus air conditioning is leaking a little. Express to the white sox though. All is good.

Love Pace Suburban Bus! It gets me to work comfortable and relaxed. The 307 bus is almost never more than 5 minutes late in the morning. The afternoon commute is a bit less reliable, but the buses are scheduled every 15 minutes, so even if you miss a bus, you won't wait very long for the next one to arrive. I have also used the 305 occasionally as well. The bus pass is $60/month, which is hard to beat. 5 stars/5 read more

The 606 Bus from the Rosemont CTA station to Mount Propect Area is often really late. It also often leaves ahead of its scheduled time, so if you get to the station just on time, you still may be out of luck read more

565 showed up 15 minutes late, subsequently causing me to miss my metra train. Added over an hour to my normal commute. Get your shit together PACE read more

I'm writing this review as I stand and wait on a 626 bus that is 10 minutes late as of right now. This driver is ALWAYS LATE! YESTERDAY HE WAS 20 MINUTES LATE. And everyday prior it was at least 15. I got stuck in a heavy thunderstorm 1 day because he was late, did he even offer an apology? NO! I have a child in daycare and there are fees if you're late and unfortunately this is my only way home for now. I called the PACE company was given a number where the supervisor for this route was supposedly located and never received an answer when I called. This service is HORRIBLE!!!!! I'm going to have to purchase a car so I don't have to deal with this. read more

The 856 5:15 pm bus never showed on 11/21/16 at Michigan and Superior which is the first stop of the route!

The route 215 is ALWAYS late. After being extremely frustrated with this service, I called and spoke with the manager named Cindy. She was very rude and her advice was I needed to take an earlier bus! So I guess it's no problem for them to be late, I'm the problem! It's very terrible. read more

Pace bus is the worst form of public transportation. I rather walk 10 blocks to work than to ride the pace bus again. I had been riding pace for about nine years and let me tell you it was bad back then and it's bad today. Pace has made a habit of always being late which really sucks especially when when seviere weather hits. When they do arrive the tend to rush you to get in the bus almost closing the door on your foot. I have come across good drivers but alot of them are inconsiderate and rude. They talk on their cell phones while driving, they speed of as soon as the door is close not waiting for you to take your seat, they get off the bus every chance they get to smoke leaving the door open for everyone to smell. I don't understand how pace has allowed this kind of behavior from their drivers all these years. I no longer ride the pace bus and will not ride it until they start respecting the passangers. read more