Berrien County is on its way to establishing a county-wide transportation system.
On July 6, the Benton Harbor City Commission voted to support a new countywide transportation authority.
According to ABC 57, MDOT notified the county last year that its state funding for the Twin Cities Area Transportation Authority, which serves Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, would be cut.
"TCATA has not consistently demonstrated their ability to operate a fiscally and operationally stable agency that is fully compliant with state and federal requirements," MDOT said in a letter obtained by ABC 57.
Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad said MDOT encouraged the county to adopt a countywide system that would keep the services running and hopefully expand them.
“There’s more work to do, But ultimately, this is a three year pilot program where things will be phased in year one, year two, year three. And then at the end of it, we’ll have a good gauge to evaluate next steps and what the future could look like," Muhammad said.
TCATA also operates the Dial-a-Ride service, which Muhammad said would also be incorporated into the new system under the plan. The countywide transit authority would also include Berrien Bus as well as other potential partners.
“The city of New Buffalo passed a resolution, the city of St. Joe, I believe is in the process of supporting a resolution. Saint Joe Township supported the resolution," Muhammad said.
The St. Joseph City Commission approved its resolution of support for the countywide system in May. Muhammad said the county is hoping to include as many locales as possible.
The new model would allow TCATA, Dial-a-Ride, Berrien Bus and other transit systems to continue operations while transitioning their funding to a new, centrally-managed transit authority. Muhammad says the agreement would be a structured in a way that would allow TCATA to continue collecting a millage.
“It was very important that [Benton Harbor] passed our resolution last night. Everything will be transitioned, the funding, to the county beginning October 1st," Muhammad said.
In December of 2025, TCATA announced that Via Transportation would be assuming all control of its operations, including Dial-a-Ride. Muhammad said Via would remain the TCATA service provider under a new countywide system.
