IL: 'Decatur Moves' into new era of public transportation

Public transportation has taken many faces in the nearly 150 years it's helped Decatur residents get from Point A to Point B.

Starting in 1876, it was a one-car, horse-drawn trolley that operated on narrow gauge tracks from the city's first Union Station, located near the intersection of Cerro Gordo and Front streets, to Lincoln Square and later to Greenwood Cemetery.

Quickly outdated with the dawn of electricity, this mode in 1889 gave way to electrified streetcar lines. In fact, Decatur was the third city in the nation to electrify its streetcars after Detroit and Cincinnati, according to Herald & Review archives.

The run of streetcars came to an end in 1936. The tracks were torn up and paved over. The fresh surface was to be enjoyed by intracity bus lines, which made their debut in 1924 and had long supplanted streetcars in popularity.

More than a century later, the fixed bus routes remain a fixture of the Decatur Public Transit System, which has been under city control since 1971.

But starting next month, the city will once again enter a brave new world as it rolls out the latest innovation in public transportation, a concept known as microtransit. Or, as it will be known here, "Decatur Moves."

What is it?

As the name suggests, microtransit utilizes smaller branded vehicles to take riders from a designated pickup point to either their final destination or to a fixed-route bus that could be used to complete their trip — whichever is the most efficient way to get someone from one place to the next.

During the day, it will supplement the city's fixed bus route system. And, starting next year, it will provide curb-to-curb service when the last buses stop running at 8:15 p.m. until 12:30 a.m., offering second shift workers without access to a car a convenient option to get home in the early morning hours.

In this sense, it is a hybrid service that bridges the gap between traditional public transportation and rideshare services like Uber and Lyft.

"It's a first mile, last mile solution, but it's also going to serve that gap in transportation that we have," said Decatur Economic and Community Development Director Lacie Elzy, who oversees the city's transit services. "So there's a lot of neighborhoods that don't get served by the fixed route system. So this will definitely be able to, for some people, complete their trip."

"For others, it might tell you that, 'hey, the most efficient way to complete your trip is we're going to connect you to the fixed route system to be able to get there.' This is part of an overall restructuring of the transit system," she said.

Earlier this year, the city extended the hours fixed route buses operate. It also expanded Sunday bus service — brought back on a limited basis in 2022 after a 60-year hiatus — to include all routes.

The city is also in the process of transitioning its bus fleet from traditional diesel-powered buses towards hybrids and, eventually, full electric buses. The city's goal is to have a zero-emissions bus fleet by 2035.

And at some point after Decatur Moves launches, Elzy said that the number of fixed bus routes will be reduced from 16 to 10. Routes with low ridership and running through residential areas where the presence of large buses is disruptive will be eliminated.

On the other hand, this will allow more frequent service on the most heavily-utilized routes connecting the city center with commercial centers in Forsyth and the southeast side of town as well as to institutions like Richland Community College and HSHS St. Mary's Hospital.

Elzy told the Herald & Review that ridership during the first five months of 2025 increased 38%, which she attributed to increasing hours and frequency of service.

Once implemented, fixed-route bus service would almost entirely be eliminated from the city's west end, northwest side and the lightly populated portions of the industrial northeast quadrant. But bus service on the routes that continue will increase from every hour to every 30 minutes or from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes.

Microtransit can be crucial cog in the machine to make it all work, said Joe Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who is the director of the school's Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.

"The lifestyles of today's commuters are increasingly out of sync with fixed schedule transit services, particularly in rural areas," Schwieterman said. "The inefficiencies of running a full-sized bus outside of major routes can become extremely burdensome and households without cars are increasingly comfortable with rideshare services. So turning to micromobility solutions can help stretch budgets in a really, really impressive way."

Similar programs have been rolled out in cities and rural areas across the country. In 2023, Bloomington- Normal's Connect Transit launched Connect Flex, which provides on-demand service to southwest Bloomington, an area of the city traditionally underserved by public transportation.

In Jersey City, a city of nearly 300,000 just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, their on-demand microtransit service reached two million rides four years after its launch.

When forming Decatur's program, Elzy said she looked to Valdosta, Georgia, a city of similar size within a county of similar size to Macon County. Within a year of launching "Valdosta On-Demand," more than 65,000 rides had been delivered.

In Decatur, the city has 19 wheelchair-equipped minivans with the name "Decatur Moves," which can carry up to four passengers at a time.

The city council in June approved a three-year, $14 million contract with Dallas-based MV Transportation to manage and operate the service. The funding came from state and federal transportation grants and a congressional appropriation secured by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

City communications coordinator Ryan Huffer, however, said that the city "won't truly know the cost until we get the first year of operation under our belts, which will give us an understanding of ridership demand."

As of the beginning of August, the company had hired 29 drivers.

Asked if the service would be akin to private rideshare services like Uber or Lyft, MV Transportation's transformation program director Susan Bartz said, "it is, but much more affordable."

What is the coverage area?

There will be two distinct zones: urban and rural.

Urban covers any rides that start and end within the cities of Decatur, Forsyth and Mount Zion. Decatur inked intergovernmental agreements with its two suburban neighbors to handle public transportation within their borders. Microtransit fares within this zone will be $2.

Rural covers the rest of Macon County with rides starting or ending there costing $5. The city and county signed an intergovernmental agreement earlier this year allowing the former to handle public transit service in the latter.

The county had previously been part of a seven-county consortium that contracted with Chenoa-based SHOW BUS. That contract was terminated and the consortium dissolved.

The cost for fixed-route buses remains $1.

Decatur Moves was initially expected to debut in the urban zone on Aug. 11 with rural service rolling out a few weeks later. But city officials decided to do it all at once, which has pushed back the start date.

Huffer said that the city would likely announce a new launch date next week.

How to pick up a ride

Rides can be booked via the "Decatur Rides" mobile app that's available for download in the Apple and Google Play stores. It can also be booked online at DecaturMoves.com or by calling 217-424-2821. No flag down or walk-on trips are allowed.

Passengers are required to provide their name and phone number, their pick-up and drop-off addresses and a ride time, with options including "as soon as possible," an "arrive by" time or a "leave at" time.

They will also have to specify of they need any accessibility features, such as a wheelchair, or are using a scooter, walker or bringing a service animal with.

Return trips will have to be booked separately.

Once the ride is booked, passengers will be provided with the driver's estimated pickup time. A driver will be considered on time if they arrive within a window of 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after the stated pick-up time. Drivers will wait two minutes for a rider to approach the vehicle.

The original hours of operation will be daily from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., though plans are in the works to extend it to 12:30 a.m.

Decatur Moves

The navigation system in a Decatur Moves vehicle directs a driver in Decatur on Aug. 6.

The minivans are equipped with GPS navigation and dynamic routing technology that will group riders together if traveling in similar directions and determine whether to drop someone off at a fixed bus route to finish their trip.

"People greatly value the ability to have a demand responsive service that picks them up from their home or workplace at a semi-precise time," Schwieterman said. "In rural areas, the private ride share market has trouble affordably serving many people needing rides on thinly-traveled routes."

Free rides

In the app, users are encouraged to enter the promo code "FREE5," which will earn them five free rides on the service.

© 2025 the Herald & Review (Decatur, Ill.).
Visit www.herald-review.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.