DTW to downtown transportation...

**Al Publican** · July-21-19, 05:56 PM

At one time there was an express bus that ran from DTW to downtown with one stop at Fairlane Mall. I also recall taking a Smart bus from DTW to downtown when I had time and wanted to see how long it would take.
Are there any buses or vans that service downtown hotels, or is it just taxis and Uber today? What about Smart from DTW?

**48202** · July-21-19, 07:15 PM

FAST. Michigan Avenue. Route 261.

https://www.smartbus.org/Portals/0/D...igan%20Map.jpg

**Atticus** · July-22-19, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by 48202

FAST. Michigan Avenue. Route 261.

https://www.smartbus.org/Portals/0/D...igan%20Map.jpg

I just call it “FAST-er”.

It is faster than the bus that used to connect DTW with downtown, but still way too slow to be justified as “fast” by most people who can afford a plane ticket.

**Danny** · July-22-19, 04:43 PM

There was the SMART bus Rte. 190 called the "Taylor Flyer". Due to extreme low ridership, they end the route.

**casscorridor** · July-23-19, 04:10 AM

Originally Posted by Atticus

I just call it “FAST-er”.

It is faster than the bus that used to connect DTW with downtown, but still way too slow to be justified as “fast” by most people who can afford a plane ticket.

yeah, ridiculously misleading branding. especially for how EASY it would be to put in place an actual express bus every 15-30 minutes from the airport, down 94 to Downtown.

**middetres** · July-23-19, 04:50 AM

Originally Posted by casscorridor

yeah, ridiculously misleading branding. especially for how EASY it would be to put in place an actual express bus every 15-30 minutes from the airport, down 94 to Downtown.

Misleading? Perhaps, but highly effective. 49% increase from June 2017 to June 2019 in weekday ridership on the 3 corridors with FAST routes.

An Express bus that only picks up downtown and gets you to the airport in 25 minutes along I-94 would be fantastic, but it would also cost more because of its limited audience. Even at $5 a ride you would lose most airport workers from using it, and you would most likely never get any of the "people who can afford a plane ticket" crowd from giving up their autonomy.

**Honky Tonk** · July-23-19, 06:06 AM

Originally Posted by middetres

Misleading? Perhaps, but highly effective. 49% increase from June 2017 to June 2019 in weekday ridership on the 3 corridors with FAST routes.

An Express bus that only picks up downtown and gets you to the airport in 25 minutes along I-94 would be fantastic, but it would also cost more because of its limited audience. Even at $5 a ride you would lose most airport workers from using it, and you would most likely never get any of the "people who can afford a plane ticket" crowd from giving up their autonomy.

Look @ the reality of the situation. Other than business people traveling with a backpack, most people heading out on vacation, travel with several pieces of luggage, children, have physical ailments, etc. Do you really think they're going to go to and park @ a bus stop to transfer all that several times, when you can just drive to and park @ the airport and transfer it once?

**Zacha341** · July-23-19, 08:30 AM

^^^ Yes, Metro D's so different from other airport-to-city sets. For example Hartford, ATL has a rail transpo straight out of the airport. You see others onboard with their luggage, you don't stand out 'touristy' as that of that route leading to others. Fine if you are doing a carry-on and backpack or backpack.

For more vacationers who may have more luggage Hartford and Metro D of course have short and long term lots, or drop off zones. Thank goodness!

**cramerro** · July-26-19, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by middetres

Misleading? Perhaps, but highly effective. 49% increase from June 2017 to June 2019 in weekday ridership on the 3 corridors with FAST routes.

An Express bus that only picks up downtown and gets you to the airport in 25 minutes along I-94 would be fantastic, but it would also cost more because of its limited audience. Even at $5 a ride you would lose most airport workers from using it, and you would most likely never get any of the "people who can afford a plane ticket" crowd from giving up their autonomy.

