III. Bus Transportation in Detroit

DDOT (Detroit Department of Transportation) and SMART(Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) buses are operating in the City of Detroit.

Red lines represent SMART bus routes and orange lines are DDOT routes. There are total 5618 bus stops located along the routes.

Accessibility to Bus Stops

The map above implies accessibility to bus stops. (click the map to see detailed maps or pictures)

1. Bus stop sign

Almost 30 percent of bus stops have no bus stop sign. Where there is no bus stop sign is categorized into three types. On Outer drive between Southfield Fwy. and Greenfield road there are no stop signs at all. No one seems not to know there is a bus stop along the street. Bus drivers also passed the street without stopping.

Another type of no sign bus stop is shown in Plymouth Rd. and Greenfield Rd. case. There are stops only one side of the road, and no sign exists across the street. In this case people may be aware of existence of bus stop because of bus stop sign on the other side.

Many stops have no sign in both sides of streets, such as Schoolcraft Rd. However, unlike Outer Dr., not every stop has no sign, in other words, occurrences of bus stops without sign are less frequent on the street.

Some stops are being noticed as a bus stop in spite of no sign due to shelter. (e.g. bus shelter without sign in front of University of Detroit Mercy at Outer Dr. and west of Southfield hwy.) Also, existence of bus stop sign does not guarantee the quality of bus stops, such as illegible or tainted bus stops.

2. Sidewalk

The number of bus stops without sidewalk is infrequent. However, those stops concentrate on specific roads, DDOT route 9, 13 and 19.

Although data indicate no sidewalk, accessibility of bus stops are different among the bus stops. For example, while some of bus stops literally have no sidewalk, others have access to the sidewalk nearby bus stops; it may due to wide setback in the residential area.

3. Light

Bus stops have no lighting nearby are mostly located on Holbrook Rd., where is on the east side of Woodward Ave. Relatively small single family houses are located along this road, and some vacant houses exist. Meanwhile, existence of lighting does not always means that light is on.

Bus stop with Better condition

The red shaded bus stops represent availability of sitting or waiting facility, which is bench or shelter. As can be seen in the map, these facilities are not available in most of bus stops.

(Click the map to view the pictures of bench and bus shelter)

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