- Will you consider this?

They continue to run their routes, but what exactly are the logistics?

I'm Christine Zak-Edmonds, the ins and outs of CityLink.

(bright upbeat music) All things considered, you can set your watch to the timely arrival of the buses that run throughout central Illinois.

CityLink's Assistant Director of Operations, ShamRA Robinson-Maclin joins me to fill us in on all that is involved.

How are you?

- I'm fine.

- Good.

- Thank you for having me.

- All right.

So you are now with CityLink, you have a storied past with the city itself.

So where do you wanna start?

You wanna go backwards, you wanna go forward?

What do you wanna do?

- Uh, Let's go backwards just a little bit.

- Okay, all right.

How did you get to be from the city to CityLink, to be the Assistant Director of Operations?

- Actually, I had a wonderful experience of working for city of Peoria.

I actually worked there for about 17 years.

And I started off working with workforce development, a lot of people in the city they know it as workforce network.

And we would help jobs seekers find employment opportunities, and then connecting employers to jobs with people that had those skills, the skill sets that they were looking for.

So we would have different career affairs available and then also helping people go back to school.

So during that time, I really loved working for the city of Peoria at that job.

And unfortunately, you know with grants, the funding kind of ran out for that program.

And so from there, I had the opportunity to work at city hall, and that was about 2012.

And from 2012 to 2021, I worked at city hall in the community development department and then also in the city manager's office.

- Okay, so you know a lot about the city?

- Yes.

- And how it runs.

- Yes.

- Well, then how did you get from the city to CityLink?

- Um, well, it's kind of interesting story.

I really wasn't even looking for employment at that time, but you know, life has this twist and turns, and there's been times in life that I thought that the best decision for me was to make things happen on my own.

And I learned through life that when you try to do that kind of stuff, it could blow up in your face.

(laughter) - It's not in the master plan.

- Exactly, yeah.

- Okay - So there was some disaster along the way.

(laughter) My end, and I just couldn't understand why is this not working?

But just believing in the Lord or whatever, he helped me to navigate, learn what I need to know along the way.

Learn more about the city, helping the community, serving others, and just putting the right people in my path that really wanna try to mentor me and help me along the way.

So we did have assistant city manager at that time.

Her name was Deborah Roethler, and then also Dr. Farris Muhammad.

He was the chief diversity and inclusion officer at that time.

They were like my cheerleaders.

And it took me a while to realize the people that were centered in front of me to help me move along in life.

- Yeah, they are.

- Yeah.

- Right.

- And of course, my parents are like my number one.

(laughs) - Right, we know that, right.

- Yeah.

- Parents are supposed to do that.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.

But they just saw that where I was at wasn't gonna be something that was gonna be long-term for me.

And even though I knew that in my mind, I just didn't know when that was gonna take place.

But the assistant city manager, she just made sure I was a part of a lot of different projects with the city and then the strategic planning process, and getting different certifications.

And then before I knew it, this job opened up.

And so I wasn't even looking for the job.

I didn't even know it exist.

This is on a Sunday evening, I was looking on my phone and I'm telling you, I'm still to this day trying to figure out how the position ended up on my phone.

(laughter) - Really?

- Yes.

- Is that right?

- Yeah.

- Oh, that's interesting.

- Yeah and so it was right before bed.

I was talking to my husband and I said, "There's a position at The Greater Peoria Mass Transit District.

And it was with CityLink, and it's for assistant director of operations."

And so I start looking at the job description and I was like, "Okay, I feel like I could do that.

I could do that."

In my background, I have a master of science in strategic leadership, so I knew that a leadership role was something that.

- You could fit in and make work.

- Exactly.

- Right.

Okay.

- Exactly.

And I got to lead in different projects along that way, but higher up, he was preparing me and just grooming me for that time to come.

- Good Lord knows how to do it.

He put it on your phone.

- Yes, he put on my phone.

Yes.

(laughs) I even tried to go back to my history, like how did this end up here?

- Right.

- So it's right before bed and at that time I'm like I say no to everything so.

(laughter) I'm like that sounds good, but I don't think that's in the cards right now.

And I went to bed, slept really well, woke up the next morning.

And I think I needed that rest, because then I was motivated to tell myself that, "Hey."

- Look into that.

- Yeah.

- Explore.

- I could do this.

And I woke up, I looked at my husband and said, "I'm going for the job."

- Good for you.

- Yeah, and so I went for the job.

- And here you are.

- Yeah.

- Well, I think I've known you since you were about six years old.

- Yeah.

- And I just asked you right before we started taping this, have you really ever ridden city buses around town?

- Yes, actually I had the opportunity during the time that my mother had a home daycare.

And she had it for many years, well, over 20 years.

And during that time, she would incorporate different activities with the kids.

