Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation route 753 'Pontiac/Baldwin Road'

753 Pontiac/Baldwin Road was a bus route operated by the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Route Details

The final routing of route 753. This map also shows the former routings of routes 752 and 756.

This route primarily serviced Saginaw Street between Water Street and Oakland Avenue, Oakland Avenue between Saginaw Street and Baldwin Road, Baldwin Road between Oakland Avenue and Brown Road, Brown Road between Baldwin Road and Joslyn Road, Joslyn Road between Brown Road and Great Lakes Crossing Drive and Great Lakes Crossing Drive between Joslyn Road and Baldwin Road. This route serviced the Phoenix Center Hub, the Great Lakes Crossing Transportation Center and the Auburn Mile Shopping Center's Meijer store. Southbound trips on Sundays only serviced the routing used by route 752, which did not operate on Sundays, south of Columbia Street.

History

Pre-SMART

September 6, 1927 - Route introduced, operated by the Detroit United Railway and providing service south of downtown via Paddock Street.
1928 - Service taken over by Eastern Michigan Motorbuses.
September 20, 1931 - Through-routing changed to operate via Saginaw Street.
1932 - Martin Lines briefly takes over service.
November 28, 1932 - Service sold to Pontiac Transportation Company, who then changes the south-of-downtown routing back to Paddock Street.
July 26, 1936 - Pontiac City Lines takes over service and routing beyond downtown now operates via Orchard Lake Road.
July 15, 1948 - Routing beyond downtown changed to operate on two branches, one via Voorheis Street and one via Telegraph Road to Berkley Street. At this point, the northern end of the route is at Baldwin and Walton Boulevard.
December 5, 1959 - Service suspended due to a driver's strike that results in the permanent closure of Pontiac City Lines.
1960 - Service resumes under Pontiac Transit Corporation. Around this time, the southern end of the route was changed to Saint Joseph Hospital, almost at the border with Bloomfield Township.
January 4, 1971 - Southern terminus changed to the Mircale Mile Shopping Center (now Bloomfield Town Square) at Telegraph and Franklin Roads.
February 2, 1971 - The City of Pontiac takes over service.
July 2, 1973 - Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority takes over operation.
June 16, 1975 - Route merged into new route 750. See that route's article for changes during this period.

SMART

January 17, 1989 - SMART takes over operation.
January 2, 1990 - Route 750 separated into various separate routes. Baldwin Road service becomes part of new route 753, operating from the Phoenix Center to the Baldwin Medical Center at Baldwin and Newport Street.
September 3, 1991 - Route discontinued, with route 751 extended to the Baldwin Medical Center as a partial replacement.
June 15, 1992 - Route resumes service, now through-routed with route 751 at the Baldwin Medical Center and presumably also at Saginaw and Huron. At this time, this route is operated almost solely with Gillig Phantoms.
December 11, 1995 - Service between 9 AM and 3 PM on weekdays is eliminated, replaced by a new dial-a-ride service that was launched on November 20 of that year.
November 9, 1998 - Weekday midday service is restored as the route is extended north to Great Lakes Crossing (which opens just four days later on November 12, 1998), initially serving entrances 2 (near TJMaxx), 4 (near Marshall's) and 6 (near the Star Theater 25).
June 12, 2000 - Sunday service launched.
September 4, 2000 - Transfers are made available to a new Flint Mass Transportation Authority regional route at Great Lakes Crossing entrance 6. Around this time, service is extended slightly north to a newly-opened Meijer store.
May 1, 2010 - Service to Great Lakes Crossing entrance 6 eliminated.
2012? - Service within the Auburn Mile Shopping Center changed.
September 14, 2015 - Great Lakes Crossing bus stops consolidated into a single location at entrance 1, near Saks Off 5th and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
November 23, 2016 - The Great Lakes Crossing Transportation Center opens 315 feet west of entrance 1 and route 753 (as well as the MTA's Great Lakes Crossing route) is slightly rerouted to serve it.
October 5, 2020 - Route discontinued, replaced by an extension of route 462 FAST Woodward.

Headways

Last updated: January 2, 2017

	Frequency	Buses Used	First bus	Last bus	Notes
Weekday Peak	60	2	6:40am	9:00pm
Weekday Midday	60
Weekday Evening	60
Saturday	60	1	7:20am	9:50pm
Sunday	90	1	9:30am	6:07pm	Southbound trips via route 752's routing.