City Link ended fiscal year 2015 with a record-breaking 3.5 million riders. Al Stanek is the General Manager of the Greater Peoria Mass Transit District. He says the state budget impasse is a point of concern because it’s City Link’s largest single-funding source. :The bulk of our riders are going to work, and they are going to work because public transportation is their only way to get to work and we want to keep them working, ” Stanek says.
Stanek says in previous years the state has reimbursing CityLink expenses at 65 percent. But the governor’s initial budget proposed a 10-percent cut to that for F-Y ‘16. Stanek says that would amount to a $2.7 million reduction for the year. But he says City Link is not planning to reduce or eliminate routes. Rather, Stanek says they are not filling vacant positions and have made budgetary cuts some might consider frills.