About Us

The City of DeKalb operates all Urban transit services in the DeKalb Urbanized Area. The City contracts with Transdev Services Inc. (Huskie Line) to provide fixed route, paratransit, and deviated fixed route services.

The City is a recipient of Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) 5307 urbanized funding. This annual funding is based on population formula grants, and competitive grants that the City applies for. Additionally, the City also receives State of Illinois Downstate Operating Assistance Program (DOAP) funding. This funding can only be used for operating expenses, and it is also considered as a formula funded program. Currently, the DOAP program increases ten percent each fiscal year. Due to state and federal grant funding requirements, staff must ensure that all FTA and Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) guidelines are strictly followed.

In October 2018, the City entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) for integrated transit services with Northern Illinois University (NIU). As of January 1, 2019, the City maintains oversight and operations of the NIU bus system known as the Huskie Line; per the IGA, NIU agreed to contribute 40% of the total fixed route system costs to the City of DeKalb to help fund the system.

The Transit Division consists of three staff members, a Transit Manager, and Assistant Transit Manager, and a Geographic Information System (GIS) Specialist. Transit staff members monitor service levels, ridership, customer service, routes, and grant administration.