By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has recognized Connect Transit as the 2015 Outstanding Public Transportation System for agencies in North America providing fewer than 4 million annual rides.

General Manager Andrew Johnson said the company is honored to receive the award. He added this means Connect Transit is among the “best of the best” transit systems.

“Connect was evaluated by APTA on its performance for the last three years using exhaustive quantitative and qualitative criteria,” said Johnson. “What APTA found was a public transportation system that reinvented itself over the last three years. A system that had a ridership increase of over 40 percent.

“Without the commitment of our community, the loyalty of our customers, the leadership of our elected officials, the vision of our Board of Trustees, and the hard work of our dedicated employees this award would not have been possible.”

Normal Mayor Chris Koos said Connect Transit is a vital part of the community.

“We’re proud to be a partner with Connect Transit in the development of Uptown Station,” said Koos. “We knew that providing a safe, comfortable environment to use as a major transit point was going to be important to the community and to the success of public transit.”

Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner said the progress Connect Transit has made is “tremendous.”

“There are over 811,000 that go just from downtown to Eastland Mall, just on that route,” said Renner. “And we know that we’re going to need to expand the downtown site. That is part of not just a broader commitment to our entire community, but a strategic asset to our downtown.”

Connect Transit will be officially presented with the award at APTA’s annual meeting in October.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].