She would incorporate tumbling.

So we had a tumbling coach that would come to the house and prepare the kids that way, that maybe had the aspirations and dreams to maybe go to the Olympics one day, you just never know, or be a cheerleader.

And then also just taking the kids to the mall, to the park, different places like that.

So we utilized the trolley system that we had here in Peoria, which was really fun back in those days.

- And we need to get it back.

- Yes.

- Okay, go ahead.

(laughter) - We do, it was so fun.

And then also using the fixed route transit buses, so yeah.

And we would go around the city, take tours, and everybody was just so nice and helpful.

The operators that helped transport the kids, and just making sure that my mother had all the kids in place and she had the help that she needed.

- And they had a good experience.

All right.

So as assistant director of operations, do you work on the routing?

So do you get on the buses and see what works best, what doesn't, or re-routing?

What exactly do you do?

- Okay.

(laughs) Well, I do have to say I started the job at the end of August.

So I'm learning so many different things and we have just a great team.

The operations team is wonderful.

The operators that run the buses, they are great.

So we do have a lot of leaders in position there, and I'm just trying to navigate and learn my way.

So during that time, I do have opportunities where I can travel on the buses, and that's when I don't have as much of a workload.

But when I do, I just randomly pick a bus and then I just take that opportunity to learn.

And so I look around, I listen and I try to see what the needs are for the riders.

If our bus stop locations are in the right areas, and trying to get to know the staff.

- How do you make that determination if the bus stops are.

All right.

I mean, 'cause usually they're well-marked or their shelters, but do they stop?

Do the driver stop for other people who are standing there and flagging them down or?

And so does that help you in your determination?

- Well, that's a great question because a few years ago, they kind of changed that plan where you could just flag them down.

At this time, what you have to do is actually be at a bus stop.

So we did have to educate the community about that so that they're aware, and there's still some people out there that may not know that.

So we just make sure that they are well into the know of where the bus stops are located.

They can call us at any time.

And then we also have information on our website too, to help people navigate exactly where they need to go and how to get there.

So from that angle, we are working on a comprehensive operational analysis, which is a COA, and we are changing actually some of our routes.

And it is just due to, we've been doing the same thing for the last 30 years or so, and it's just time to make changes with the community.

So we do see that.

- And do you work with the community in making those changes?

- Yes.

- So you bring on some people, like a focus group or?

- Yes, yeah.

Actually we did have some consultants that came in and they took some bus rides just to find out the layout of our city.

And then from there, they structured a plan and then they talked to a lot of people that worked at CityLink, as well as some of the- - The Riders.

- Riders, yeah.

Just to get all the information that they need and compile a report.

The thing is right now that our ridership had been down for a few years, and what we want to do is try to get it back to the level where it's convenient for people that want to ride our service.

So we just wanna make sure that we're not like deadheading, which means that we are driving around with buses with- - Nobody on them.

- Nobody on them, yeah.

So to do that, we needed to have consultants to take a look at our routes and just analyze what changes do we need to make.

Where are people that want to ride our buses?

Where are they at?

'Cause we wanna meet the needs of our riders.

- Right, right.

- So with that restructuring plan, we just did see that there are some needs.

And then also what can we do to enhance things and make things better for the community?

So we did find that in East Peoria, Sunday service was a need, and they didn't have Sunday service with transportation.

- To get them back and forth to the levy district mostly or?

- In different areas, yeah.

And then we do go up into a portion of Sunnyland too.

- All right.

- And then it turns back around.

- Is that for church services as well or?

- Whatever they would like to do.

- Okay.

- Yeah, yeah.

So the Sunday services are transportation service that we are able to provide for the community in East Peoria.

And then in Peoria, we do provide that Sunday service as well.

- But not as many buses, or is it the same number?

- Yeah, in the past it had not been as many buses and it won't be as many over in East Peoria, but we will have a couple that'll be going back and forth.

And then also as the assistant director of operations, I am focusing on the paratransit side, which is our CityLift.

- Right, I was gonna ask about that too, but its okay.

- So with paratransit, whatever we offer with our fixed route service, we also make sure that we have an operational system for paratransit as well.

- Now that is not on a schedule though.

That is on an as needed basis, right?

CityLift.

- It is as needed.

So anybody that has like disabilities, mobility issues, we do encourage them to fill out an application and then talk with their doctor just to make sure that they're eligible for the service.

And yes, we are able to take them basically to the door of where it is that they need to go.

- So pick them up really at their home and deliver them right to their door.

So this has all been a very interesting and learning curve experience for you.

- Yes, yes, definitely.

- How many buses do we have running generally on any given day, and then also what's the ridership?

- It's about 50 or 60 buses that come in and out, and then our ridership, we would have to look at that for a year, so just to be able to pinpoint.

