The system consists of five bus routes that connect various points of Ohio State's campus, and the immediate off-campus area.

[9] In 1971, a group of students chartered a bus from the Columbus Transit Company to act as a shuttle between on-campus and off-campus arrest.

[12] In 1991, Ohio State attempted to cut daytime bus service over its cost, but halted the move after receiving negative feedback.

It raised parking fees for the main campus and used the funds to purchase additional buses and expand service hours (from 29,000 to 83,000).

[15] In 2009, CABS buses were equipped with GPS devices, giving passengers real-time arrival times for the bus system.

[16] In 2013, the Wexner Medical Center's Patient Courtesy Shuttle system was transferred to Transportation & Traffic Management, the organization that oversees CABS.

On November 23, 2018, a bus carrying Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center employees was hit by a truck at an intersection resulting in at least 17 injuries.

[17] The Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, along with ongoing construction projects on Central and West Campus, led to a reorganization of routes and service times for transit operations.

[5] All of the buses in the CABS fleet are outfitted with automated passenger counters and GPS devices to gather data about ridership and bus performance as a part of Ohio State's Campus Transit Lab.