The city of Grand Island's growth is now changing the way some programs will be funded. In the 2010 census Grand Island passed the 50,000 population mark bumping the classification of the city from rural to urban.
Funding for the bus service in Grand Island and Hall County is run by Senior Citizens Industries.
"A lot of things changed with that designation as an urbanized area and we're just at the point where we're just trying to figure out what those changes are," said regional planning director for Grand Island and Hall County, Chad Nabity.
This is the first time in Nebraska history that funds will flow from rural programs to urban.
"This is the first time that we have had a new MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) created in Nebraska and it's the first time we have had that transition from the rural transit dollars to the urban transit dollars so nobody knows exactly how this is going to occur and what the step necessary are going to be," said Nabity.
One place the change in funds will affect is the Grand Generation Center.
The urban funds for the city of Grand Island will affect public transit for trips within the city limits and to and from Grand Island. Those funds will not be used for trips outside the city limits.
"It's one of those things that may look like we're stumbling around in the dark…well that's because we probably are," said Nabity.
