Kosciusko Area Bus Service bus No. 191 is shown in between service at the KABS’ garage.

Text and Photos
By Patrick Webb
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — When driving around Kosciusko County, you might see a vehicle with the Kosciusko Area Bus Service.

KABS was started in 1981 by Cardinal Services to transport clients, according to KABS’ general manager Steve Lockridge. In the early 1990s, Cardinal Services sold KABS to the Kosciusko County Commissioners due to a change in the Indiana Department of Transportation’s funding requirements.

“The funding requirements changed where there were certain entities that could offer a public transportation and one of those entities would have been like a county commissioner,” explained Marcie Arndt, Cardinal Service’s vice president of programs who oversees KABS.

The county commissioners maintain the contract with INDOT, and Cardinal Services manages and administrates KABS for the county with a pass-through agreement.

Fifty percent of KABS’ funding comes from federal monies, which Indiana matches 25% of, and the remaining 25% comes from local derived income, such as city and county support and Cardinal Services, Arndt explained.

“Lack of affordable transportation is one of the top barriers for people who are trying to access their community,” Arndt said. “KABS is available to all citizens of Kosciusko County and will provide rides within county limits.”

“Even if the mayor wanted us to pick him up, we would pick him up and take him wherever he wanted to go within the county,” Lockridge added.

KABS is also a Medicaid transportation service subcontractor with Verida, Arndt said. KABS can transport passengers who qualify for non-emergency trips throughout the entire state of Indiana.

Non-medical trips in Kosciusko County include getting groceries, visiting family and taking trips to laundromats, Arndt said. Lockridge added KABs also does school pickups for students not able to ride a school bus. The busiest season for KABS is from Thanksgiving to after Christmas for holiday shopping, he said.

KABS is working towards pre-pandemic passenger ridership. According to Arndt, KABS carried 60,000 passengers during its peak pre-pandemic. In 2023 it provided 36,718 rides, up 364 from 2022, Lockridge and Arndt said.

“Within the last six to eight months we have been fully staffed with drivers, and so we’re on a really good trajectory to start to rebound to pre-pandemic numbers,” said Arndt.

KABS has several projects for 2024. One Arndt hopes to focus on is outreach.

“We want to make sure that all of Kosciusko County knows that KABS is available to the county,” explained Arndt. “It’s not just city transportation, it’s county transportation.”

A piece of artwork hangs in the KABS’ office donated by an unknown passenger.

KABS may also provide a fixed route for Warsaw.

“In one of our recent INDOT reviews, it was mentioned that maybe Warsaw is starting to become populous enough to look at a fixed route. So we’re going to explore that idea,” Arndt explained.

KABS will work with the Michiana Area Council of Governments, who will analyze the data for KABS and make recommendations. Arndt clarified that while Warsaw’s fixed route may decrease demand calls for stops in Warsaw, KABS will continue to provide service throughout the entire county.

Another plan is to accept new forms of payment and ways to schedule rides.

“We currently only take cash, or you can come in and purchase bus passes. Virtual payment is the way of the future, so we would like to also vet software that will allow us to take multiple methods of payment,” Arndt said. She added that passengers will still be able to pay with cash if they wish to.

“We also want our passengers to have multiple ways to schedule rides,” Arndt added. “Our vision is we would love for people to be able to hop on their phone or computer to schedule a ride instead of calling in, or you can call in as an option.”

Arndt has worked with Cardinal Services since 2006 and knew of KABS, but wasn’t directly involved until 2022. Overseeing KABS, she said, was an eye-opening experience.

“I’ve had the pleasure of hearing several stories of how KABS helped people get to their medical appointments,” Arndt said. “If it wasn’t for KABS they wouldn’t have been able to attend their routine medical appointments and have some of that life-saving treatment that they need. It’s a great reminder of why KABS is so important to the community.”

KABS operates with six 12-passenger and four 16-passenger buses, and two passenger vans that can carry four passengers. KABS replaced two buses in 2023 and hopes to replace two more this year if funding is granted.