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2025 · THE SHORT-TERM NETWORK
The change: On 2 June 2025 the interurban's course came back as a bus. Route 9 — the North Side Mishawaka route, the direct descendant under three corporate names of the horse-car line of 1885 — was replaced that day by Route 30, a one-seat South Bend-Mishawaka-Elkhart through route jointly operated by Transpo and the Interurban Trolley, under the Short-Term Network of the region's CONNECT transit plan. The joint operation is the substance: a rider can now board in downtown Mishawaka and ride to Elkhart without changing buses, on the corridor the South Bend and Elkhart Railway opened in December 1898 and abandoned in June 1934, sharing the working between the two-city corporation and the cross-county system the Michiana Area Council of Governments runs. ChicagoRailFan's route record marks the same change from the route side: Route 9 replaced 2 June 2025 with Route 30, introduced as a through route to Elkhart, jointly operated. The route's downtown Mishawaka course was adjusted again the following year, in the systemwide revision of September 2026 that the next entry carries.
Sources:
- Michiana Area Council of Governments, CONNECT Transit Plan, and Transpo's 2025 service announcements — Route 30 launched 2 June 2025 as a one-seat South Bend-Mishawaka-Elkhart route, jointly operated by Transpo and the Interurban Trolley, replacing Route 9 under the Short-Term Network.
- ChicagoRailFan, South Bend transit route record — Route 9 replaced 2 June 2025 with Route 30, a through route to Elkhart, jointly operated.