Public transportation is coming to Knox County’s small towns and rural areas.
The county and the city of Galesburg will collaborate on the transit system. The county board this week gave the go-ahead to starting an on-demand service. The city council approved it in mid-July.
Some county board members said they would like to see fixed routes, but Galesburg Transit Manager Kraig Boynton said that on-demand service is the logical first step.
“This will allow us to compile data over the next year or so, so that we can figure out where our actual demands for the rides are within the county,” he said.
Boynton said they could potentially expand the service after gathering that information.
He said it’s been a multi-year process to get to this point.
There will be a soft rollout of the rural transit program late this summer. The service should be fully up and running by October.
The county board vote was 9-to-1, with two abstentions.
Those voting in favor were Joshua Kramer, Rick Sandoval, Cheryl Nache, Jennifer Fredrick, Jared Hawkinson, Patty Boone, Anthony Weiss, Samuel Cohen, and Brian Friedrich.
Pamela Davidson cast the lone “no” vote.
Tracy Robertson and Erin Pugh abstained.
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