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Adventures
Recently, Google Maps showed a trip from A2 to Detroit that piqued my interest. It involved catching the Michigan Flyer bus from the Blake Transit Center to DTW, then transferring at DTW to the DAX bus to Detroit.
I made a post here asking if anyone has ever tried this before. Apparently, no one has (or they didn't respond.) /u/jcrespo21 suggested that I let everyone know how it went, so here it goes.
First of all, this trip is more expensive than riding the D2A2 bus and it takes longer. There's also the risk of a missed connection at Metro Airport, as pointed out by /u/jcrespo21. They also mentioned transferring at the McNamara terminal versus the North Terminal (The Terminal formally known as Evans) because it allows for a longer layover in case the Michigan Flyer was delayed coming from East Lansing and Brighton. Good advice.
The Michigan Flyer bus is $15.00 to DTW Airport. That's the exact same fare to East Lansing, which is obviously much further than DTW. There's no "fare zones" with the Michigan Flyer bus, which honestly seems kinda strange to me considering how far it goes.
The DAX bus fare is $6.00.
So, the trip costs $21.00, which is significantly more than just taking the D2A2 bus at $6.00. It's also more expensive than an Amtrak train at $7.00 a ticket between A2 and Detroit (hopefully it's on time.)
Still, $21 is definitely cheaper than using a ride share such as Uber or Lyft for the journey or hiring another driver service.
The Michigan Flyer, DAX, and the SMART FAST Michigan Avenue buses all load/unload on the top level (3rd floor aka ticketing/departures) outside door #1 to the McNamara terminal. Ignore any signs for the Ground Transportation Center; these three buses do NOT stop there in the McNamara Terminal (However, things are different in the North Terminal, just to make things confusing.)
I should note that the DAX bus stops at a different location than the D2A2 bus in Downtown Detroit. The DAX bus stop is about four blocks to the South-ish of the D2A2 bus stop, near the Book Cadillac Hotel, the Rosa Parks Transit Center and the Michigan Detroit People Mover station. It seems to me that it's possibly a better location than the D2A2's spot at Grand Circus just because of the ease of transferring with the Rosa Parks Transit Center. Hopefully, someone chimes in with their two cents about this.
Bottom line: the trip was a success. Would I do it again? Sure, but only if I needed to.
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This trip would make more sense if you were taking the Flyer from EL or Brighton. It's expensive, but there's not any other easy way from Brighton to Detroit.
Indian Trails runs buses between East Lansing and Detroit. It costs about the same as or a little more than this trip, without the transfer at the airport.
You're definitely right about Brighton. It's either Michigan Flyer or those Flint commuter buses.
Yeah, I would recommend not getting on the MTA regional buses to LivCo. They are solely for factory workers from Flint to get to work in Howell & Brighton, so they are scheduled basically just for the shift changes at those places. They aren't really marketed explicitly this way but you can tell from the stop list. It's definitely a cheap option, but you'll be the only white-collar passenger on a bus packed with rough, tough factory workers - I don't think they'd be very friendly to the Reddit demographic. If you're thick-skinned, cash-poor and time-rich, do it. And be ready for surprised looks from the drivers.