In some areas, Pace has a financial partnership with a city or township to pay for and
operate a “dial-a-ride” service that provides curb-to-curb demand-response service that
can be scheduled in advance.24 With only two exceptions, this service is available only
to seniors and persons with disabilities. The areas in which this service is available to
the general public and therefore also helpful to low-income households (of which
minorities represent a disproportionate number) are:
Zion Township and Benton Township25
Lake County Northwest Demonstration Project26
Where Pace services are not available, various agencies, senior centers, municipalities,
and townships have opted to provide a taxi subsidy program or their own transportation
service to fulfill the needs of their residents and clients. Local jurisdiction transportation
services are comprised of demand-response/dial-a-ride service where the local entity
operates its own fleet of buses or vans to provide transportation to residents. Each local
entity defines service area and hours, fare levels, and eligibility (in some cases only
seniors and people with disabilities).27
Although residents may be eligible for a specific local transportation service, the service
area boundaries in a place as large as Lake County create barriers to accessing
medical facilities or employment if the site is outside the local service area. Many of
these local services do not currently coordinate trips; therefore, mobility and access
may be significantly limited for many Lake County residents.
The Lake County Coordinated Transportation Services Committee (LCCTSC) is a
broad-based coalition of government officials, service providers, and advocacy groups
concerned with the provision of transportation in and around Lake County. Since its
inception, the LCCTSC strives to impact the overall direction of transportation services
in Lake County, including fostering coordination and improving transit and transportation
services for seniors and persons with medical needs or disabilities, persons with work
transportation needs, and the low-income population. One of its projects has been the
Northwest Demonstration Project, a demand-response transportation service for a sixtownship area in northwestern Lake County. The service area covers the townships of
Antioch, Avon, Fremont, Grant, Lake Villa, and Wauconda, and some additional
destinations such as the Gurnee Mills Mall area, Greenleaf Avenue medical offices, the
24
Barrington, Ela Township, Fox Lake/Grant Township, Fremont Township, Libertyville/Libertyville
Township/Mundelein, Northeast Lake/Warren Township, and Northwest Lake.
25
This dial-a-ride service also provides service to medical facilities in Gurnee and Waukegan every
Tuesday and Thursday between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm.
26
A demonstration project funded by a federal Job Access Reverse Commute through 2015, this service
would be able to serve only seniors and people with disabilities if additional funding is not identified after
2015.
27
A full list of the local entities providing transportation services, as well as service parameters, can be
fo und on the Lake County website at:
www.lakecountyil.gov/Transportation/Transit/Paratransit/Pages/LocalJurisdictionandTaxiSubsidyProgram
s.aspx.
78
APPLIED REAL ESTATE ANALYSIS, INC.
LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS