Official Notice: Transit Service & Funding Plan

Ofﬁcial Notice: Transit Service and Funding Plan Details

for a Transit Authority for Washtenaw County Communities

(Paid Public Notice)

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA), in cooperation with representatives from communities throughout Washtenaw County, has published a Five Year Transit Program proposing transit service improvements for all Washtenaw County communities, including:

Countywide Dial-A-Ride (door to door) service throughout Washtenaw County for seniors and people with disabilities and Dial-A-Ride PLUS (door to nearest ﬁxed route) for all residents with service hours of Monday through Friday from 6:30AM to 8:00PM and Saturday from 8:00AM to 6:30PM.
Fixed Route Service Improvements in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and surrounding townships: Restructure West Ann Arbor routes: increasing frequency and extending weekday and weekend hours (120% increase). Improving Key Corridors: more frequent and extended weekday and weekend hours on Routes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (46% increase). Restructure the Ypsilanti routes and extend into neighboring townships: increasing frequency and extending weekday and weekend hours (151% increase), and other improvements to Routes 1, 16, 17, and 22 (8% increase).
Express Ride Service during peak hours to/from Ann Arbor and Chelsea (increased to 6 trips from Ann Arbor/ 7 returns), Canton (increased to 5/6), Saline (new service 7/8), Dexter (new service 8/10), Brighton/Whitmore Lake (new service 7/8), Ypsilanti Township/Belleville (new service 5/6), and Plymouth (new service 5/6).
Community Circulators (variable hours) in Chelsea (Mon-Sun, every 45 min), Saline (Mon-Sat, hourly), Dexter (Mon-Sat, Mon-Fri, every 45 minutes, Sat, every 30 min), and Milan (Mon-Sat, hourly).
Community Connectors (variable hours) between Chelsea, Dexter, and Ann Arbor, (Mon-Sun, hourly); between Milan and Pittsﬁeld (Mon-Sat. every other hour); Manchester and Chelsea (Mon-Sat, twice per day); and Saline and Ann Arbor (Mon-Sat. every other hour).
Park and Ride Intercept Lots – 800 additional spaces distributed in new lots in or around Northﬁeld Township, Pittsﬁeld Township, Jackson Road, and Ann Arbor/Saline Road.
VanRide Commuter service into and within Washtenaw County.
Other Improvements: new/improved bus stops at 150 locations; real-time travel information; new dispatch technology; and bus priority measure.

A new transit authority would operate new transit services in participating Washtenaw County communities. To form a new transit authority, the AATA board of directors intends to request the Washtenaw County Clerk ﬁle Articles of Incorporation. Each community in Washtenaw County has 30 days after Articles of Incorporation ﬁling to choose whether to participate in the new authority. AATA will notice each city, village and township elected ofﬁcial alerting them to the County’s ﬁling the Articles of Incorporation. The Five Year Transit Program is based on all Washtenaw County communities participating. The new transit authority board will determine any changes to the plan and funding after incorporation.

Annual ridership is estimated to rise by 3.6 million by the ﬁfth year of operations. Over ﬁve years, the estimated operating and capital cost of this program is $223 million and estimated revenues are $184 million. The balance of $39 million must be funded locally and requires voters’ approval in the new transit authority area.

The full Five Year Transit Program and Articles of Incorporation can be found at www.movingyouforward.org or contact Deb Freer at 734.794.1881 to request a copy.