Around 10:45 a.m. on a late August day, about a dozen passengers were on a SMART bus running on the FAST Michigan 261 route as it wound down Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, past Peace Park East.

Route 261 runs on a 20-minute frequency from downtown Detroit out to Detroit Metro Airport. Late morning isn't the route's peak time, but the bus gradually filled as it made its way to Dearborn's John D. Dingell Transit Center.

"This is just a regular day. We did not pay anyone to ride this bus," joked SMART's CEO Tiffany Gunter.

Data shows ridership is growing across the entire SMART bus system, which already has 45 fixed routes across Metro Detroit, rising 25% in the last year, from June of 2025 to this past June. And for a system often criticized for being disjointed, significant changes are ahead for SMART, especially in Wayne County, after voters approved a countywide transit millage in August expected to generate at least $570 million during the next 10 years.

SMART has proposed adding eight new routes and five extensions of existing routes, the first of which will roll out next week. New routes have been proposed along some of Wayne County's most significant commercial corridors, including I-75 Downriver Telegraph, Middlebelt, Newburgh, Allen Road, Plymouth Road, Haggerty Road and Seven Mile.

The new Route 500 will bring SMART service back to Hamtramck and connect the community to the wider network along the Mound Road corridor, said Chris Moyer, an agency spokesman. At the same time, the 250 Ford Road route will shift from hourly to every 30 minutes. Saturday service will also be added for the first time since cuts in 2011.

"Additional new routes and improvements will be phased in over roughly the next three years, with the next wave beginning in spring 2027," said Moyer.

Some communities, such as Livonia, haven't had wide-scale SMART bus service in more than 20 years because they previously opted out of the system. State lawmakers closed a loophole two years ago that allowed Wayne County's cities and townships to opt out.

The system has also proposed extending some existing routes and expanding on-demand ride services. New routes and services would be rolled out over a three-year period, from this year through 2029. Officials haven't been more specific about when new routes will be finalized or begin to be rolled out.

Gunter said she understands the system's disjointedness in Wayne County has been a weakness that has made SMART less appealing to potential riders and to employers that look at a strong regional transit system as a key consideration in their ability to attract workers.

"If we want to grow our region, we have to give the region what it needs to do that, and transit is infrastructure. Full stop," Gunter said.

SMART currently covers 1,742 square miles with 45 fixed bus routes in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne County, serving 2.8 million people. It also has five areas served by on-demand "flex" transit.

Gunter said SMART uses several factors to gauge the demand for mass transit in a community, including population density, pedestrian infrastructure, proximity of stops from homes and the diversity of land use.

An evaluation of expansion possibilities for Wayne County released in February pinpointed five communities — Canton Township, Livonia, Plymouth, Plymouth Township and Northville — as having the best potential for fixed routes among the 17 municipalities that previously opted out of SMART's system. The study noted industrial corridors, educational institutions, medical centers, mixed-use downtowns and multifamily housing as key features of the cities and townships that make them good candidates for fixed bus routes.

Gunter, some city leaders and public transit activists say transit, already a necessity for many seniors and people with disabilities, has become increasingly important to young people. It factors into where they want to live, and leaders say transit is key for fueling economic growth by attracting residents, businesses and employers.

"I believe that resonates with people, and they understand that if they want their region to grow, giving people access to jobs and giving a reason for employers to locate here is a strong reason to support public transportation, even if you never intend to use it," said Gunter, who's been SMART's CEO since 2025. "And one of our taglines here was, even if you don't rely on transit, someone you know relies on transit."

Dearborn resident Matthew Hazme is a new SMART bus user, and likes that it's affordable compared to driving. But he found that using the transit system's app took some time to get used to.

"If you were to ask me, if from the outside looking in, I would say make (the app) more user-friendly," he said while waiting for a SMART bus outside Dearborn's transit center. "It's pretty cost efficient. When you compare it to people that have to pay car insurance or people that have to pay car payments, it's pretty cheap."

Wayne County's newly passed transit millage

On Aug. 4, Wayne County voters cast ballots on the 1-mill transit millage. It was a renewal in 26 of Wayne County's 43 communities. But residents in 17 other cities and townships that had previously opted out of paying the tax and getting SMART service, which has operated since 1967, also voted on the measure.

Among the 17 cities and townships that previously opted out, it received the highest share of votes in Detroit in the Aug. 4 election, with 85.8% of votes cast in its favor. But seven municipalities voted against it: Livonia, Flat Rock, Rockwood, Grosse Ile Township, Gibraltar, Sumpter Township and Huron Township.

