Posted inInvestigating Responses

These Counties Spend Transit Tax Money on Ride Services. They’re Lifelines for Thousands of Residents

Fledgling dial-a-ride networks are filling gaps in public transit in the collar counties, but they struggle to meet demand.

by Grace Hauck and Alex Nitkin October 28, 2025October 27, 2025

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These Counties Spend Transit Tax Money on Ride Services. They’re Lifelines for Thousands of Residents

by Grace Hauck and Alex Nitkin, Illinois Answers Project
October 28, 2025

<h1>These Counties Spend Transit Tax Money on Ride Services. They’re Lifelines for Thousands of Residents</h1>
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Kane County resident Laura Graf boards the Pace bus outside her home in St. Charles in September. (Credit: Grace Hauck/Illinois Answers Project)

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Tagged: Transit funding

Grace HauckState Investigative Reporter

ghauck@bettergov.org

Grace Hauck is an investigative reporter with Illinois Answers Project’s State Investigations Team. Before joining Illinois Answers, she worked for USA TODAY in Chicago in various roles, including breaking news, enterprise and criminal justice reporting. She grew up in New Jersey and is a graduate of the University of Chicago.

More by Grace Hauck

Alex NitkinGovernment Finance and Accountability Reporter

anitkin@illinoisanswers.org

Alex Nitkin is a government finance and accountability reporter conducting investigations on systemic problems and the public policies that are meant to fix them in Chicago, Cook County and Illinois government. Before joining Illinois Answers, he worked as a reporter and editor for The Daily Line covering Cook County and Chicago government. He previously worked at The Real Deal Chicago, where he covered local real estate news, and DNAinfo Chicago, where he worked as a breaking news reporter and then as a neighborhood reporter covering the city's Northwest Side. A New York native who grew up in Connecticut, Alex graduated Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree.

More by Alex Nitkin