AATA Board approves revised service changes

Overall, the changes are designed to add service during morning and afternoon peak hours, and improve on-time performance on routes where this has been a problem, including the 4, 1U and 12UM routes. The changes will improve service to the Miller Road Park & Ride lot and add service to the new Skyline High School.

Service reductions are planned in lower productivity service during midday, evening, and weekend hours on Routes 7, 12UL, 14 and 16.

On behalf of AATA, Board Chair David Nacht said, “I’m excited that we’re going to be able to serve hundreds of our commuters with service every 15 minutes. There is a real difference between having to wait for a scheduled bus and knowing that you can just go out and wait at a stop and a bus will arrive shortly.

“What pleases me most, however, is how much input we received and how responsive our staff was in changing the plans in response to the public comments.”

Six meetings were held around the community to gather comments from the public. AATA also received more than 350 comments and questions by e-mail, written correspondence, telephone and petition.

The Policy and Operations Committee of the Board and AATA staff considered the comments and suggestions, further analyzed the service in question, summarized the input and made recommendations to the board, which approved the recommendations without further revision.

Of the original 28 proposed changes, 17 were adopted as proposed, four were adopted with modifications and seven were not adopted, as a result of the public input.

Route 1U - Pontiac-University
Timing will be adjusted on this route to improve on-time performance.

Route 4 – Washtenaw
Multiple changes are designed to improve the reliability and frequency of the route in Ann Arbor without adding to rider’s travel time or adding a large number of additional service hours. Details of the changes will be included on the AATA web site when the maps and schedules are produced and posted.

Route 7 - South Main-East

Route 8 - Pauline
Frequency of weekday service during morning and afternoon peak hours will be increased to every 15 minutes. The additional service will use Liberty Street to travel inbound to the Blake Transit Center (BTC). Service on Route 8 will be through-routed with the #2 Plymouth route. That is, a bus arriving at the BTC on Route 8 will depart as a #2 bus to enable riders to travel to and from the University of Michigan (U-M) campus and medical center without changing buses.

Route 9U - Jackson-University
The route will be moved away from Maple Village to the Miller Road Park & Ride Lot. Service will be provided on North Maple Road between Dexter Road and Miller Road. No service will be provided on Jackson Road.

Route 12UL - Liberty-University
The route will be eliminated.

Route 12UM - Miller-University

Peak Hour Service
Service to and from the Miller Road Park & Ride Lot will be increased to every 20 minutes. Service to the new Skyline High School will be added.

Midday Service
Service will operate every 30 minutes between the Miller Road Park & Ride Lot/Skyline High School and the Blake Transit Center, resulting in service every 15 minutes on Miller Road.

Route 14 - Geddes-East Stadium

Peak Hour Service
During peak hour service, the route will be shortened to operate between Pioneer High School and U-M Medical Center (Mott) and time will be added to improve on-time performance. The #14 and #9U route service will be through-routed at Mott. That is, a #14 bus that arrives at Mott will depart as a #9U bus to enable #14 riders to travel to and from the U-M campus and downtown without changing buses.

Midday Service
Midday service will be eliminated.

Route 16 - Ann Arbor-Saline Road
Service will be eliminated on two loops along the route: 1) William, Thompson and Hill streets and 2) Oak Valley east of Lohr, Ellsworth and Lohr Road south of Oak Valley. A third loop on Oakbrook, Main and Eisenhower streets will be shortened to use Northbrook rather than Main.

Once revised, maps and schedules showing the changes will be posted on the AATA web site, www.TheRide.org.

Route and schedule questions may be directed to AATA at 734.996.0400.