© 2024 WGLT
A public service of Illinois State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Working Group Finalizing Recommendations for Connect Transit

UPDATED 11:25 a.m. | The community panel tasked with helping Connect Transit secure financial sustainability will recommend soliciting a half-million dollar funding increase over two years from Bloomington and Normal to help address the service’s structural deficit.

That proposal was included in the draft of recommendations reviewed by the Connect to the Future (CTTF) work group during its meeting Wednesday at Heartland Community College.

Other recommendations include a "one rate for all" fixed-route fare of $1.25 for all riders, expanding Connect Mobility service to city and town limits, and an experimental fare-free pilot program.

Connect Transit is facing a funding gap that could render the service insolvent by 2026. The recommendation suggests a phased approach to soliciting the $500,000: seeking $150,000 from Bloomington and $100,000 from Normal over consecutive fiscal years.

“Part of what I have been so impressed with as a member of the Board of Trustees is how well this (Connect Transit) staff has delivered for our community really with insufficient funding,” said Julie Hile, a CTTF member and Connect Transit trustee. “It's extraordinary, and in some ways it has been a disadvantage for them. We keep expecting them to squeeze blood from a turnip.

“Now we have the opportunity to do a little bit of making that right. We can rely on that same staff that will put every penny that it is given to the best possible use to bring it across some kind of new finish line.”

The additional $500,000 in local funding would replace federal funding in Connect Transit's operating budget, general manager Isaac Thorne said Thursday. That would free up those federal dollars for much-needed capital use, he said. He clarified that the $500,000 by itself would not increase the amount of matching funds from the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Downstate Operating Assistance Program.

Rate Changes

A planned 25-cent rate hike to $1.25 was set to go into effect on Jan. 1, but the Board of Trustees decided to delay the increase as it waited on the CTTF’s report. The group’s proposal calls for implementing that increase while reducing the one-way Connect Mobility rates to $1.25 as well.

Other proposed rate changes include raising the fee for monthly unlimited passes to $40 and establishing a $40 fare cap for Connect Mobility riders who qualify for Social Security Income.

Hile called the draft of recommendations “a breakthrough” and said she's impressed the CTTF was able to reach consensus while “keeping the community’s best interests at heart.”

"We've done our homework, we've done our math,” she said. “We can see what we can afford and what we cannot afford. We have looked at the likely return we will get on those investments."

The CTTF scheduled a 1 p.m. Sunday meeting at the Connect Transit office to vote on approving revisions to its report, including the addition of language encouraging a review of the intergovernmental agreement with Bloomington and Normal.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect new information provided by Connect Transit's general manager about how more local funding would impact state matching funds.

Editor's note: As a matter of disclosure, Connect Transit Board Chair Mike McCurdy is also the WGLT program director.

WGLT depends on financial support from users to bring you stories and interviews like this one. As someone who values experienced, knowledgeable, and award-winning journalists covering meaningful stories in central Illinois, please consider making a contribution.

Joe Deacon is a reporter at WCBU.
Related Content