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.

[6] 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.

[8] The electric buses were withdrawn in September 1974, and were sold to an industrial parts supplier in Flint at a substantial discount.

[3] 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.

[citation needed] 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.

[15] 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.

[16] The CATA Board of Directors formally adopted bus rapid transit as the locally preferred alternative for the corridor on February 16, 2011.

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.

Riders may use one CATA token for a one-way trip; again, transfers to another route, good for 120 minutes, are free; round-trips prohibited; stopovers allowed on issuing line only.