It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to the CTA, Metra, and Pace.

[4] Pace is headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and is governed by a 13-member Board of Directors, 12 of which are current and former suburban mayors.

The remaining director is the Commissioner of the Chicago Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, who represents the city's paratransit riders.

In some areas, notably Evanston, River Forest, Oak Park, Cicero, and Skokie, both Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority provide service.

[11] The Pace Pulse line on Dempster Street spans Evanston, Skokie, and Des Plaines, and terminates at O'Hare International Airport.

[14] In December 2016, Pace began an on-highway BRT express bus service between Rosemont Transportation Center and Elgin on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway.

The service uses "flex lanes" to avoid traffic and features train station like stops.

[27] In 2011, Pace received its first diesel-electric hybrid buses from Orion Bus Industries, a couple of years before the latter folded.