After the huge success of the Wayne County-wide transit millage in the August election, SMART is proposing significant expansions of transit service in the coming year, the first phase in the roll-out of new service in western Wayne County. The agency will hold ihttps://www.smartbus.org/About/News/proposed-2027-service-changes.
As described on the SMART website,
- Three brand-new bus routes are proposed for western Wayne County:
- 120-Fort (including service to downtown Detroit and out to Trenton)
- 290-Newburgh (connecting Farmington, Livonia, Westland and Wayne) and
- 295-Plymouth (serving Redford, Livonia, Plymouth and Canton)
- Several routes would be extended:
- 160-Downriver
- 200/210 Michigan Local
- 250/255-Ford Road
A couple additional changes are proposed for Oakland and Macomb County services, including the addition of Saturday service on the 525-Groesbeck and Sunday service on the 780-Fifteen Mile Crosstown.
TRU is pleased to see these proposals for expanded service, which will serve important needs in the western and southern parts of Wayne County. We also hope that SMART will consider working with the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA) to create new connections between western Wayne and eastern Washtenaw County. As we’ve expressed in a letter to the Wayne County Transit Authority, we believe new express services linking western Wayne County to Ann Arbor and Detroit should be explored as well.
We encourage everyone who can to attend the scheduled public hearings and share your thoughts.
- A remote hearing is scheduled for Monday, November 16, at 7 pm via Zoom (register here).
Two in-person hearings are scheduled as well:
- Tuesday, November 17, 6:30 pm, at the Trenton Veterans Memorial Library
- Wednesday, November 18, 7:00 pm, at Westland City Hall.
It should be emphasized that these proposed service increases are just the first phase of countywide service expansion. In order to fully implement countywide service, SMART will need to bring on more drivers and order new buses as well. We’ve been told that 60 new buses are already on order.