Mayor Tom Marcucci, speaking to the DuPage County Board during its Dec. 9 meeting, said the recent passage of Senate Bill 2111 changes the transit funding outlook for the six-county suburban network and allows PACE to avoid the service cuts and fare increases that had been planned earlier this year. Marcucci said the bill had passed the legislature and had not been signed by the governor as of the morning of the meeting, but that agency leaders are preparing as if it will be signed.

Marcucci described several budget figures and programmatic changes: he said suburban bus operating funds were expected to be about $372,000,000, the ADA budget about $361,000,000 (an increase he characterized as roughly $65 million), and combined system numbers shifting from about $644 million to $733 million compared with earlier projections. On the capital side he said PACE is projecting roughly $76 million and plans to buy nine full-size all-electric buses and 13 hybrid buses while acknowledging procurement and charging-infrastructure costs and federal funding uncertainty.

Marcucci also discussed an ongoing system redesign (referred to as a PACE revision) intended to reconfigure fixed-route service to reflect current travel patterns rather than routes defined when PACE formed in 1983. He said a statutory reduction in the recovery-ratio requirement to about 13.6% (from a previously higher threshold) should make it possible to operate routes into lower-ridership areas and expand service into parts of DuPage that have lacked reliable fixed-route service for decades.

Members asked about specific programs and last-mile solutions. In response to a question from Member Evans, Marcucci described the Van Go program — a last-mile, station-based van service — noting an illustrative fare of $5 per day and plans for a Naperville rollout. He said the program is sign-up based and intended to fill gaps between Metra stops and suburban employment centers.

On electrification, Marcucci said PACE’s intent is to move toward an all-electric fleet by 2040 but cautioned that vehicle lead times, limited manufacturing capacity and the high cost of depot electrification (he stated a rough figure of about $1,000,000 per parking spot for electrical upgrades) mean the county and federal partners will need to work through procurement and funding challenges.

Marcucci closed by encouraging board members to continue engagement with state legislators and thanked DuPage County leaders for advocacy that he said helped produce the legislative outcome. The board did not take formal action on PACE items during the presentation; Marcucci offered to answer follow-up questions and staff said they would continue to coordinate about future route and capital planning.