River Valley Metro Mass Transit District was formed in September 1998. The initial members of the district were Kankakee County, the City of Kankakee, Village of Aroma Park and the Village of Bourbonnais. The Village of Bradley joined in December of 2000 and the Village of Manteno joined in July of 2006.
River Valley Metro initiated service in July 1999 taking over the Kankakee Area Transit System (KATS). Hourly service was provided to Meadowview, Kankakee/Northfield Square Mall, Mulberry/Eastgate, Riverview/Aroma Park, Kankakee Community College, West Kankakee, and a Bourbonnais Flex Route. River Valley Metro also provides ADA service with Metro PLUS. In April 2000, the Medical Center route was added and in March of 2001 a Bradley route was added. Commuter service to University Park was implemented in 2005 and in 2006 a stop was added in Manteno for the University Park Route.
On August 11, 2008, two new routes were added to the River Valley Metro schedule and increased service was also added to KCC and Eastgate with half-hour headways. Service is now provided to exit 308 and Wal-Mart and a new fixed route was added in Manteno. With the new route in Manteno a new partner was added, Manteno township.
