CALTRAN marked its 25th anniversary on Sunday, and then announced it would be changing its mission and leaving the transportation business.

The announcement comes from founder Rev. Bill Stein.   “We will continue to operate as a 501(c)(3) charity, however, it won’t be in the capacity of a transportation service provider,” Stein said.

CALTRAN began serving the transportation needs on July 28th, 1994, starting as a fixed route service linking Albion, Marshall and Battle Creek.  Stein says he leased vans from the former Battle Creek Taxicab company, but his initial experiment failed as patrons complained about long wait times and no weekend service.  So Stein retooled the program, providing door-to-door service and added weekends to accommodate Albion College students and other patrons who were interested in leisure-related activities on weekends.

After being hospitalized earlier this year, Stein announced that due to orders from his doctors, he will have to step back from the stress of operating a transit service. Therefore, effective August 15, CALTRAN will end its transit program but remain a 501(c)(3) to provide other charitable programming in Michigan.

Reverend Stein said that CALTRAN will honor all current transportation agreements through August 15. However, no new customers will be scheduled for rides.

“As we close this chapter on CALTRAN, we look forward to the next 25 years addressing other urgent needs for low-income, elderly and disabled citizens in Michigan,” Stein said.

More From WBCKFM