MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - At the May 1st Township Board meeting, the Redi-Ride program was a discussion item.

CEO of CATA, Brad Funkhouser, gave a presentation showing the success of the service as well as how they would like to advance.

It included the potential development of an app that allows users to order a ride, like Uber.

Funkhouser also discussed how CATA would like to get rid of the change boxes on the buses and the app could serve as a way for people to pay.

There has also been a lot of discussion about expanding the Meridian hours of Redi-Ride to benefit users more.

Recently, five new service locations were added to the Meridian Redi-Ride including Costco and the Meijer in Bath Township.

The increase of fairs is also being debated, but CATA believes the public input is important.

"My proposal is go out, do our public process, and then we go to our board and say here is what we've been asked to do, here's what the public has said and then have their discussion and their vote on that," Funkhouser said.

The Board passed the motion to enter into an official agreement with CATA in terms of the services they provide to the Township.

The Redi-Ride contract in Meridian expires next year so the future is still up for debate.