The free Pace bus servicing the “Rosemont Entertainment Circulator” Route 811 just got a new look. Above, one sports the new “It’s All Here” wrap designed by the village.
Niles Free Bus service could resume by the end of next month at the latest, Mayor George Alpogianis said today (Thursday), but if all goes as planned and service resumes, there would be some changes.
Free Bus routes 410, 411 and 412 were suspended by the village without warning the morning of Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025 and have remained suspended since.
Alpogianis said internal village meetings followed a Nov. 24 virtual meeting with Pace Bus officials and State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-8th), chairman of the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee. He said that since then, village and Pace attorneys have passed draft service agreements back and forth. The latest draft is now in Pace’s hands.
“Negotiations are going well, and we appreciate the partnership with the village,” Pace Chief Communications Officer Maggie Daly Skogsbakken said. She said she was not given specific details to share by Pace attorneys about those negotiations.
Niles Free Bus makes a regularly scheduled stop at the Niles Public Library on Saturday, April 16.
The first, most noticeable change would be the size of the buses. Pace and Niles ran the Free Bus system for years using regular, nearly full-sized blue buses. Skogsbakken said the blue Niles Free Buses were 30 feet in length with about 30 seats, slightly smaller than regular 40-seat Pace buses.
If service resumes at the end of February, Alpogianis said the buses would be smaller buses similar to the Pace circulator buses in Rosemont. Skogsbakken said Rosemont buses have 15 seats.
Routes would remain largely the same as before, although Alpogianis said village and Pace officials could look at routes and suggest minor changes.
Pace Suburban Bus Executive Director Rocky Donahue stands alongside one of the new Pulse service buses at the Golf Mill Pace Pulse station as workers finish electrical work on heating and lighting elements in the shelter behind him before a tour with media July 25. 2019. (Tom Robb/Journal photo)
Critics of the Niles Free Bus system have long complained that when they saw the blue free buses, they would have few to no people aboard.
Insurance was another major reason for the change. Alpogianis said — and Pace confirmed — that a new contract would shift insurance costs from Pace to the village. Alpogianis said at an annual cost of about $1 million per year, those insurance costs were too high for the village.
Alpogianis said that with the smaller buses would come lower insurance costs, which the village could take on.
Other provisions of the contract with Pace would not substantially change, the mayor said. Pace pays about two-thirds of the cost of the Niles Free Bus, and the village pays about one-third. The buses belong to Pace. The drivers were village employees.
Village of Niles sign announcing the suspension of the Niles Free Bus outside the Niles-Maine District Library on Saturday. (Journal photo)
Pace’s other routes that run through Niles including 208, 241, 250, 270, 272, 225, 226, and 423, plus the Dempster Pulse Line and Milwaukee Pulse Line, have remained in operation as usual.
“I’ve not heard much feedback at all” about the bus suspension, “only if and when it would be restored,” Alpogianis said.
Reporters were unable to immediately reach Pace spokespeople for comment Friday.
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