Passenger Link – July 2025

Bus Operator Graduation

CityLink is proud to congratulate three new graduates who have officially become bus operators serving riders throughout the Greater Peoria Mass Transit District. On Friday, June 27, 2025, these new operators successfully completed the comprehensive training program, which covered district policies, local traffic laws, schedules, maps, and delivering safe, comfortable, and courteous public transportation. Please join us in celebrating Coral, Yvette and Carlesha as they embark on their new roles with the CityLink team.

Sun Safety Tips

Career Opportunities

On Friday, June 6, 2025, Human Resource Coordinator Krystal attended the Goodwill Industries of Central Illinois Annual Hiring Fair. This event featured over 30 local employees in the community, helping applicants find their best fit for their future career. These career fairs are a great way to spread the word about the various opportunities and transportation services that CityLink can provide.

Transit History

As we celebrate our great nation, we also take pride in Peoria’s remarkable achievement of winning the All-American City Award four times! The City of Peoria was honored with this prestigious award in 1953, 1966, 1989, and most recently in 2013. The award recognizes excellence in local innovation, civic engagement, and collaboration across various sectors. In 1989, GP Transit marked this milestone by showcasing an All-American City bus wrap to commemorate the achievement. Learn more about GPMTD’s history here: https://bit.ly/2vBOu3W 

Wellness Tips

July is National Watermelon Month! Celebrate by making a sweet salad!

 Amalgamated Transit Union #416

Corey, President of CityLink’s ATU, attended the 48th Annual Scholarship Award Dinner hosted by the Thomas Jefferson Educational Foundation on June 17, 2025. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students with special needs by providing scholarships that help ease the financial burden of education and create new opportunities for their future. Founded and led by committed labor leaders from the Peoria area, the Foundation works to empower students in their pursuit of post-secondary education. Corey also plays a key role in the organization, serving as its Vice President of Membership.

State of the City

On Thursday, June 26, 2025, CityLink team members and community partners attended the State of the City event at the Peoria Civic Center. Held at a transformative time for the City of Peoria, the event featured Mayor Rita Ali addressing key challenges and outlining a bold vision for the city’s future.

Hosted by the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, the event underscored the Chamber’s role as a community convener, bringing together local leaders to listen, engage, and collaborate toward a brighter future. Mayor Ali’s remarks focused on strategic investments in public safety, neighborhoods, housing, and workforce development. She introduced several new projects designed to spur housing and commercial growth, reinforcing Peoria as a city on the rise.

The Mayor also celebrated recent accomplishments, including increased firefighter recruitment, continued progress on road improvement projects, and record-breaking attendance at the Peoria Civic Center.

PCCEO Head Start Recruitment

Throughout the start of summer, members of PCCEO have been stationed at the Transit Center to share valuable information about the Head Start Birth to Five Program. This comprehensive initiative is dedicated to supporting children and families by offering a range of quality services.

Key features of the program include:

· Educational opportunities

· Family engagement

· Health and disability services

· Nutritious meals

· Fatherhood and male initiative classes

· Employment opportunities

The Head Start Birth to Five Program is focused on early development and long-term success, helping families build strong foundations for their children’s future. There are six full-day centers around Peoria, including one attached to our Transit Center downtown. We are pleased to have PCCEO Head Start located within the same building as our Transit Center, offering convenience for our customers who use public transportation and providing a safe, educational environment for their children.

Solvera Health Partnership

On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, the Marketing & Community Engagement and Maintenance Teams partnered with Solvera Health to produce a series of commercials spotlighting our joint initiative and showcasing Solvera Health’s vibrant new bus wraps. Jana, Creative Designer with Solvera Health, led the filming and photography, capturing dynamic footage of the buses as they departed from and returned to the CityLink garage. These visuals will be used in upcoming promotional videos that highlight our partnership and commitment to community engagement. As part of the campaign, Solvera Health is launching a fun and interactive community competition, where residents are encouraged to keep an eye out for their wrapped buses around town. If they spot one, they’ll have a chance to win free CityLink bus passes. With 10 CityLink buses fully wrapped in bold, eye-catching Solvera Health branding, participants have plenty of chances to engage with the campaign and win.

 ADA Committee

The ADA Committee met on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, to discuss plans for the upcoming ADA WOW! Celebration & Resource Fair. The purpose of the ADA Advisory Committee is to assist CityLink’s administration in addressing concerns, policies and procedures as it relates to accessible transportation, and reflect the needs and values of the entire community. This committee will serve as an informed advocate for individuals with physical, medical, mental, and cognitive disabilities, to ensure non-discriminatory and accessible transportation.

The committee spoke about the various outreach and advertising strategies that were created to ensure that our community is informed of the upcoming ADA WOW! event. The group also discussed vendors that have confirmed their attendance. Those vendors are:

· CityLink

· Transdev (CityLift/CountyLink)

· Best Buddies Illinois

· Center for Youth & Family Solutions

· EP!C

· Andrea Brock—Just Like You

· National Multiple Sclerosis Society — Central Illinois Community Council

· Central Illinois Agency on Aging

· Tazwell County Resource Centers / We Care

· Advocates for Access

· Prairieland Adoptive

· Heart of Illinois Special Recreation Association

The ADA WOW! Celebration & Resource Fair will be held on Thursday, July 24, 2025 at EP!C and is free for all to attend.

ADA WOW! Celebration & Resource Fair

Mark your calendars! The 4th Annual ADA WOW! Celebration and Resource Fair will be held on Thursday, July 24, 2025 from 4:30—6:30 p.m. at EP!C. We’re excited to bring this event back to EP!C as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) being signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. 

Vendors will be available to provide information on their services, products and will hand out free giveaways to attendees. GPMTD’s transportation services – CityLink (fixed route), CityLift (paratransit) and CountyLink (rural) – will have vehicles on-site to showcase their accessibility features.

For more information, please visit our website at ridecitylink.org/mobility/adaevents

Disability Pride Month

July is Disability Pride Month, celebrating and honoring the history, achievements, experiences, and struggles of the disability community. July 26, 1990 marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disability (ADA) Act, which was a landmark legislation that broke down barriers to inclusion in society. This year, the ADA Act will celebrate its 35th anniversary.

When the act was first passed, a celebration was held in Boston in 1990. Here in Illinois, Chicago hosted the first Disability Pride Parade twenty years ago in 2004. Now there are events nationwide, empowering people with disabilities to take pride in who they are.

Yet before the act was passed in the 90’s, The Gang of 19 started the movement for making the world more accessible, especially public transportation. In 1978, 19 individuals in Denver, Colorado tossed aside their wheelchairs and blocked city buses that they deemed inaccessible for the physically disabled for over 24 hours.

Disability Pride Month not only celebrates disabled persons, but embraces their disabilities as an integral part of who they are, reclaiming visibility in public and interacting fully with their disabilities out in the open, while rejecting any shame and internalized ableism. It is a time for the community to come together, uplift, and amplify one another’s voices and be heard.

At GPMTD, we want to make sure that all of our riders can enjoy taking public transportation, without any interruptions because of their disabilities. With new and improved lifts to help with mobility aids on our newer buses, CityLift service in partnership with Transdev, and exceptional training of our bus operators, we all can ensure that our passengers experience the best quality of transportation that we can offer.

Marathon Monthly Health Tips