Aug. 31

Updates from the coolest bus fleet in Detroit

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News from The Detroit Bus Company

Bussin’ Pals, we’ve got a big newsletter today, but it contains some crucial info. Kindly grab a  cup of something and lend us a moment.First, a quick Labor Day weekend announcement: We are providing FREE shuttle service from Royal Oak and Ferndale to the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival on Sunday and Monday. The Royal Oak pickup will be in front of the Post Office on 2nd Street, just around the corner from our usual stop of Gusoline Alley due to Center Street being blocked off for Arts, Beats & Eats. (Shrewd riders will notice we also are unwittingly providing a free shuttle to Arts, Beats & Eats from Hamtramck! Wink, wink.) The Ferndale stop is Imperial.Pickup times in Royal Oak and Ferndale will be at 4:00, 6:00, and 8:00 (give or take 10 minutes because of traffic). Riders can jump on the return trips back to Royal and Ferndale about 20 minutes before the bus leaves the festival to hit the designated 6:00 and 8:00 pickups. A final run back from Hamtramck will take off at 10:00.All right. Now about the big changes.There’s been a lot of enthusiasm for the downtown route. A lot of enthusiasm -- despite long wait times. We don’t want to wait up to an hour to go from Corktown to Midtown, and neither does anyone else.The fix? Call us, and we’ll come to you. That is, we’ll come to you now, not after hitting up several empty stops on an obligatory loop. If and when you need another ride, call us again. Simple as that. (313) 444-BUS1 (2871). We’ve learned quite a bit about the ebb and flow of Detroit nightlife these past few months, and we see this direct service as a way to slice out travel inefficiencies and maximize ridership according to their actual needs. 

We have the means to be flexible and so we will be. 

The Downtown Loop has been replaced with a Downtown Zone. (See map above.) We’ll go anywhere in that zone. Note: Although Green Dot Stables and Northern Lights technically aren’t in the zone, we will continue to hit up those places as requested. The very popular Suburbanite Loop basically stays the same when the bus is in Ferndale and Royal Oak -- we are maintaining Gusoline Alley and Imperial as primary stops -- however, this bus will have the flexibility to hit up the entire Downtown Zone once it hits the zone. (For the very curious, both buses actually will be going back and forth as necessary to both the Downtown and Suburban zones. But all you really need to know is to call or text us for a ride, and we’ll worry about which bus will get you.)Let us repeat all this because people are having a hard time believing it’s this simple: Verily, it is true. You call, we pick you up in the same areas as before, plus all of the additional area represented on the map. It’s pained us to say no to people wanting to go just a little too far off our downtown route. No more of that.For this customized service, riders will have to pay $5 per ride, as opposed to the pervious $5 for unlimited rides throughout the night. In most cases, this means riders will end up spending $10 a night, as very few people ever took advantage of the full bar-hopping potential of the all-night pass. And many never even use a second trip in the same night.Of course, there’s also the obvious need to make money. We absolutely knew we were under-pricing this service, and we tried it anyway because there’s no victory for the timid. But diesel is expensive, and nobody wins if our service goes away. We believe $10 to get to the bar and back in one night is a very good deal. No small number of riders have told us this, so we feel comfortable with this change.Frankly, we’re probably making this out to be bigger than it is, as the necessary adjustments are on the internal side. From riders’ perspectives, very little will change, since calling ahead has been the normal practice.For more details, visit the How to Ride and FAQ portions of our website.You also can read more about our New Deal era on our site, in this open letter.That should be enough for you to digest for now.Best busing wishes,Andy and Gary

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