  Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 534 Registered: 07-2004 |
I was just wondering if there was a time when the majority of suburban Detroiter's could walk to a bus stop near their house, etc. And when the services were cut back? I was surprised to just read that the MBTA in Boston basically decided in the late 60's, to cut suburban bus routes and just keep a skeletal bus service in the suburbs. So while most suburban residents could walk to a bus stop before say 1970. After that they no longer could, as only a small number of bus routes were kept. I was just wondering if the same thing happened in Detroit? Or was SMART always a pretty skeletal service like now, with only a handfull of routes. I wonder how many other American cities cut subruban bus service. The Boston article I read basically said that as the highways were built, the MBTA would just shut down bus lines in the suburbs the highway was built through, regardless of if the routes were used. (Message edited by miketoronto on April 24, 2007) (Message edited by miketoronto on April 24, 2007) | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 1464 Registered: 11-2003 |
No matter where I've lived in the suburbs there was always a bus line no more than a few blocks away. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 1021 Registered: 08-2006 |
I can catch the Dequindre bus, 2 blocks from my house. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 2397 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: MBTA also operates a very extensive commuter rail system, though. Many of the bus routes eliminated may have been inefficient compared to the rail service. Inner suburbs like Cambridge and Newton still have extensive "T" bus service. A website call Motown Transit has a somewhat interesting table, that illustrates (to a point) how far transit can be from suburban residents. Unfortunately, the data is not terribly processed. It would be interesting to see what the "average" walk to a bus stop is for the "average" resident of each locality. http://www.hometown.aol.com/mo tranzit/page11.html | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2721 Registered: 02-2005 |
Three bus lines to downtown are within walking distance in Grosse Pointe. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 933 Registered: 02-2006 |
Bus service in Chicago's inner-ring suburbs is fairly plentiful (usually within 1 mile, sometimes every 4 blocks in denser suburbs or places that connect to rail routes, like Cicero). I don't really know what service frequency is like though. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 850 Registered: 07-2004 |
Personally, there was always a bus stop right around the corner from me. I think it's a combination of things, not just mass transit policy. For instance, as density falls in the metro area, and as people's ideas of "walking distance" become increasingly shorter, it's only natural. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1217 Registered: 04-2006 |
Yes you could. Keep in mind that history has changed transit service. Separate companies used to run different lines until the late 60's when things were no longer profitable. The DSR had a much larger service (in terms of frequency and routes) than it (as DDOT) does today. If you go back in time even further, you would have been able to use a network of interurban rails and buses that would get you around the midwest very cheaply (though slowly). | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 851 Registered: 07-2004 |
DP: Are you sure about those different companies? I thought transit companies were all united under DSR in the 1920s. | ||
Eric_w Member Username: Eric_w Post Number: 140 Registered: 02-2007 |
Yes,certain DSR buses used to run outside the city limits years ago. You'd pay a nickel for an extra zone. There used to be a bus line called Great Lakes than did some service beyond the city too long ago. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8911 Registered: 10-2003 |
If you have feet you can walk to a bus stop. Is there a distance limitation that you had in mind. SMART also transports bikes which is nice. | ||
Scs100 Member Username: Scs100 Post Number: 917 Registered: 12-2006 |
I walk four blocks on weekends for the bus, and two early on weekdays if I need to. Not that bad in Grosse Pointe. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1218 Registered: 04-2006 |
Here is a source (not a good one, but hey thats google for ya): http://hometown.aol.com/chirai lfan/dsmhist.html | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 173 Registered: 04-2006 |
Coverage in southeast Oakland (except in Lathrup Village) is pretty extensive, as is coverage along Lake St. Clair, but Warren could definitely add a few routes. Bus lines become very sparse north of 15 Mile and west of Telegraph, but that's to be expected. If I were in charge of SMART, though, I'd be mainly concerned with making all the buses run on time, so the schedules mean something and you're not rolling the dice every time you try to catch a bus. When the buses they have are dependable, then they can look at adding more routes. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 297 Registered: 12-2006 |
The bigger problems are speed and frequency of service IMHO. Let's say you're in Royal Oak, in a suburban neighborhood, perhaps near 13 and Crooks. Your job is to take transit to the airport. You need to be there at 2:00 on a Wednesday to catch your 3:30 plane. Let me know what time you'd need to leave and how much time you'd spend dealing with transit... then let me know if you'd be likely to try to do it that way. That's one example; there are thousands more. Real cities have real transit. | ||
Thnk2mch Member Username: Thnk2mch Post Number: 883 Registered: 02-2006 |
The two closest bus stops to my house, when SMART was in Livonia was: Two miles to the south. or One and three quarters miles to the northwest. | ||
Swiburn Member Username: Swiburn Post Number: 109 Registered: 07-2006 |
I walked two blocks to the Woodward line and went downtown on that. Then you could connect with the tunnel buses to Canada and go to either the CNR station or just downtown Windsor. And of course you could take suburban buses to places like Allen Park, etc. I could also take the northbound Woodward-Royal Oak bus and get off at the Grand Trunk station and go to Durand. It was so great for a junior high kid to get on the bus on Saturday and go to the Detroit Art Institute all by myself! | ||
Jerome81 Member Username: Jerome81 Post Number: 1383 Registered: 11-2003 |
Agreed about getting to the airport. You can't get to the CBD from DTW in what, under 2 hours? Nobody's gonna use that. And of course they're not going to build anything because "nobody would use it". So around and around we go. |