FAST is intended to offer a direct connection with 7 day service to the airport that wasn't there before. It's a decent option for someone traveling without a lot of luggage who lives along the FAST Michigan route.

Direct service is possible, use Air Ride from AA-DTW via Ypsi as an example. It has great ridership [[from two dense nodes with a relatively short, direct route to DTW) and has been said to recover about 75% of cost at the farebox. The cost? $22 each way - that's 11 times the cost of a ride on FAST. Subtract the 20 cent water bottle and it's 10.75 times the cost. Two totally different services.

Fixed route airport service is very expensive to provide because it has to run 24-7-365 [[or pretty close) to be a 'always there' option. The only way this is viable is having a few concentrated nodes for people to board that would support the cost of the service. Remember, a commuter route can serve a person every weekday all year - even the most frequent airline travelers would average maybe a round trip once a quarter, with most people less frequent than that. Downtown Detroit might be able to support the volume, but even that would be a stretch for the millions of dollars you'd pay to have just one route running to the airport with any decent frequency. A more flexible, reservation-based solution would control costs and provide a better quality of service when actually used.

**EGrant** · July-26-19, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Do you really think they're going to go to and park @ a bus stop to transfer all that several times, when you can just drive to and park @ the airport and transfer it once?

Riding public transportation to and from the airport with luggage and children is the norm in pretty much every large city on earth.

**Trumpeteer** · July-26-19, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

^^^ Yes, Metro D's so different from other airport-to-city sets. For example Hartford, ATL has a rail transpo straight out of the airport. You see others onboard with their luggage, you don't stand out 'touristy' as that of that route leading to others. Fine if you are doing a carry-on and backpack or backpack.

For more vacationers who may have more luggage Hartford and Metro D of course have short and long term lots, or drop off zones. Thank goodness!

You mean "Hartsfield" I believe.

**Zacha341** · July-26-19, 10:14 AM

^YES! Thank yah! What an airport--You take a train from one end to the other!

**Ray1936** · July-26-19, 05:06 PM

It's such a pity that Detroit City Airport didn't seize the moment and grab a bunch of land north of the present layout about 1935 and turn into a major metropolitan air hub. It would easily have served the entire tri-county area rather than just the southwest end of metro Detroit. Sigh.

**bust** · July-27-19, 04:12 PM

Ray, as I've commented here already, I totally agree. And I have relatives buried in that cemetery.

**bust** · July-27-19, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by EGrant

Riding public transportation to and from the airport with luggage and children is the norm in pretty much every large city on earth.

There is at least one exception: NY. But that's one of its failures.

Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Look @ the reality of the situation. Other than business people traveling with a backpack, most people heading out on vacation, travel with several pieces of luggage, children, have physical ailments, etc. Do you really think they're going to go to and park @ a bus stop to transfer all that several times, when you can just drive to and park @ the airport and transfer it once?

No, the people you describe will hire a driver. It costs far less than parking and is equally convenient.

So there are [[at least) two use cases: 1) people traveling solo and/or without lots of complications; 2) people traveling with lots of complications.

For the latter set public transit may rarely be the answer. For the former it can be a great solution.

I don't know the numbers, but I am willing to bet the number of airport travelers among the former set is vastly more.

**iheartthed** · July-28-19, 10:31 AM

I'm skeptical that DET could've ever been expanded enough to compete with, or prevent, DTW.

**stasu1213** · July-28-19, 12:19 PM

In 2009 I had went to Vegas. When I returned to Metro Airport I decided to use SMART to get back to Detroit which turned out to be the longest bus ride ever. In 2014 I had used SKOOT which only costed me $23.00 to the Airport and the same coming back. Skoot had even asked me what time my plane was coming in so that they could be there when my plane land. There are more inexpensive ways to get to the Airport and back. Metro car doesn't monopolize the business as they had done 10 years ago. SMART had even installed a FAST bus that will get you to the Airport with minimal stops along the way