For two bucks, you can now ride from the Davis Street Purple Line Station to O’Hare Airport in a limited-stop, wi-fi equipped PACE bus seven days a week.

This week, the suburban bus system expanded its Dempster Street PULSE service from a Sunday-only trial run to what is now every 15-20 minutes, every day.

Stops on the PACE Pulse route to O’Hare.

The PULSE line follows the Route 250 path along Dempster, but makes fewer stops, shortening what has been a 75-minute trip by up to 20 minutes.

PULSE buses are also equipped with sensors that can provide the buses with shorter red and longer green traffic lights in order to speed up the trip.

The slower, all-stops #250 bus will still run, but on less frequent, 30- to 60-minute headway.

In a statement issued by PACE, Executive Director Melinda Metzger said, “Since launching the Sunday-only sneak preview service on Aug. 13, we’ve seen a 12% increase in ridership along the corridor compared to 2022. This strong response from riders reflects the demand for faster and more frequent bus service in the area.”

Jeff Hirsh joined the Evanston Now reporting team in 2020 after a 40-year award-winning career as a broadcast journalist in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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