Austinites and Oak Parkers living on both sides of Austin Boulevard will soon be able to reach Midway Airport in 40 minutes by bus.
Starting March 15, Pace bus route 315, which runs between the Austin/Lake Green Line el station and Morton Community College, will be extended south to Midway Transit Center, a bus hub and Orange Line el station that serves the airport. Pace is also extending the hours, so that the buses will run until midnight, and increasing the service frequency.
Since 2024, Pace has been quietly improving service throughout the Chicago area, including in Oak Park. The projects start as six-month pilots, then go back to the Pace Board of Directors for a vote to make them permanent. So far, the board has made every pilot permanent.
The Route 315 pilot was introduced during the board’s Feb. 18 meeting as part of the latest slate of pilots.
Route 315 mostly travels along the section of Austin Boulevard between Lake and 35th streets, running along the Austin/Oak Park border and through Cicero. The buses then turn around using 35th Street, Central Avenue and Pershing Road, stopping at Morton College in the process. The route connects to Austin Blue Line el station and several bus routes further south. It overlaps with CTA Route 91/Austin between Lake Street and Roosevelt Road.
This isn’t the first time Pace has improved service on Route 315. As part of the series of pilots announced in January 2025, it increased service hours and beefed up service frequency. Route 311, which serves Oak Park Avenue and a small section of North Avenue at the Oak Park/Galewood border, got similar improvements at the same time.
During the Feb. 18 board meeting, Pace Chief Planning Officer Erik Llewellyn said the suburban bus agency wanted to address a large transit gap around the section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal between Harlem and Cicero avenues.
“The primary reason for this transit gap is that there’s only one other bridge, located on Central Avenue, that allows vehicles to cross the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal,” he said. “This transit gap affects some of the most densely populated suburban communities, many of which have a significant number of low-income residents and households without access to a vehicle. These communities would benefit greatly from enhanced north-south transit options.”
As part of the pilot, the route would continue south along Central Avenue, cross the canal, then turn east on 47th Street and take Cicero Avenue to Midway Airport.
Pace spokesperson Maggie Daly Skogsbakken said the entire trip would take “35 to 40 minutes depending on time of day and traffic patterns.” By comparison, the same trip currently takes around an hour assuming a quick transfer between Green and Orange lines.
Llewellyn said Pace is also extending the hours to improve transfer opportunities and better serve riders’ needs. While the new schedule hasn’t been published yet, Llewellyn’s presentation indicated the first bus would leave around 25 minutes earlier, and the last bus will leave after midnight.
The service frequency will also improve. Under the current schedule, weekday buses usually run once every half an hour, with service frequency increasing to once every 15 minutes during rush hours, and there is currently a one-hour service gap late at night. The new schedule will have the buses run between 15-45 minutes depending on the time of day.
Similarly, the weekend service frequency will increase from around 20-60 minutes on Saturdays and every 30-60 minutes on Sundays to once every 15-45 minutes on both weekends.
The pilot will cost around $1.98 million, and it will require 11 drivers.
