By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
New public transportation opportunities should be available to county residents next year after recent action by the Berrien County Board of Commissioners. Local and county leaders have been talking about doing more about the issue for several months.
Commissioners gave their stamp of approval to a two-year Berrien County Transportation Pilot Program at their last meeting in May. The resolution they approved calls for the county to give $100,000 to help support the program in each of the 2020 and 2021 years.
County officials called this new plan an intermediate step to the full consolidation of the four existing “Dial-A-Ride” services in Buchanan, Niles, the Twin Cities and the central county into one organization. The consolidation plan which would likely have required a countywide millage was developed after public meetings around the county in 2017 and 2018.
That consolidated effort was pushed by the Connect Berrien consortium of business leaders in the county. They pointed out in forums last year that many county residents are underserved when it comes to public transportation whether they are workers needing to get to jobs, students to school and college or senior citizens to grocery stores.
The new plan endorsed by county commissioners in May will address some of the issues raised in the Connect Berrien forums without committing the county to a more expensive option requiring a millage vote as well as getting all four Dial-A-Ride services to sign on.
The new plan will work through the Berrien Bus service and calls for both regular flex routes, demand response and contract service to county residents. The flex routes will be from Benton Harbor to Niles, Benton Harbor to Coloma/Watervliet, Benton Harbor to New Buffalo and New Buffalo to Niles.
Demand response service will be provided four days a week, while Berrien Bus would continue to contract with organizations like Berrien RESA and the Truancy Academy to transport students and others.
County officials said the “pros” of the new plan include showing communities the value of a countywide public transportation system which could prove important if the county later goes for a millage vote. On the “con” side, the new service won’t see the same economies of scale that a countywide system would and would need more funding after two years.
Other options presented to county commissioners earlier in May included doing nothing which would result in Berrien Bus not having enough money to operate in two to three years, Berrien Bus scaling back services to only do contract service, consolidating Berrien Bus with the Niles and Buchanan services and implementing the Connect Berrien plan.
In approving the new public transportation plan, commissioners said they hope the pilot program will give them the data they need to find a longterm solution. Some like Jon Hinkelman said they were concerned about approving a plan in the future that will require a millage.
Teri Freehling spoke in favor of the project and said she thinks it will commissioners more measurable data to have the understanding of the needs for making further decisions. The pilot program will decide whether such a countywide system will work and is feasible, she said.
County Board Chairman Mac Elliott said commissioners need to consider both needs and costs when it comes to a longterm solution after the pilot program is done. While expanded public transportation services are needed, the pilot program will give commissioners a better idea of what the county can afford.
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