On July 10, 1967, the Michigan Legislature passed Michigan Public Act 204,
which authorized the formation of the Southeastern Michigan Transportation
Authority (SEMTA). This newly founded regional transit authority was organized
with the long-range goal of developing and operating a coordinated public mass
transportation system within the seven-county Detroit metropolitan region. This
region included the counties of Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw,
and Wayne (Livingston county would be added later).
One of the primary goals of this new authority was to not only coordinate services
between the numerous transit providers located within its territorial boundaries,
but to eventually purchase many of the eighteen bus companies which operated
within the region. These included a number of intercity bus operations, and six
transit bus companies that ran between Detroit and its suburbs.
Unfortunately, the new legislation had not granted SEMTA any additional source
of funding. As a result, the agency was dependent upon acquiring federal grants
through the financial assistance of the local cities and transit properties within
the region. The assistance provided by these agencies would help to provide the
matching one-third local share money needed to qualify for federal grants. This
arrangement would be used until other funding sources could be obtained.
This type of joint cooperation was first demonstrated along two fronts. When the
suburban bus company Lake Shore Coach Lines -- which provided service to the
five Grosse Points and St. Clair Shores into downtown Detroit -- had announced
in early 1971 that it was discontinuing its operations, SEMTA was able to
persuade the six communities serviced by the bus company to provide the
necessary $78,000 local share money. This helped SEMTA to acquire a $156,000
federal grant to purchase the company.
After the purchase of Lake Shore Coach Lines on September 1, 1971, SEMTA
became an official operating agency, owning 56 buses (including ten retired GM
TDH-5105 "old-looks" obtained from the DSR to bolster service), four bus routes
and one bus garage, which it named its Lake Shore Division.
This regional cooperation was also demonstrated in a more broader sense earlier
that same year. Since the two-thirds share of federal grant money available for
purchasing new buses would now have to be channeled through the recognized
regional transit authority, a joint cooperative agreement was reached in order for
SEMTA to be able to place its first order for 154 new GMC transit buses. Since
SEMTA still had no additional source of funding, the one-third share for 55 of the
new coaches was covered by the City of Detroit, the DSR, the State of Michigan,
and two area suburban bus companies; Metropolitan Transit Inc. and the Great
Lakes Transit Corp.
With these groups now agreeing to put up the local one-third shared cost of the
new buses, the remaining two-thirds would now be covered through federal
transit grants to SEMTA. This arrangement also made it possible for the DSR to
piggy-back along the same order and purchase 99 additional buses of its own. Of
the 55 remaining SEMTA owned buses, ten were to be leased to Metro Transit,
ten leased to Great Lakes Transit, and 35 leased to the DSR.
the first fleet of coaches purchased by SEMTA back in 1971. Delivered in early 1972, coach #M1268 was
originally one of ten GMC T8H-5307A's (#1266-1275) leased to Great Lakes Transit before that company
was bought by SEMTA in 1974. [photo courtesy of Stanley Sycko]
source of funding by establishing the state's General Transportation Fund. This
newly established form of revenue for mass transit would be funded by an added
2¢ per gallon gasoline tax, with one quarter of the money slated for mass transit
usage. Though far short of what would be needed to provide a fully regional mass
transit system, the new funding could help to start SEMTA in that direction.
The growth of SEMTA can be somewhat compared to the growth of the federally
funded AMTRAK, which was able to grow in size by acquiring a number of smaller
passenger railroad companies. With some funding now available, SEMTA was now
in a better position to purchase the transit providers within its region, including,
number one on their list, the City of Detroit owned and operated Department of
Street Railways (DSR).
By the early seventies, a number of the companies in the area, including the DSR
(whose ridership had dropped 25% in five years), were facing huge revenue loses
and possible bankruptcy. Before purchasing a number of the companies, SEMTA
entered into a number of short-term "purchase-of-services" agreements, where
SEMTA would pay that transit agency for providing service on its own bus routes.
This arrangement managed to keep the companies in operation until finally being
bought-out by SEMTA. This type of arrangement also kept the Detroit system in
operation through the final DSR years.
The following is a listing of the area's suburban transit bus companies and the dates
purchased by SEMTA:
Lake Shore Coach Lines Inc. (September 1, 1971) - Serviced the Grosse Points and St.
Clair Shores
Pontiac Municipal Transit Service (July 2, 1973) - Serviced city of Pontiac
Metropolitan Transit Inc. (January 1, 1974) - Serviced western and downriver suburbs
Great Lakes Transit Corp. (April 1, 1974) - Serviced the northern east and west suburbs
Martin Lines (March 20, 1975) - Serviced Royal Oak, with limited out-state charter operation
Subsidies were also provided to a number of outer intercity bus operations as
well. But a number of smaller suburban transit companies, including Port Huron
Transit Company, DeLuxe Motor Stages and Northville Coach Line, were never
purchased and eventually left the transit bus business.
