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Metro Airport

From ArborWiki

DTW, a Northwest hub.

[edit] Transportation to the Airport

Until the fall of 2007, no good public transportation traveled to DTW. Attempts by AATA over the years to run service to the airport were thwarted by demands for exorbitant per-passenger and per-run fees by the airport, meaning that the only transit access was a single SMART line serving some airport employees. Cynics theorized that kickbacks from the taxi and rental car companies provided the airport authority with an incentive to block public transit.

However, beginning in September 2007, the Michigan Flyer bus service began serving Ann Arbor. AATA partnered with the Flyer, which was already shuttling passengers from East Lansing and Jackson to DTW, to provide a stop in Ann Arbor, and the airport's previous resistance was somehow overcome. The Flyer appears to provide a quite usable schedule and pricing ($10 one-way, compared to the typical $27 and up for car service), and early reports suggest that it is a pleasant service to use.

SEMCOG's current study of fast public transit service between Ann Arbor and Detroit includes service to DTW, and could possibly occur as soon as 2008.

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