Capital Area Transportation Authority

CATA began service in 1972. Its predecessor, Lansing Metro Lines, was privately owned and operated under a franchise from the city of Lansing. Poor ridership and increasing costs prompted a city buyout of Metro Lines in 1970, creating uncertainty about the future of bus service in the Lansing area. CATA was organized as a regional authority in 1971. By the end of its first year of service in 1972, the newly formed CATA had provided over 700,000 rides.

CATA was the first transit system in the United States to operate electric buses, with the assistance of a grant from the Model Cities Program. Six electric buses entered service in May 1973, operating a loop through Downtown Lansing and the State Capitol at no charge. The electric buses were built by the Battronic Truck Company of Boyertown, Pennsylvania. The $136,000 (equivalent to $986,000 in 2025) purchase price of the buses was largely funded by the federal government. CATA's electric buses were plagued by mechanical problems, and ridership declined after CATA began charging fares on the formerly free service. The electric buses were withdrawn in September 1974, and were sold to an industrial parts supplier in Flint at a substantial discount.

In 1999, Michigan State University discontinued its bus services, and CATA took over operations of bus service on campus. Fares were initially charged for these routes, before a 2019 pilot program led to a permanent removal of fares.

CATA is a two-time winner of the APTA Outstanding Public Transportation System Award, in 1991 and 2007. This award recognizes CATA's excellence in customer service, safety, and management.

In 2006, CATA became the first transit agency in Michigan to operate diesel-electric hybrid buses. The system continued to exclusively buy hybrid buses through 2016, before returning to conventional diesel in 2019 as the first Michigan operator of the Nova Bus LFS.

In August 2014, CATA introduced the CATAnow system to provide real-time bus departure information. Further developments in CATA's real-time bus tracking systems include a partnership with Transit App beginning in 2017.

Michigan/Grand River Avenue Transportation Study

CATA partnered with metropolitan municipalities beginning in the summer of 2009 to study and evaluate transit improvements to Route 1, which runs from downtown Lansing to the Meridian Mall. Improvements being evaluated include enhancing the existing bus system, adding bike lanes, improving intersections, or upgrading the existing route from a bus line to a bus rapid transit line, light rail, or a modern streetcar line. The CATA Board of Directors formally adopted bus rapid transit as the locally preferred alternative for the corridor on February 16, 2011. This authorized the transit to submit an application to be part of the Federal Transit Administration Small Starts program, which would provide substantial funding for the capital costs of construction this line. The proposal was moved to the FTA's project development phase in April 2013, which includes getting funding for an environmental review and design and engineering activities. Citing a potential lack of federal funding for the project from the Trump administration, the authority's board voted in April 2017 to suspend the project until federal funding could be committed to the project.

CATA operates scheduled fixed-route bus and paratransit services across a 559-square-mile (1,450 km2) area throughout Ingham County and portions of Eaton and Clinton counties.

CATA has approximately 340 employees, of whom nearly 224 are bus operators represented by Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1039. In 2016, 46% of CATA's operating revenue came from local sources, another 30% from state sources, and 24% came from fares and additional sources. In fiscal 2019, CATA logged 11,049,317 rides – an increase of 6.4 percent over the previous fiscal year.

CATA also operates the Capital Area Multimodal Gateway in East Lansing, the Lansing area's sole Amtrak station.

Fixed-route bus service

CATA operates scheduled fixed-route bus services on 32 routes in Lansing, East Lansing, and neighboring communities. The system's main hub is the CATA Transportation Center (CTC) in downtown Lansing, with a satellite hub, the MSU-CATA Transportation Center (MSU-CTC), at Michigan State University.