NILES —  After garnering feedback from the public last year, Connect Berrien project leaders are preparing to present a final draft proposing a consolidation of the county’s four bus systems.

This week, residents will get to hear details on the potential plan, which is estimated to cost about $6.3 million annually, and once again provide feedback on the updated proposal.

There will be three separate presentations, including from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25 at Lake Township Hall, 3 to 4:30 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Niles District Library and 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, 376 W Main St., Benton Harbor. These presentations are free and open to the public to attend.

Jim Curran, a Berrien County District 11 commissioner and member of the Steering Committee, said this will be an opportunity for residents to provide valuable feedback so that county leaders can work to come up with a solution.

“By no means is it done,” Curran said. “This is just a planning stage. They are going to roll out the plan and they want to get feedback from the public as to what they think of the plan.”

Curran cited state and federal cuts to the transportation budget, forcing some services to be scaled back. He said county officials have long been grappling with how to better serve those who depend on public transportation to get to work, school and important appointments, as well as providing service to more rural areas.

“There is a pretty large area that goes unserved,” Curran said. “Really, the New Buffalo, Bridgman, Galien – that whole area over in there really does not get transportation service at all.”

A 2016 grant from the Federal Transit Administration and matching funds provided by the Lakeland Foundation, the Berrien County Manufacturers Association and the County of Berrien, helped to fund a two-year study. The county partnered with the Southwest Michigan Planning and Nelson Nygaard, a California-based consultant, was hired to create a proposal. For the past two years, Nelson Nygaard has been compiling data.

Project leaders first presented the idea last year, which included consolidating the county’s four transportation operations: Berrien Bus, Twin Cities Area Transit Authority, Niles Dial-A-Ride Transportation, and Buchanan Dial-A-Ride.

The proposal touted more efficient schedules for riders and potentially lowered standardized fare. About a dozen attended last year’s meeting at the Niles District Library. Some expressed concern at shrinking bus availability that sometimes forced their work hours to get cut or miss appointments.

These comments from the public were used to help formulate the final draft. Called the Connect Berrien Transit Service Integration Plan, the proposal seeks to reduce the number of transportation providers to a single bus entity named GoBerrien.

According to Curran, the current public transportation system operating budget is about $4.3 million annually. Niles, Buchanan and Benton Harbor millages help to cover about $300,000 and state and local funding covers about 80 percent of the cost, according to project officials’ presentation from last year. The new proposal will cost about $2 million more. 

Curran said he hopes that members of the public can attend and express what they think about the project as a whole.

“Now, it’s really important for the county and Benton Harbor and Niles and Buchanan to sit down and say ‘Here’s the plan. Here’s what the experts say we can do to provide transportation throughout the whole county. How are we going to make this happen?’”