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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.

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DICKERSON
Information for the above article compiled from data information supplied by Jack E. Schramm, courtesy of "DSR BUS ROUTES, 1932-1945" ("Detroit's DSR,
Part 2" —
March–April 1992 edition of MCA magazine) and "DSR BUS ROUTES, 1945-1974" ("Detroit's DSR, Part 3" — May–June 1993 edition of Motor
Coach Age magazine). Additional info obtained from 1950-54 DSR Headway Reports courtesy of Tom Breeding, and from 1951, 1957-58 DSR Service Maps
in the author's possession. Dickerson route-map, timetable and transfer images courtesy of the Stan Sycko collection. Information on 1955 DSR service cuts
obtained from copies of March 1955 editions of the Detroit Free Press and Detroit Times, courtesy of Ken Schramm.
Route operated under DSR
The above DSR map displays the route
followed by the Dickerson bus line during
most of the route's years of operation.  
To view a copy of a June 21, 1956 DSR Pocket Guide schedule card for the former Dickerson bus
line click-on
DICKERSON TIMETABLE.
A "Free" DSR issued DICKERSON transfer
from October 20, 1951
(Courtesy, the Stan Sycko Collection)
According to the March 28, 1955 edition of the Detroit Times, DSR general manager Leo J. Norwicki was reported as saying that a February survey revealed that Sunday revenue on the ten lines ranged from 6 to 10 cents a mile, while it costs the DSR 60 cents a mile to operate the service. The survey also revealed that on a recent Sunday only 820 passengers used the lines. As a result, Sunday service on all ten lines was discontinued.

Eventually, continued low ridership numbers would take a toll on the entire service. Effective March 30, 1959, the Dickerson route itself was eliminated and the service was never replaced.

(Reformatted 01-15-14)
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