Privacy Statement

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy. This policy describes our privacy practices for our applications and websites where it is posted. This policy does not apply to information we might collect in other situations, like offline or by email. This policy also does not apply to the practices of third parties who may provide services or features on our sites or apps.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, do not download, register with or use this application or service. By downloading, registering with or using this application or service, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time. Your continued use after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

The policy of MTD is that no private information (as defined in the Freedom of Information Act) that you provide to us, including, but not limited to, your name, address, telephone number, driver’s license number, Social Security Number or email address will be sold or rented to any entity or individual or disclosed to unauthorized entity or individual. The use of private information by the District shall be limited to District employees, vendors who are working with the District on some aspect of the website, District departments or their authorized agents of State or Federal agencies, or as required by Federal or Illinois law or court order.

Access to Information - Freedom of Information Act

MTD is subject to the Freedom of Information Act of the State of Illinois (“Act”). Information collected and received through the MTD website may become public record and therefore may be subject to disclosure under the Act.

Consistent with that Act, it is declared to be the public policy of MTD that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees. The access to information is not intended to be used to violate individual personal privacy, nor to further a commercial enterprise, nor to disrupt the duly undertaken work of the District independent of the fulfillment of any of rights of the people to access to information.

Private Information and Choice

“Private information” (as defined in the Act) is information about an individual that is readily identifiable to that specific individual. Private information includes personal identifiers such as an individual’s name, address, phone number, driver’s license number and social security number. A domain name or Internet Protocol address is not considered private information. We collect no private information about you unless you voluntarily participate in an activity that asks for information (e.g., sending an e-mail, signing up for an account, or participating in a survey). If you choose not to participate in these activities, your choice will in no way affect your ability to use any other feature of MTD websites. If private information is requested on the website or volunteered by the user, state law and the federal Privacy Act of 1974 may protect it. However, this information is a public record once you provide it and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not protected by federal or state law.

Policies for Individuals Under 13 Years of Age

MTD is committed to complying fully with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Accordingly, if you are under the age of 13, you are not authorized to provide us with personally identifying information, and we will not use any such information in our database or other data collection activities. We appreciate your cooperation with this federally mandated requirement. Users are cautioned that the collection of personal information volunteered by children online or by email will be treated the same as information given by an adult and may be subject to public access.

Web Server Logs

MTD analyzes our website logs to continually improve the value of the materials available on our site. Our website logs are not personally identifiable, and we make no attempt to link them with the individuals that browse the MTD website.

Information Retained and How it is Used

If, during your visit to the MTD website, you just browse or download information, the following information about your visit will be retained:

  1. Your Internet Protocol (IP) address (not the e-mail address). Unique IP addresses are counted to determine the number of visitors to each web page during specific time frames. Analysis of the number of visitors helps to determine how, where or if the page will be delivered in the future.
  2. Information about your web browser (Edge, Safari, etc.) and information about the device used to access the site. Web pages do not always display the same on every type or version of web browser and thus must be coded for appropriate access.

Correspondence

If during your visit to the MTD website you send an email, participate in a survey, submit a contact form, or sign up for an account, the following additional information will be collected:

  1. Email Correspondence: The email address and contents of the email. We may use your email to respond appropriately. This may be to respond to you, to address issues you identify, to further improve our website, or to forward the email to another agency for appropriate action.
  2. Surveys: Any information you volunteered in response to a survey. Survey information is used for the purpose designated. The information collected is not limited to text characters and may include audio, video, and graphic information formats that you have provided.
  3. Contact Form: Any information you volunteer when filling out a contact form. This information is logged in our customer feedback system and is used to contact you in response to your query.
  4. Account: The email address you use to sign up for the account as well as your first and last name. Additionally, you will be given the option to provide a secondary email address and phone number.

Location Information

In order to provide location-based information, such as a list of nearby transit stops, our site may request that your browser or device provide us with your rough or precise location. You will be asked to give consent to our browser to collect location information. We may also aggregate anonymous data to better understand how people are using these location-enhanced services and later improve those services.

Subscriptions

You may subscribe to receive information from the District, such as information about planned or unplanned events that affect transit service delivered through the District Updates service, or to receive news about the District and our services. To unsubscribe from these services, follow the instructions at the bottom of messages we send or visit https://mtd.org/account/alerts/ to manage your alert preferences.

Employment-Related Information

If you are interested in District employment, you may complete an online application and submit information regarding past work experience. This information will be used only for evaluating an applicant's qualifications for a position with the District. Employment-related information may be handled by a third -party vendor which would process the personal information you provide. 

SMS Service

MTD logs your phone number and search query for the sole purpose of maintaining our own logs on the service. We will not share this information with any third parties or use it for any purpose other than logging. If you have a MTD account and would like to stop receiving reroute alerts, text STOP to 35890.

Cookies

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier, that is sent to your browser from a website’s computers and may either be used only during your session (a “session” cookie) or may be stored on your computer’s hard drive (a “persistent” cookie). Cookies can contain data about user movement during the visit to the website. If your browser software is set to allow cookies, a website can send its own cookie to you. A website that has set a cookie can only access those cookies it has sent to you, it cannot access cookies sent to you by other sites.

Why are cookies used on websites?

Cookies are one mechanism for maintaining continuity during a user’s visit to a website. They allow data to be maintained for users’ benefit as they navigate a site. This is referred to as a “session” or “state management” cookie. These cookies go away when you terminate your visit to the website as they are maintained only in your browser’s active memory during your session. Cookies may also be stored on your computer so that you can be recognized by a website on subsequent visits. They can be read by the website that set them whenever you enter the website. They are often used on websites that require you to log in to save you entering all of your login information. They may store information on your unique identifier and the areas of the website you have visited before. These cookies are stored on your computer’s hard drive after you have left your website visit and consequently are often referred to as “persistent” cookies.

Choices about cookies

You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. (Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.)

MTD website practices regarding cookies

The MTD website may use either session or persistent cookies at any given time. Cookies used by the MTD website attempt to make accessing the site more convenient for the user.

Link Privacy Disclaimer

The MTD website has links to other websites. This includes links to websites operated by other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private businesses. When you link to another site, you are no longer on a site covered by this Privacy Policy. When you link to another website, you are subject to the privacy policy of that new site.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time at the discretion of MTD. Any changes will be posted on this webpage, and if the changes are significant, the District will provide a more prominent notice on this website. Continued use of this website after the changes have been made constitute the user’s acceptance of the changes.

Effective Date

This Privacy Policy is effective as of March 22, 2021.

How to Contact Us?

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy statement or our use of your information, you can email us at mtdweb@mtd.org or Contact Us.