But with the changes with COA, we wanted to make sure that we have ridership that's about 100 people that are riding in a certain area.

We don't really want to go in areas where it's just like two or three people at a time.

- Right, right.

And then how do you get the word to them that these routes are changing?

- Great question.

So we did do some public hearings.

So that was back in November, that we did some public hearings and I was able to be a part of those.

So we went over to Pekin, we don't really have too many changes over in that area, but we just need to make sure that we are giving the information out to the masses.

So we did do public hearings over in Pekin, as well as east Peoria.

And then here in Peoria, we also had some at our transit center, and then some virtuals as well because of COVID.

- What's been the biggest surprise that has presented itself to you in accepting this job and everything that you're learning about, our public transportation here.

- There is definitely a need, yeah.

There is definitely a need in our area.

And I can definitely speak to that because I understand with the marginalized community, we do see that there's a need definitely on the south side of Peoria.

And I'm learning even more because we're looking at microtransit too, which is another type of transportation service.

- Tell me what that is 'cause I don't think I've ever heard of it.

- (laughs) And it's fairly new to cities of this size.

And then in bigger cities, in bigger communities, they are using microtransit.

So it's kind of like if you just wanna have an idea in your mind, like Uber.

Where you would be able to go to an app and then you would let CityLink know when you want to ride the transportation service.

- Okay.

- And so we are looking at, at this time, using electric vans to do the microtransit for our community.

So we are looking at grants right now and different funding levels to make that happen.

And we did a study with VIA and Muse community design to help us with microtransit.

So once you would go on the app, there could be maybe one or two, or maybe three or four people that would ride in the van with you.

But what we're looking at is making sure that it's in different zones of Peoria.

So with the funding, of course, we have to kind of look at where we can start the zone.

And we are looking at actually in the downtown area and then also to the south end of Peoria, because we understand that in those areas right now, there's a food desert and we just wanna make sure that we are available to fill in that gap.

And then pharmacy too.

There's no pharmacy anymore in that area.

So just talking to different stakeholders, getting to know the needs of our riders and minorities that are on the south side, we understand just by talking with them that there is a need.

And what we're able to do is, if we provide that microtransit service, we can try to get them over to East Peoria so that they would be able to get to Walmart or wherever it is that they want to go to, to get their groceries or just to run errands.

But also talking with some different individuals on the south side, they are concerned about their tax dollars too.

So again, we have to listen to their needs.

So by listening we understand that if we do microtransit, that we may need to run a strip even in Peoria as well.

So that there's options available for everybody.

And that would be to provide service maybe to Sterling.

I don't know exactly where it's gonna be at this point, but it could be to Sterling so that they can get to the nearest Kroger or.

- Which has the pharmacy.

- Yep - Exactly.

- Or it could be to Westlake Shopping Center, to the nearest Hy-Vee or Kroger.

So we're just looking at different options right now.

- So those would be specific destinations?

- It would be starting off.

- Not like an Uber where you say, "Okay, well, I wanna be picked up here and here's where I wanna go."

- Yeah, yeah.

It would be specific as to the zone.

- Okay.

- But not specific where they go.

- Okay.

- So if they just wanna go travel to a friend's house or something, then we could probably make that available, however, it won't be door-to-door service.

It would be that we would be able to take them to a bus stop.

- A general vicinity kind of thing.

- However, if they have a disability or there's mobility issues, we're always trying to be inclusive.

So we would just make sure that we would provide service so that that could be door-to-door for that person.

- Okay.

All right.

So you said you made a list of things that you wanted to talk about.

What haven't we talked about yet that you have on your list?

Wait, let me turn my paper, piece of paper over.

Nope, go ahead.

- Okay.

- Something that we all need to know.

- Okay, well, with the transit center right now, we are doing some exterior updates as well.

- And you lost the childcare center there?

- Yes, yep.

That's another thing, that's on my list too, so yep.

So we're doing some exterior updates.

We're gonna be changing out the signage that's above the buses so that rider will know exactly where they would need to go because the COA, which is a comprehensive operational analysis will be starting March 6th.

So it's gonna be all hands on deck.

We're gonna just sure that we are there to help the riders know exactly where they need to go.

And actually during that time too, another thing that's presented itself with the general manager, he's decided that we would probably waive a fee or fare for individuals to ride transportation that week.

'Cause it's gonna be overwhelming.

It's a change.

We haven't had a change like this in over 20 to 30 years.

- What does it cost to ride public transportation here now?

- Well for para- - And you don't get to put money in there.

- Yeah, you still can.

- You do?

- Yep.

- Okay.

All right.

- So there's different levels of it.

So you could just ride, if you have a card for the month, you can do that, or if it's that you just wanna take a ride, it's 50 cents.

