County Official Sees Improvements At Berrien Bus

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Things are looking better at Berrien Bus since the Berrien County Board of Commissioners made some changes to it last year. Berrien County Community Development Director Dan Fette told the board Thursday the service is operating at a profit and building up a fund balance since its employees are now through Berrien RESA and it’s mostly providing contract-based transportation services as opposed to general public ridership.

“The program is no longer facing any kin of financial difficulty,” Fette said. “We expect it’s going to remain that way for the foreseeable future, and our intention is to use this sort of added runway to continue to work with the BCAT and our local partners to assess the state of transportation services countywide and to find the best use of our available resources.”

Fette said for the first time in years, his Berrien Bus report was positive. In the year ahead, he said the service’s bus garage will have to be addressed as it’s in bad shape. He said they’re looking at using a RESA garage instead and partnering with the city of Niles and others to find a better location.