‘What we find is that it is often employees of local businesses that benefit the most’

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — SMART transit services have officially expanded to Novi, Wixom and Bloomfield Hills.

The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation added 68 new bus stops to these areas to improve mobility options for residents.

With the introduction of these routes, Novi and Bloomfield Hills will have transit services for the first time in 28 years.

“The city of Bloomfield Hills and its residents have voted a majority for the new transit millage, and there are a couple of bus stops that will be installed in our city, and we support it,” Bloomfield Hills City Manager David Hendrickson said.

The 450 Woodward Local runs hourly 5:30 a.m.-11 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and every other hour 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays.

The 462 FAST Woodward Local runs every hour 5:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and every other hour 6:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sundays.

“There were bus stops years ago that didn’t seem to be used, and I think they were removed because of that. But we are interested in finding out how this could be beneficial to residents, workers in the area or people that visit our city,” Hendrickson said.

Bloomfield Hills’ new SMART service is located along Woodward Avenue. There are stops in either direction at Long Lake Road.

“What we find is that it is often employees of local businesses that benefit the most,” said Harmony Lloyd, the vice president of planning and innovation for SMART.

Lloyd elaborated that there is a hotel, restaurants, small businesses, a gas station and an assisted living facility near the new bus stops.

“We have heard that it has been a struggle in the past for people who work at those businesses to be able to get to work if they do not have a car. We really hope that is one key reason why it will be beneficial to the community,” Lloyd said.

The Woodward FAST bus travels from Pontiac to downtown Detroit. This is a higher-frequency route that travels every 30 minutes.

“SMART is hopeful adding these new stops will assist employees who are traveling to work both within the city and outside of it. SMART also would like to see residents use the FAST bus to travel to events in downtown Detroit,” Lloyd said via email.

People with disabilities who live within three-quarters of a mile from the Woodward corridor in Bloomfield Hills will also have access to SMART’s Americans with Disabilities Act service, Connector. Connector is a pre-scheduled, curb-to-curb service.

In the future, SMART is studying the possibility of bringing its FLEX service, an on-demand service similar to Uber or Lyft.

Passengers can stay up to date on transit in their community by visiting smartbus.org.