But with the paratransit, that's a $2 ride and it's per ride.

- And is it covered medically?

Like Medicaid, Medicare can cover some of those costs for the?

- For that, we do have a benefits access program that's through the state, that can help individuals.

- Okay.

- With rides.

And then also if they have somebody that's assisting them, then there's no charge for them to assist.

- All right.

- But however, if they have like maybe another family member, then they would have to pay for their ride, but we're just trying to accommodate the best way that we can.

- And it's affordable?

- Yes, yeah.

We try to make it affordable- - To anyone, right.

- Exactly.

And our microtransit will be too actually, it'll be the same.

- Good.

- Yeah.

- All right.

So to the space that was Maya's daycare, you had some plans, I read it in the paper.

- Yes.

- You have some ideas.

Can you talk about that yet?

- Yes, without spilling too much information, we are looking at a partnership right now.

So we're very excited about having that opportunity, if it presents itself the way that we're hoping.

So I think that not only it's gonna be a good thing for our community, but it's a good thing also for that space.

We definitely wanna make sure that we have somebody or a group in that area.

But what we are looking at, I believe that this is gonna be a good fit.

We will probably know more information here in the next couple months or so, but we are working to try to get something together for that space.

And it's unfortunate that Maya's learning center wasn't able to stay any longer than they could, but they were there for about 20 years or so.

I think 20 years.

- Right.

- So yeah, having a childcare center would be ideal.

(laughter) - It's set up for that.

So how many miles of roads do the buses cover in one day, any idea?

- That would be more of a maintenance question, they would probably.

I can tell you the life expectancy out of the buses right now, we are in need of new buses.

So we are looking at trying to get new buses on the road soon.

We actually, and I'm glad that you mentioned that because we do have three new battery-powered buses.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah.

So we're hoping here in the next few months, we'll be able to get those out on the roads, and we're gonna make sure that it's out in those marginalized communities so that they will have access to different places here.

- So marginalized is Pekin and East Peoria, and where else?

- Well, right now it would be mainly the south side that we're gonna be, because the buses they can't.

Because they're battery-powered, they won't be able to last all day.

It's about five hours or so.

- Okay.

- So there's a lot of stops that they have to make along the way.

So to fill in those gaps, we just make sure that we have some diesel buses too.

But we haven't put a route plan together as far as where those buses are gonna go, but we definitely know it will be on the south side for sure.

- Okay, and if it's just like short routes, then that way, then they should be good?

- Yes, yeah.

Absolutely.

- Well, that's pretty exciting.

- And they are so quiet.

I actually got a chance to ride on one, and when I was actually outside of the bus and the bus was driving, you couldn't even hear anything.

It's so quiet, but it's a great experience.

And I'm glad that we're able to bring that to this community because it's all about just trying to make things better and making improvements.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- And there's a lot going on.

- Yeah.

- What else do we have to look forward to, if anything?

- Let's see, we are getting a new administrative building.

So we're working on that right now.

It's actually gonna be located right behind the administrative building that we have.

So it's kind of hard to see it.

- At Jefferson?

- Yeah, on Jefferson.

So we're working on that right now.

So that should be coming along pretty soon.

And I believe there's gonna be like three different floors on that building, and then where we have our buses located.

So when they get their washes and maintenance, they're gonna redo that building as well.

- And that's at Jefferson as well?

- Yeah.

- Well, there's probably time for that.

- Yeah.

- With all these other additions that you're making.

- Yeah, so there's a lot of different exciting things happening with public transit.

I think I came at the right time.

And then we are doing some updates also to our website 'cause we wanna make sure that we're making it accessible for people that are riding paratransit, which is our CityLift, and making it- - User friendly.

- Yes.

- User friendly.

- Yes.

- User friendly.

- User friendly.

- By me because, if I can navigate it, anybody can.

- Okay, all right.

So yeah, we wanna make it user friendly and we are looking at right now, I'm working on another project with the assistant general manager and we would like to have an app that's got everything, transportation on that one app.

- Right there.

- Yeah.

- Well, that's nice.

- Instead of having an app for microtransit, paratransit, fixed route.

- Navigate, navigate, navigate.

- Scooters, if we decide to do scooters, bikes.

We wanna have everything located on that one app.

- Good, good.

- Yeah.

- Yes, you did come at the right time.

- Yes.

- Well, ShamRA Robinson-Maclin, thank you so much for sharing all that information.

- Thank you for having me.

- Yeah, how about it?

- This is fun.

- Yeah.

So that's all you need to know.

And then some, about Greater Peoria Mass Transit and CityLink and CityLift.

And hope you learned a lot, I know I did.

Stay safe and healthy.

(bright upbeat music)