Changes are underway to Kane County’s Ride in Kane program that are meant to streamline how the program is administered and ensure equal access to all eligible residents throughout the county.
As of Jan. 1, residents looking to register for the program will do so directly through the Pace suburban bus service, with the county providing customer service and support to users. The changes also expand where and for what purposes some individuals can request rides.
Ride in Kane — a public paratransit service that provides curb to curb bus or taxi service to people 65 and older and those with disabilities — has operated in the county since 2008. Ride in Kane also offers transportation for veterans to Veterans Affairs clinics and the Veterans Treatment Court.
The rides are done by reservation and are offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Rides cost $5 for the first 10 miles, and $2 for each additional mile over 10 miles, according to the Kane County Division of Transportation. There is no charge for rides for veterans.
Ride in Kane has almost 10,000 registered riders, and provides around 5,000 rides each month, according to the county. It averages around 44 new registered users monthly.
Until now, the program has been administered by more than 18 community sponsors, according to the county. Eligible county residents registered with the sponsor, often a township or city, which Brygette Lopez — who works in the county and serves as the main point of contact for Ride in Kane — said ultimately got “out of hand.”
Under the changes, registration will be done by Pace, essentially eliminating the community sponsors from the process, according to Heidi Files, Kane County Division of Transportation’s chief of Planning and Programming.
Pace will continue to operate the dial-a-ride program itself, according to a news release from the county, but will now manage the single rider registration system and centralized call center.
This will create “a more consistent experience for riders,” a Pace spokesperson wrote in an email to The Beacon-News. The agency worked with Kane County as it moved towards this centralized structure, the spokesperson said.
The county will serve as the main point of contact for residents with questions about the program, according to Files.
In addition to there previously being no single place for county residents to sign up for these services, different community sponsors enforced different restrictions under the previous iteration of the program — on things like mileage or approved types of destinations, Lopez and Files explained.
Now, all eligible Kane County residents will be able to call a ride for work, medical purposes, shopping and social purposes, according to the county staff. And, they said, all eligible residents will now be able to take trips anywhere within the county — or anywhere within a municipality that is partially within Kane County.
Files noted that, currently, the largest number of requests for rides are in Elgin and Aurora, whose sponsor is the Association for Individual Development, which has regulations that are the same as those the county is adopting — meaning there may not be a significant increase in the number of rides requested going forward. However, some riders will see less restrictions on how they can use the service.
“It’s really the smaller, more rural areas that haven’t been allowed to travel (using Ride in Kane) for shopping or school or other (purposes),” Files said.
The rationale for the change is, therefore, twofold: streamlining the operations of the program, and standardizing access to the ride services across the county.
“All residents that are eligible receive the same access and service level,” Files said of the changes to the program. “And then the sponsors are relieved of some of the local oversight and it’s a lot easier to administer the program.”
Current Ride in Kane users will not see major changes, Lopez and Files emphasized. They don’t have to re-register, and their service will remain the same — unless they live in an area that had more restrictions on how the rides could be used, in which case their access would be expanded.
As for funding, Ride in Kane was previously covered half by federal funds coming from the RTA, and the other half by both Pace and the community sponsors, according to county staff. But that changed in 2025, so that Pace now covers half of the costs, eliminating the community sponsors’ need to chip in.
The county will continue to handle grants for the Ride in Kane program, according to Files — requesting the grant funds from the RTA and ultimately paying Pace for operating the service.
The new set-up will mean less invoicing work for the county, but it also might mean the county gets more calls from riders, Files noted.
And Pace, for its part, in October approved a 2026 budget that fully funds its regional ADA paratransit program as it currently operates, the Pace spokesperson said, after a transit funding bill was passed by state lawmakers following months of uncertainty about a looming fiscal cliff. Pace had not been slated to cut service this coming year, but had warned that, without more money, it would have to do so in future years.
To register for Ride in Kane, seniors and those with disabilities must first contact the RTA to obtain a Reduced Fare or Free Fare permit and provide their permit number when they register, per the county. Veterans must provide their Veterans Health Care ID number.
Individuals looking to register for the services will now call Pace at 866-727-6842 — the same number riders use to schedule a ride.
As for scheduling a ride, reservation hours are between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Trips can be reserved up to seven days in advance, but advance notice is required and same-day reservations are not guaranteed.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
