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When the short-lived Broadstreet–West Chicago bus line was launched by the DSR back in June of 1973, it had not been the first time in Detroit's transit history that the two bus routes along Broadstreet and West Chicago streets had been combined.

THE EARLY D.S.R. YEARS:
On Nov. 1, 1931, the West Chicago bus line (which initially began as the Plymouth line on Jan. 11, 1925) and the Broadstreet line (which began operations on Jan. 25, 1925) were combined by the DSR to form the West Chicago–Broadstreet line. This route operated from Intervale and Wyoming streets, then via Wyoming, Davison, Broadstreet, Joy Road, Grand River, and West Chicago to Coolidge Road (Schaefer), with peak hour trips to W. Chicago and St. Marys (west of Greenfield).

Effective March 23, 1933, the north end of the route was cut back to Livernois and Davison, while the west end would later be extended along Chicago to Abington in 1936; to Penrod in 1937; and on May 13, 1940, to Evergreen, via south on Evergreen to Joy Road and looping via Plainview, Dover and Evergreen. On Oct. 6, 1941, service was extended north of Davison, via north on Livernois, west on Lyndon to Meyers. The W. Chicago–Broadstreet route would remain relatively unchanged until Nov. 21, 1948, when the combined routing was discontinued and the two lines again operated as separate West Chicago and Broadstreet routes.

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D.S.R. Combined Routes #7 & 93
BROADSTREET–W. CHICAGO
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THE LATER D.S.R. YEARS:
Decades later, during one of the last major route changes implemented under the DSR, the two lines were again rejoined. Effective June 15, 1973, the DSR combined six of its bus routes. In addition to combining Broadstreet and W. Chicago, the Meyers and Northlawn, and Michigan and Gratiot routes were also combined.

Information for the above article compiled from data info supplied by Jack E. Schramm, courtesy of  "DSR BUS ROUTES, 1922-1932" ("Detroit's DSR, Part
1" -- January-February 1991 edition of Motor Coach Age magazine), and "DSR BUS ROUTES, 1945-1975" ("Detroit's DSR, Part 3" -- May-June 1993
edition of Motor Coach Age magazine), the 1975 DDOT Service Map, and other numerous miscellaneous sources. All transfers courtesy of the Stan Sycko
transfer collection. Original 1932 DSR system map courtesy of Motor Coach Age (March-April 1992 edition) with route recreated for web-site by site owner.
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The above map shows the Broadstreet-W. Chicago bus route in 1932 — the year after the two lines were
combined by the DSR. Although the Broadstreet protion was cut back to Livernois and Davison in 1933,
the service along W. Chicago would be extended further west.  (Source: 1932 DSR System Map – MCA)
The combining of the #7 Broadstreet and #93 W. Chicago routes created the new Route #7 Broadstreet–W. Chicago line. Since both lines terminated in the vicinity of Grand River and Joy Road, no major route adjustments were needed to combine the two lines. The new route would begin at Greenfield and Lyndon and operate across the Broadstreet line via Lyndon, Livernois, Davison, Broadstreet and Joy Rd., then through-routed across the West Chicago line via Yosemite, Ravenswood, Grand River, Jeffries Freeway Service Drive, and West Chicago to Burt Road in Rouge Park. Weekday headways averaged 30 minutes during the peak-hours and 60 minutes during the base. There was no service offered on Sundays, with Saturday service operating only along the West Chicago portion of the route.

Of the six DSR routes combined back on June 15, 1973, the Broadstreet–W. Chicago line would survive for the shortest period. Upon the formation of the city's Department of Transportation (DDOT) back on July 4, 1974, the two lines were separated again during the first major route changes implemented under DDOT. Route #7 Broadstreet returned again as a separate bus line, while the #93 West Chicago line was combined with that portion of the #72 Oakman line north of West Chicago. As a result, the new route #93 Chicago-Davison was launched, which would begin its first day of operations on Wednesday, September 4, 1974.

Shortly thereafter, new routes numbers were assigned to all DDOT bus routes, with the Broadstreet line becoming Route #5 Broadstreet, and the new West Chicago service becoming Route #15 Chicago-Davison.

(Reformatted 12-31-13)
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The above is a typical Broadstreet-W. Chicago "free" coach transfer issued by the DSR back in 1942.
(Transfers courtesy of the S. Sycko collection)