Ridership on Metro Transit‘s on-demand countywide service grew 22% in Kalamazoo Township in the first three months of 2026, the highest growth rate in the county, according to Metro Transit Executive Director Sean McBride, who presented to the Kalamazoo Township Board of Trustees at its June 8 meeting.
That number stands out even against a backdrop of strong systemwide growth. Metro Connect, the service that lets anyone request a door-to-door trip anywhere in Kalamazoo County, provided roughly 148,000 trips countywide last year, a 9% increase over 2024. Kalamazoo Township’s early 2026 pace is running well ahead of that.
McBride said the growth reflects genuine unmet need. Studies show that between 25 and 30% of Kalamazoo County residents do not have regular access to a car, he told the board. “For people to be successful in our community, to get to school, to get to jobs, public transit is a key of mobility,” McBride said.
A Growing Network of Services
Metro Transit operates several distinct services under its umbrella, most of which touch Kalamazoo Township directly.
The fixed-route bus system remains the backbone, providing just over 5,000 rides per day across the county. The West Main and Gull Road bus routes, both running through Kalamazoo Township, rank as the second and third highest ridership routes in the system.
Metro Connect, the countywide on-demand service, is available to any county resident. Trips can be scheduled to destinations anywhere in the county.
Metro Link, the newest service, functions like a rideshare app: book a trip, wait an average of about 16 minutes, and a shared vehicle picks you up. At $1.50 per ride, it was designed as a “first mile, last mile” solution to connect people who live too far from bus stops to walk to them. It has grown from a pilot program into a permanent service, now approaching 10,000 rides per month with more than 800 active users and a 4.9 out of 5 rider rating.
Metro Share rounds out the portfolio as a van-lending program that partners with about 35 nonprofit agencies. Metro provides the vehicle and fuel; the agency provides a trained driver to transport seniors and people with disabilities. The program provided nearly 25,000 rides last year.
Funded by the Community It Serves
About 40% of Metro Transit’s operating funding comes from voter-approved millages, a structure that ties the system’s capacity directly to community support. McBride noted that rising diesel fuel costs have created significant budget pressure: filling Metro’s fuel tanks, which happens roughly every three weeks at about 12,000 gallons, cost around $27,000 per fill last year. In 2026, that same fill has ranged from $40,000 to as high as $60,000, before settling back to around $50,000.
Curtis Aardema, chair of both the Central County Transportation Authority (CCTA) and the Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority (KCTA) — the two governing boards that oversee Metro Transit — offered introductory remarks alongside McBride. Aardema noted the system has grown significantly from its origins as a City of Kalamazoo transit operation into a countywide network, while working to balance services and funding fairly across the communities it serves. Clerk Lisa Mackie serves on the CCTA board as Kalamazoo Township’s representative.
Connecting People to Health Care
One partnership highlighted by McBride illustrates how Metro sees its role expanding. Working with United Way and area medical providers, including the West Michigan Cancer Center, Metro is developing a program to help patients use transit to reach medical appointments. Funded through a grant from an anonymous corporate donor, the program will cover transit fares and includes training sessions scheduled for June and July, reaching both patients and the social workers and medical staff who refer them.
“One of the barriers to medical success is access to medical appointments,” McBride said. The goal is to make sure healthcare providers know how to direct patients to transit options, not just that those options exist.
Planning for the Sprinkle Road Corridor
A longer-term project discussed in the presentation involves the Sprinkle Road corridor in the southern part of the Township Metro is working with the City of Portage, City of Kalamazoo, Comstock Township, MDOT, the Road Commission, and other entities to think through how public transportation and complete streets infrastructure could come to that corridor.
“The Sprinkle Road discussion really came out of discussions with the employers on that corridor — just concerns about safety and access,” Aardema said. The effort is being coordinated through the Kalamazoo Area Transportation Study (KATS).