Livonia had the narrowest margin of failure, with voters rejecting it by just 77 votes.

Livonia Mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan said her message to residents who didn't vote for the transit millage is to be patient and give the SMART system time to develop and reach its potential promised in the city. The city began studying its transit needs in 2021 and released findings and recommendations in 2024.

"Give it a minute to settle, and give Livonia a minute to make sure that we get in there and get our fair share of support and services and funding, and we are well-positioned to do that because we've started to plan for this possibility back in 2024."

Livonia had SMART service until 2005, when the city passed the millage that funds Liv&Go, a smaller-scale bus service that provides on-demand transportation within the city and to medical appointments up to a mile outside the city limits.

Brosnan is optimistic that SMART's proposals for service that would run through Livonia: SMART has proposed putting fixed routes on running north-south on Middlebelt Road, east-west on Plymouth, and a third from Farmington to Westland, running along Newburgh, Levan and Haggerty, Five Mile and Eight Mile.

She said the proposed routes would provide transit access to Schoolcraft College, Madonna University, major employers and key businesses such as Amazon, Trinity Health and shopping hubs like Costco and Meijer.

"Unlike the SMART of the past, these are routes that we believe are more responsive to the changes that have occurred in Livonia since we were last part of the system," she said.

Canton Township Supervisor Anne-Marie Graham Hudak, meanwhile, views the changes coming to SMART's system in communities such as hers as an "extraordinary opportunity."

She said feedback she's heard from residents on the current transit system is that it struggles with reaching stops in other municipalities and that there is a dearth of routes taking them to the places they need to go. Some say there is also a lack of information about available transit.

Canton banded together with six other cities and townships in western Wayne County — Plymouth, Plymouth Township, Northville Township, Northville Westland and Van Buren Township — to give input on SMART's expansion proposals prior to the millage vote.

Hudak said residents in the seven communities most frequently suggested an airport shuttle starting at Eight Mile Road and I-275 in Northville and stopping in Plymouth, Canton and Van Buren.

"We have spent the past year doing the community engagement and planning work necessary to help make this new investment successful, and we look forward to working collaboratively with Wayne County, SMART and our neighboring communities to turn what we have learned from residents and businesses into effective, valued transit service," she said in an email.

Those western Wayne County municipalities are expected to pay $17 million into the SMART system in 2027, she said, with Canton making up $6 million of that.

Subsidizing smaller transit systems

SMART also subsidizes some smaller transit systems that communities already have, including Livonia's Liv&Go bus system and Nankin Transit, which operates on-demand transportation in Canton, Westland, Wayne, Garden City and Inkster for seniors and people with disabilities.

Brosnan said funding from the millage is expected to further subsidize the Liv&Go service, which residents already fund with part of a 0.5 mill property tax that provides about $500,000 each year, and reduce the need for the city to use money from its capital fund on the bus service. She's also hopeful Livonia can expand the Liv&Go system to transport residents outside Livonia's limits and increase its operating hours. Liv&Go operates right now from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.

"They're working really hard to build local systems that have the flexibility to meet riders at their door, pick them up, and take them where they need to go," Brosnan said.

Implementation plans

As it finalizes its expansion plans, SMART has said it would first launch route extensions to establish what it calls "stronger regional connections." The next phases would introduce new fixed‑route services in growing activity centers and expand Flex coverage in lower‑density townships, "ensuring each community receives the type of service best suited to its travel patterns," according to a Wayne County Transit Evaluation Executive Summary.

"The sequence is structured to build momentum year over year, starting with existing route extensions, adding routes along major corridors, and implementing the potential Southwest Wayne Flex Zone. This creates a scalable expansion for service across the Wayne County opt-out communities."

CEO notes the small details

For Gunter, meanwhile, she's paying attention to both the big picture for the region's bus system and everything in between.

When she takes rides on SMART's buses, which she said she does at least once a week, sometimes two or three times, she doesn't just think about expanding the system's routes. As she rode the route from downtown Detroit to Dearborn and back midmorning on a Tuesday in late August, she frequently noted details that affect how user-friendly the system is.

As she walked toward the passenger pickup shelter for the 261 route outside Dearborn's transit center, Gunter pointed out that the shelter where the route picks up riders only has a sign with the route name on one side. Gunter also pointed out that the changeable display on the digital sign next to the shelter advertises the FAST Michigan 261 route; both details, she noted, could confuse passengers.

"You have to be granular in your approach to public transportation and making new routes," Gunter said. "Your riders will experience either what you ignore or what you pay attention to."

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