Detroit Department of Transportation


The Detroit Department of Transportation 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.

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, 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. Routes 1–10 and 16 have 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 in 1922 after the acquisition of the privately owned Detroit United Railway, 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. On September 1, 2018, the ten most popular routes, which were renumbered Routes 1-10, received 24/7 service among other changes. Also, old routes 7, 9, and 10 were given higher route numbers to avoid conflict.

Detroit Downtown Trolley

The Detroit Downtown Trolley 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

Standard Fares

All routes, plus the QLine. The Detroit People Mover will accept passes.
All fares below are suspended and are free up to further notice, since mid-March 2020 out of respect of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Pass Fees

Passes can be purchased at DDOT headquarters, the Rosa Parks Transit Center as well as businesses and stores around the city. DDOT updated and simplified their fare structure eliminating transfer costs and working with the suburban transit system to have some unified fare options. 24-Hour passes can be bought onboard any bus.
^To receive discounted fares, seniors and disabled passengers must present either DDOT Special Fares ID CARD or State ID with Visual impairment designation.
^^Medicare cardholders pay same rates as children 6-17, seniors at least 65 & disabled.

Routes

Former Routes

Current Fleet

YearMakeModelLengthCapacityPropulsionEngineFleet SeriesQuantity
2003New FlyerD40LF4039DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503900-395960
2004New FlyerD40LF4039DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503975-398915
2005New FlyerD40LF4039DieselCummins ISL-054100-4220121
2010New FlyerD40LF4039DieselCummins ISL-071001-105050
2011GilligLow Floor4039DieselCummins ISL-071201-124242
2012GilligLow Floor4039Diesel ElectricCummins ISB1243-12464
2014New FlyerXD404140DieselCummins ISL91400-143031
2015New FlyerXD404140DieselCummins ISL91500-1508 1519-153829
2015New FlyerXDE404140Diesel ElectricCummins ISB1509-151810
2015New FlyerXD6060.860DieselCummins ISL91539-154810

Retired Fleet

YearMakeModelLengthCapacityPropulsionEngineFleet SeriesQuantityRetired
1975GM CoachNew Look4036DieselDetroit Diesel 6V-71300111986
1975GM CoachNew Look3033DieselGMC D-478 Toro-Flow II3002-300651986
1975GM CoachNew Look4048DieselDetroit Diesel 6V-711001-11481481996
1975AM General Corp.Metropolitan Series4049DieselDetroit Diesel 6V-711201-1251511986
1978GM CoachRTS-II4047DieselDetroit Diesel 8V-71N1300-1369701993
1978GM CoachRTS-II4043DieselDetroit Diesel 8V-71N1370L-1410L411997
1979GM CoachRTS-II4046DieselDetroit Diesel 8V-71N1501L-1605L1051999
1979GM CoachRTS-II3536DieselDetroit Diesel 8V-71N1701L-1717L171997
1980GM CoachRTS-II4041-46DieselDetroit Diesel 8V-71N1801L-1874L741999
1981Bus Industries of America Inc.Orion II21.926DieselDetroit Diesel Allison 8.2 Liter "Fuel Pincher"001-00221997
1985GM CoachNew Look4048DieselDetroit Diesel 6V-712521-2534141986
1987GM of CanadaGMC Classic4047-49DieselDetroit Diesel 6V-71N1900-19991002002
1989Motor Coach IndustriesMCI Classic4051DieselDetroit Diesel 8V-92TA2000-2084852003
1989Neoplan USAAN4606065DieselDetroit Diesel 6V-92TA8900-8913142002
1992New FlyerD40HF4045DieselDetroit Diesel 8V-923000-31201212005
1995Nova BusRTS 064043DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503200-3232332008
1996Goshen CoachMB19FD3019DieselCummins 5.9L B-Series3300-3328292001
1996Nova BusRTS 064043DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503500-35991002012
1997Nova BusRTS 064043DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503250-3282332012
1997Nova BusRTS 064043DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503600-3617182012
1997Nova BusRTS 064039DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503290-3299102010
1998Chance Bus CorpCNG-282827CNGCummins 5.9L B-Series4000-400342004
1998Chance Bus CorpCNG-282827CNGCummins 5.9L B-Series4004-4013102004
2000Chance Bus CorpCNG-282827CNGCummins 5.9L B-Series4014-4024112004
2001Nova BusRTS 064043DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503700-37991002015
2001Nova BusRTS 064043DieselDetroit Diesel Series 503800-3859602015

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