By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – Normal Mayor Chris Koos said he’s working on filling a vacancy on the Connect Transit Board of Trustees, and the man who narrowly lost to Koos in the mayoral election two years ago said he would like Koos to appoint him to that position.

Marc Tiritilli said Normal is losing much of its public transit service by the elimination of the Olive bus route, running from near Main Street and Orlando Avenue in Normal to east of Veterans Parkway.

Ending the route saves the system $156,000 a year, according to Connect Transit General Manager Isaac Thorne, who noted the Olive line had low ridership.

Addressing Mayor Koos and the Normal Town Council, Tiritilli said poor leadership on the board fueled a public outcry after it cut the Olive route and voted for fare increases that are scheduled to start this fall.

“Chris, I’ve asked you to appoint me to that position,” Tiritilli said.

“It’s been five weeks. We’ve had two council meetings with no appointment. If there’s a great person, I’m all for it, but we need better representation. We need people that are gong to stand up for the values of riders,” said Tiritilli.

“It kills me that this spot is sitting vacant,” Tiritilli added.

Tiritilli said he understands the importance of public transit because he rode the bus to work when he lived in Philadelphia.

Two current Connect Transit trustees represent Normal. They are Chairman Mike McCurdy and Julie Hile.

Tiritilli said he plans to run for mayor again in two years. In 2017, Koos defeated Tiritilli by only 11 votes.

Meantime, Connect Transit’s new working group assigned to develop transit system recommendations meets for the first time on Saturday.

The meeting will be held at Normal Public Library from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]