Suburban Express Shuts Down Operations

The bus company Suburban Express has shut down all operations.

According to a court filing late Tuesday, owner Dennis Toeppen is also shutting down his other transportation companies, Allerton Charter Coach and Illini Shuttle.

The Suburban Express website has also been taken down, except for the refund submission form that’s required in a recent consent decree settlement with the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

That stems from a lawsuit against Toeppen and Suburban Express that former Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed in April of last year. The lawsuit alleged that the company discriminated against and harassed its customers.

Current attorney general Kwame Raoul had recently accused Toeppen of violating the consent decree, and sought an additional $10,000 fine, on top of a $100,000 fine agreed to in the consent decree.

In the court filing, Toeppen says his companies will be dissolved once wind-down accounting is completed with a July 31 target date.

Toeppen also made a dig at his bus competition in the area, writing the following:

We have decided not to facilitate or aid in reptacement of Champaign-Urbana service. lnstead, we prefer to sit on the sidelines and watch as competitor's fares rise, frequency falls, and passenger injuries and fatalities increase. We understand that competitor had a ten injury accident only a few weeks ago at Onarga, IL on l-57. We have never had a passenger injury or fatality in 35 years.

You can read the full court filing below.