Parent City of Detroit Daily ridership 91,700 (Q4 2015) Director Dan Dirks Founded 1922 Fleet 300 | Routes 35 routes Fuel type Diesel CEO Dan Dirks (15 Jan 2014–) Operator MV Transportation | |
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Headquarters 1301 East Warren Avenue Service area Detroit, limited suburban service Hubs Rosa Parks Transit Center, State Fair Transit Center Service types Transit bus, Express bus service, Paratransit Profiles | ||
Detroit department of transportation announces largest expansion of bus service in 20 years
The Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT, pronounced "D-Dot") is the public transportation operator of city bus service in Detroit, Michigan. In existence since 1922, it has headquarters in the Midtown section of Detroit and is a municipal department of the city government. DDOT partners with the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART).
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Detroit department of transportation 1985 bus rodeo
Services
As the largest public transit agency in the state of Michigan, DDOT primarily serves the city of Detroit, with some additional and limited service to nearby cities of Dearborn, Hamtramck, Highland Park (both are Detroit enclaves), Harper Woods, Livonia, Redford Township, River Rouge and Southfield. DDOT has a fare and ride agreement with the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation as it supplements the city with bus service linking the city to the rest of Metro Detroit and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Bus service generally operates between 5 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday, while Sunday service starts approximately 7 a.m. and ends between 8 and 9 p.m. On Woodward Avenue (Route 53), Dexter Avenue (Route 16), Gratiot Avenue (Route 34), and Grand River Avenue (Route 21) bus service operates 24/7 service.
Along with operating fixed-route bus service, DDOT also operates MetroLift, an on-demand paratransit service with 220 to 240 wheelchair accessible vehicles. DDOT contracts with three providers for this service: Checker Cab, Enjoi Transportation, and Lakeside Divisions.
History
The DDOT began its life as the Department of Street Railways (DSR) in 1922 after the acquisition of the privately owned Detroit United Railway (DUR), which had controlled much of Detroit's mass transit operations since its incorporation in 1901. The DSR added bus service when it created the Motorbus Division in 1925. At the height of its operation in 1941, the DSR operated 20 streetcar lines with 910 streetcars. By 1952, only four streetcar lines remained: Woodward, Gratiot, Michigan and Jefferson. Streetcar services was discontinued in April 1956 with the decommissioning of the Woodward line. The DSR formally became the DDOT in 1974 under the Detroit City Charter.
Between 2009 and 2012, the system's seven remaining limited and express bus routes were discontinued. Starting January 1, 2012, management of DDOT was contracted out to Parsons Brinckerhoff, an engineering and management firm. The firm subsequently subcontracted the management of the system to Envisurage, LLC a consultancy run by the former CEO of the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority. On March 3, 2012, 24-hour service was discontinued, and other weekday and weekend routes and services were pared down, or eliminated entirely, in an attempt to produce savings for the department. In August 2013, management of DDOT was contracted out to MV Transportation under the direction of Paul Toliver until September 2014. Dan Dirks was appointed director of the department by mayor Mike Duggan on January 9, 2014 for the duration of MV Transportation's contract. MV Transportation's contract was extended for another two years on August 12, 2014. On January 23, 2016 DDOT reintroduced 24-hour service on three principal routes along with other smaller service changes.
Detroit Downtown Trolley
The Detroit Downtown Trolley (originally the Detroit Citizen's Railway) was a heritage trolley built in 1976 as a U.S. Bicentennial project. The trolley ran over a one-mile L-shaped route from Grand Circus Park to near the Renaissance Center, via Washington Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue, using narrow-gauge trams acquired from municipal rail services outside the U.S. Most of the Detroit cars that saw service from 1976 to 2003 had been acquired from Lisbon, Portugal. Many Detroiters old enough to remember streetcar service from before 1956 were delighted with the nod to nostalgia that the service represented, but lack of business activity in downtown Detroit meant that ridership of the Downtown Trolley never became more than a novelty and declined to only about 3000 per year in the late 1990s; service was suspended in June 2003.
Fares
For all transfers round trips & stopovers are prohibited, and are good for 2 hours upon boarding. No fare per use thereafter.
Pass Fees
^To receive discounted fares, seniors (age 65+) and disabled passengers must present either DDOT Special Fares ID CARD or State ID with Visual impairment designation.
^^Medicare cardholders pay one-half fare for all fixed-route service.