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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 Urbana–Champaign.
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 pickup 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.
On July 15, 2020, Peoria Charter Coach announced that it had laid off all but eight of its 140 employees in response to declining revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On social media, co-owner Jingning (James) Wang stated that Peoria Charter's monthly overhead was $300,000 versus only $25,000 in revenue.
On April 1, 2024, Peoria Charter appointed James Wang as their CEO.
On October 10, 2024, James Wang purchased Peoria Charter from the Winkler Family, as Bill Winkler was ready to retire.
In December 2025, Peoria Charter filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to make a final balloon payment on a COVID-19 loan that they received during the Main Street Loans Program of the CARES Act.
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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 Urbana–Champaign.
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 pickup 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.
On July 15, 2020, Peoria Charter Coach announced that it had laid off all but eight of its 140 employees in response to declining revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On social media, co-owner Jingning (James) Wang stated that Peoria Charter's monthly overhead was $300,000 versus only $25,000 in revenue.
On April 1, 2024, Peoria Charter appointed James Wang as their CEO.
On October 10, 2024, James Wang purchased Peoria Charter from the Winkler Family, as Bill Winkler was ready to retire.
In December 2025, Peoria Charter filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to make a final balloon payment on a COVID-19 loan that they received during the Main Street Loans Program of the CARES Act.