Commenced operation 1941 Annual ridership 470,000 Date founded 1941 | Service area Illinois Founder Walter Winkler Fleet 60 | |
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Slogan Our service is what makes us grow Service type Charter bus services, custom group tours, transportation from several universities in Illinois to Chicago suburbs and airports Destinations Various locations in Illinois, mainland United States, international Headquarters Peoria, Illinois, United States Motto Our service is what makes us grow | ||
Peoria charter coach company
Peoria Charter Coach Company is a family-owned bus company based in Peoria, Illinois, which provides charter bus services, custom group tours, and transportation from several universities in Illinois to Chicago suburbs and airports. It is a contract charter bus service provider for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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History
Peoria Charter Coach Company was founded in 1941 by Walter Winkler, who traded in the family car and received a loan from his sister to buy a bus to shuttle Caterpillar workers between Spring Bay and a new factory in Peoria, when gas was rationed during World War II. In 1979, Winkler stepped down and his sons Roger and Stanley took over the business. In 1990, Roger bought Stanley's share of the business when the latter retired. In 1999, Roger's son William and his wife Cindy took over the business, buying it from Roger.
In 2010, Peoria Charter opened a new terminal in Urbana. In 2013, the company moved its pick up location in Joliet from the Joliet Mall parking lot to the Union Station parking lot, in order to meet customers' demand for overnight parking.
The company introduced online ticketing in 2010.
Services
Peoria Charter serves five universities - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State University, Western Illinois University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bradley University. It provides transportation from these universities to Chicago suburbs, and to Chicago O'Hare and Midway airports. It also provides inter-city transportation to people in Chicago suburbs, Peoria, Urbana, Champaign, Bloomington, Normal, and Joliet. It organizes group tours to various locations in Illinois and mainland United States, and to international destinations.
Peoria Charter is one of the two approved contract charter bus service providers for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the other being Monticello Bus Company.
Awards and distinctions
In 1995, Peoria Charter won the Mississippi Valley Family Business of the Year award. In 2003, it received an honorable mention distinction for Better Business Bureau's International Torch Award for marketplace ethics, a competition in which there were 1,500 contestants. In 2012, it received a Department of Defense safety certification from Trailways.