COMMUTERS GET COMFY ON LUXURY BUSES

FEATURING PLUSH SEATS, NEW PACE MODELS TAKE THE EDGE OFF LONGER RIDES.

By Rogers Worthington, Tribune Staff Writer
Web-posted Friday, July 4, 1997; 7:00 a.m. CDT

It's about an hour by Pace express to Dorothy Jones' job in the Loop, and she doesn't miss driving a bit.

"I think it's wonderful we have this transportation. It takes the mental stress out of the morning," said Jones, perched comfortably in a high-backed, corduroy-upholstered seat reading the morning newspaper.

On the way home, she knocks off a chapter or two of a novel or, if she prefers, simply leans back and naps. Her route features the queen of Pace's suburban buses, with its plush seats, headrests, armrests, footrests, adjustable individual reading lights and overhead luggage racks.

It's a long way from many public transit buses, with their shake-rattle-and-roll rides, graffiti-etched windows and Fiberglas seats that suck at your back on a hot summer day.

"This is our first attempt at taking a transit coach and making it into what we call a suburban coach," said Melinda Metzger, operations director for Pace, the suburban bus agency headquartered in Arlington Heights.

The buses, called Novas after their Canadian manufacturer, Nova BUS Corp., are used on three routes, all with longer-than-average commute times.

There is Jones' 835 route, which originates near the Oak Lawn Metra station, as well as two north suburban routes: the 636, which travels from the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line station at River Road in Rosemont to Lake-Cook Road in Northbrook, and the 960, which runs from the Des Plaines Metra station to Libertyville.

Pace has 22 Novas, which cost $248,630 each, and they have been in service since late last year. Five years ago, when Pace last bought new models of its standard bus, the Orion, they cost $173,977.

Using luxury buses on public transit routes is "an emerging trend," said David Sucha, who oversees bus purchases for the Michigan Department of Transportation. He said well-appointed public buses also are appearing in the suburbs of Dallas, Denver, New York and San Francisco.

These buses have become an attractive way to travel in an era of unabated suburban growth, increased expressway congestion, longer commuting times and high-priced downtown parking.

Suburban bus agencies such as Pace often operate express routes from commuter train stations. In some cases, such as on Pace's 835 route, which charges a $3.50 one-way fare, the buses carry commuters directly to the city.

But officials at Metra, the commuter train system, see the direct Pace routes as complementary, not competitive. Indeed, Metra posts connecting times with the Pace buses in its train schedules.

The idea of the luxury buses, of course, is to lure motorists out of their cars and onto a 40-seat Nova bus, ostensibly easing congestion on the expressways.

"I have to compliment Pace for at least taking a step beyond the standard transit bus to recognize that passengers are going to expect an additional level of comfort if they are going to give up their cars," said John Andrews, vice president of sales operations at Motor Coach Industries in Des Plaines, the country's largest maker of over-the-road buses.

Andrews said his company has seen a growing demand by urban transit agencies for a slightly more spartan version of its buses.

On a recent morning, passengers on Pace's 835 route said they found the Nova buses amply comfortable.

Jones, of Oak Lawn, finds the seats a good fit and appreciates the footrest as she rides to and from her job as an office worker in a Loop law firm.

Some, however, complained that the seats are too narrow and don't provide enough knee room.

"That's why you try to pick a skinny person to sit next to," said Carrie Dawson, an admissions counselor at Roosevelt University, who also commutes from Oak Lawn.

Still, the Nova got its passengers downtown quickly and in relative comfort. In addition, the bus brings those who work in the east Loop or along Michigan Avenue closer to their jobs than a Metra train arriving at, say, Union Station.

For Pace, however, the plush bus service is an experiment, and it appears destined to be a limited one. There are no immediate plans to buy more of the buses, which have a life span of 12 years. The reason: In the next few years, Pace will have to replace about 250 Orion buses.

Metzger said Pace has seen Nova ridership grow modestly over the eight months that the buses have been in service. But daily Nova ridership hovers around 700, a pittance compared to Pace's overall daily ridership of about 130,000.

Still, Adam Kerman, a member of the watchdog Transit Riders Authority Board, said he is convinced that better-appointed suburban buses are the way to go on all Pace routes.

"If more routes had comfortable seats like this, it would do a whole lot to improve ridership," Kerman said.