Frequently Asked Questions

What is the HSTP?
Who created the HSTP?
For how long will the HSTP last?
Why isn't Galesburg an urbanized area?

A: The Human Services Transportation Plan is a regional effort to coordinate transportation services. It especially focuses on transportation needs of people that are elderly, disabled, or living on low incomes. An HSTP Committee will help develop ideas that will improve transit coordination in our area, eventually decreasing the numbers of people who aren't adequately served by public transportation. Projects that apply for certain federal funds (Section 5316 and 5317) will be reviewed by this committee in order to ensure that the projects represent the best efforts from our region.

Q: Who created the HSTP?

A: The federal government created the HSTP and passed the responsibility to the state of Illinois. The Illinois Department of Transportation divided downstate Illinois into eleven regions and passed some responsibility to coordinators based in each region.

Q: For how long will the HSTP last?

A: This HSTP process will last for three years, until the fall of 2010. After that, the future of the plan depends what the federal government decides in its next transportation bill. Even if the HSTP process officially ends in three years, we hope that local agencies and providers will continue working together to keep improving transportation.

Q: Why isn't Galesburg an urbanized area while Peoria is?

A: The HSTP uses population measurements created by the federal government to classify cities and urbanized areas. Under these guidelines, a "small urbanized area" has 50,000 to 200,000 people living within a certain area.

Galesburg had a population of 33,706 in 2000, so it is not classified as an urbanized area and will be included in the "rural" plan.

"Large urbanized areas" have over 200,000 people. The Peoria-Pekin area has a population of about 269,000, so it is a large urbanized area.

Heart of Illinois Human Services Transportation Plan

Increasing Interconnectivity Through Mobility and Access