The former
Dickerson bus line was a very short, light service bus route which began operations on Monday, February 21, 1938. The 1.8-mile long route basically operated from Gratiot and Houston
(now Houston-Whittier) via Dickerson to Harper. The original route looped at Harper via east on Harper, south on Lenox, west on Hern to north on Dickerson, over what today would be the I-94 (Ford) Freeway. Initially the route was assigned to the
Kercheval Garage (St. Jean at Kercheval) but was transferred to the nearby larger
Shoemaker Garage on July 3, 1939, when that facility was converted into a bus garage and the
Kercheval Garage was closed.
Effective May 27, 1940, the line was extended to the south and west another
1½ miles to E. Warren and St. Jean via Dickerson and East Warren. However, on Nov. 2, 1942, service south of Harper was discontinued, with the line now looping again at Harper, but this time via Park Drive, Evanston, and Dickerson (see map) — the route the line would follow to the end.
Initially the Dickerson line operated under 20-minute headways during peak, base and evening hours. Oddly, two coaches operated during peak hours and one coach the rest of the day. However, effective Jan. 21, 1952, service was cut to peak-hour only operation with one coach, but still operated under a 20-minute headway.
On May 1, 1955, the Dickerson line became one of ten bus routes where Sunday service was eliminated due to "little demand" for the service. The nine other lines included Bassett, Broadstreet, Cadieux, Five Points, Lafayette-Green, Meyers, Northlawn, Schaefer and Woodmere.