The Greater Peoria Mass Transit District is a mass transit district based in Peoria, Illinois; the district itself also includes Peoria Heights and West Peoria. It was established in 1970 and, prior to adopting the name CityLink, it was known as GPTransit. Regularly scheduled fixed route bus service is operated under the name CityLink, with the

paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...

service being CityLift, and rural transportation service being CountyLink. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .

History

Public Transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...

in Peoria began in 1870 with horse-drawn streetcars. Between 1889 and 1892, these were replaced by electric streetcars. The first buses were introduced in 1923 and from 1931 on

trolleybuses A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

were operated as well. The last streetcars and trolleybuses ran in 1946, being replaced by diesel buses. Greater Peoria Mass Transit District was formed in 1970 to take over operations of the struggling privately run bus service. In 1991, GP Transit became the first transit system in the country to test an ethanol powered bus. GP Transit was rebranded as CityLink in 2000, and soon after, in 2003, a new transit center was opened in downtown Peoria. On June 8, 2014, CityLink began offering Sunday service for the first time, which helped lead to fiscal year 2015 having the highest ever ridership for the system, at 3,420,705 riders. CityLink unveiled its first three electric buses in September 2021.The buses were manufactured by

Proterra, Inc. Proterra is an American automotive and energy storage company based in Burlingame, California. The company designs and manufactures battery electric transit buses, battery systems for other heavy-duty vehicle builders, and charging systems for ...

and funded by a federal grant and lawsuit settlement.

Routes

CityLink operates 18 fixed routes in

Peoria County Peoria County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. The 2020 United States Census listed its population at 181,830. Its county seat is Peoria. Peoria County is part of the Peoria, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Peoria County was ...

and

Tazewell County, Illinois Tazewell County () is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 135,394. Its county seat and largest city is Pekin. It is pronounced with a short "a", to rhyme with "razz" rather than "raze." ...

, including one "intercity" route between the main network and the

Pekin, Illinois Pekin () is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County, Illinois, Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Pe ...

network.CityLink Schedule and Maps
*1 University *2 North Adams *3 Northwest Peoria *4 Sheridan *5 West Peoria *7 John Gwynn *8 East Peoria / Sunnyland *10 Forrest Hill *11 Western *12 Heights *13 South Adams *14 Wisconsin *15 Lincoln *17 Pekin North *18 Pekin South *20 ICC Express *23 Pekin Connector

Peoria Transit Center

The Peoria Transit Center serves as the primary hub for CityLink, located at 407 SW Adams Street in downtown Peoria. It was completed in 2003 and remodeled in 2019–2020. The center has an indoor waiting area, covered transfer area and ticket sales. In addition to CityLink,

Burlington Trailways Burlington Trailways is an inter-city bus company based in West Burlington, Iowa. History Burlington Trailways was founded in 1929 as the Burlington Transportation Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. It started ...

intercity buses also serve the facility.

Fixed Route Ridership

The ridership statistics shown here are of fixed route services only and do not include demand response.

References

Government agencies established in 1970 Bus transportation in Illinois Special districts in Illinois East Peoria, Illinois Paratransit services in the United States Peoria, Illinois Transportation in Peoria County, Illinois Pekin, Illinois Transportation in Tazewell County, Illinois Peoria 1970 establishments in Illinois {{Illinois-transport-stub

History

Routes

Peoria Transit Center

Fixed Route Ridership

See also

References