The South Bend Public Transportation Corporation (commonly known as Transpo) is a municipal bus system that serves the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka, as well as the nearby suburbs of Notre Dame and Roseland, in the very north of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the most recent incarnation of the South Bend Railway Company, a street railway company that was founded on May 25, 1885. Transpo receives funding from local, state and federal taxes. In, the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of.

Overview

TRANSPO is a hub-and-spoke system, with routes radiating from the center towards the outward corners of the metropolitan area. It is made up of 18 fixed bus routes. It also operates an on-demand paratransit service. In Mishawaka, it serves as a de facto school bus service. South Street Station serves as a system hub, linking together most of the routes. The system runs Monday-Saturday, operating 5:50 AM – 10:00 PM on weekdays and 6:00 AM – 6:45 PM on Saturdays. It does not operate on Sundays or major holidays. All buses are equipped with bike racks. In 2014, Transpo began converting the aging fleet to compressed natural gas (CNG) with the arrival of 14 New Flyer buses.

Routes

TRANSPO has 18 individual routes and 1 additional “Gameday Express” service for Notre Dame home games.

Fares

The fares have been increased several times during the system's history. The most recent increase was on April 5, 2010. The fares are now the following: University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College students, faculty and staff can ride for free provided they show a valid ID. As of January 2012, Ivy Tech Students can ride with a student ID and validation sticker (sticker is available for $20 from Ivy Tech). Holy Cross students pay regular fare.

Connections to other transit systems

Route 4 stops at the South Bend International Airport. The airport doubles as a regional transit hub. Coach USA buses stop there (and formerly Greyhound Lines buses ), and the airport terminal building incorporates the eponymous South Shore Line station. The South Shore Line links South Bend to the city of Chicago, making stops at cities, villages and other miscellaneous municipalities throughout Northern Indiana. Route 2 stops at the city's Amtrak station. Route 5 connects to Niles DART Route 2 at the Auten Rd/933 stop Monday-Friday. Route 9 links up with the Interurban Trolley system's Bittersweet/Mishawaka Route at Twin Branch Park. The route links Mishawaka to Downtown Elkhart.

Hubs/transfer centers

South Street Station

South Street Station is the primary hub of the system. It is located in Downtown South Bend. The station includes a 14800 sqfoot building containing waiting areas, public restrooms, and other facilities. Efforts planning this station date back to 1992. It was envisioned to be an intermodal transit hub that would feature a new station for Amtrak (replacing South Bend's existing Amtrak station) in addition to a transit center for South Bend Transpo. Multiple sources: The previous transfer center, located at Main Street and Jefferson Boulevard, closed on June 28, 1997 (a Saturday), and buses moved to the South Street Station's intersection at Main Street and South Street on June 30, 1997 (a Monday). However, the building and the parking lot for buses at the South Street Station were still months away from completion, necessitating the temporary use of on-street parking for buses for several months. South Street Station's facilities were opened in 1998. When it opened, South Street Station was solely a transfer center for local buses, with the Amtrak component planned to be built at a later date. Ultimately, the Amtrak component failed to materialize. The parking garage originally planned to be attached to the station never materialized. Furthermore, it was not until December 2, 2019, when Greyhound Lines moved its intercity bus service from South Bend International Airport to the South Street Station, that it received intercity bus service. Barons Bus Lines also now provides intercity bus service at South Street Station. There have been talks of constructing a downtown South Shore Line station for South Bend, replacing the existing station at South Bend International Airport. Such a station, if constructed, might be either adjacent to, or integrated into, the South Street Station.

Mishawaka Transfer Center

The system's secondary transfer center is the Mishawaka Transfer Center, located in Downtown Mishawaka. The station is also served by the Interurban Trolley. In the early 2000s, there had been consideration given to moving the transfer center from its location at Fourth Street and Church Street to a location closer to the St. Joseph River. This proposal would have seen the station initially moved to location fronting First Street on the block between Mill Street and Spring Street. This block had been home to a previous Transpo transfer center that had been opened in October 1978. Plans were for this site to potentially be a temporary location, with plans to build a permanent facility on the former Uniroyal land along the St. Joseph River.