Horsecar lines served individuals in satellite cities such as Joliet as early as 1874. Over the years the suburban street railways were consolidated into increasingly larger companies like West Towns Railway, National City Lines, and United Motor Coach, but they were not able to influence suburban development or compete with the automobile.

Pace includes various suburban bus systems which were consolidated in 1983 as the result of a state-mandated bifurcation of the RTA's suburban operations into bus (Pace) and rail ( Metra ) service. In 1998, Pace operated 232 bus routes in 210 suburbs with a fleet of 638 vehicles. Ridership that year was 39 million.

David M. Young