 | |
 Indian Trails bus in Pontiac, Michigan | |
| Founded | 1910 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Owosso, Michigan |
| Locale | Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota |
| Service type | Inter-city bus |
| Annual ridership | 1 million+ [1] |
| Website | indiantrails.com |
Indian Trails, Inc., is an intercity bus operator primarily serving the U.S. state of Michigan, with routes also serving Wisconsin and Minnesota. Indian Trails is based in Owosso, Michigan, with offices in Romulus, East Lansing, and Kalamazoo. [2]
Indian Trails was founded in 1910 in Owosso by Wayne and Cora Taylor as the Phillips-Taylor Livery Service, whose main business was transporting cargo to and from Durand Union Station and the surrounding Shiawassee County. Cora Taylor was the first woman in the United States to be issued a chauffeur's license. [3] Beginning in the 1910s, the company expanded to include intercity offerings, becoming known as the Owosso-Flint Bus Line and by the 1930s served much of southern Michigan. Many of its buses ran along US 12, known as "the Old Indian Trail." Reflecting this, in 1935, the company took its current name, Indian Trails. [4]
Indian Trails offers charters, casino trips and regular fixed-route daily service. [5] In 2006 Indian Trails assumed responsibility for a number of routes in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula which Greyhound Lines had discontinued. [6]
Indian Trails' daily scheduled bus service is part of Michigan's Intercity Bus System recognized by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
In November 2006, Indian Trails, in partnership with Okemos Travel, launched the Michigan Flyer, an express service connecting East Lansing, Jackson, and Ann Arbor with Detroit Metro Airport. [7] [8] In 2012, the Michigan Flyer absorbed the AirRide express service operated by TheRide, and service to Jackson was discontinued. [9] [10] In October 2019, a new stop was added at the Meijer store in Brighton. [11]
On March 1, 2023, Indian Trails ended its longtime operating agreement with Greyhound Lines, and introduced a new ticketing system. [12] [13] The company also overhauled its route network, reintroducing direct service from Detroit to Chicago, among other changes. [14] [15] Chicago service was subsequently discontinued in November 2023. [16]
Effective November 1, 2023. [16]
| Route | Major stops |
|---|---|
| 1483 | Detroit, Southfield, Pontiac, Flint, Owosso, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo |
| 1484 | Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Cadillac, Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, St. Ignace |
| 1485 | Detroit, Southfield, Pontiac, Flint, Bay City, Alpena, St. Ignace |
| 1488 | Detroit, Southfield, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Lansing, Mt. Pleasant, Clare, Gaylord, Petoskey, St. Ignace |
| 1489 | St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, Escanaba, Iron Mountain, Crystal Falls, Ironwood |
| 1490 | Hancock, Houghton, Marquette, Escanaba, Green Bay, Manitowoc, Milwaukee |
| 1491 | Ironwood, Hurley, Ashland, Iron River, Superior, Duluth |
Indian Trails operates the Michigan Flyer, an express service connecting East Lansing, Brighton, and Ann Arbor with Detroit Metro Airport. As of March 2024, the service makes twelve round trips daily. [17]
In May 2023, Indian Trails introduced Hytch, a shuttle service which provides door-to-door transportation from Lansing-area addresses to the Michigan Flyer stop in downtown East Lansing. Operated by Via Transportation, Hytch uses minivans, driven by independent contractors (referred to by Via as "driver partners") to provide rides. [18] The service was available exclusively for ticketed Michigan Flyer passengers, who were able to add the service to their trip reservation for $10 extra per ride. [19] Hytch service was suspended on February 10, 2024. [20]
Indian Trails operates the D2A2 and Detroit Air Xpress (DAX) public transit routes under contract with the RTA of Southeast Michigan.
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Owosso is the largest city in Shiawassee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 14,714 at the 2020 census. It is located 29 miles (46.7 km) west of Flint, and 32 miles (51.5 km) northeast of Lansing. The city is mostly surrounded by Owosso Township on its west, but the two are administered autonomously. The city was named after Chief Wosso, an Ojibwe leader of the Shiawassee area.
Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transit buses, vans, taxis, ferry boats and commuter rail trains.
Michigan Services are three Amtrak passenger rail routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with the Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Port Huron, and Pontiac, and stations en route. The group falls under the Amtrak Midwest brand and is a component of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.
Capital Region International Airport, formerly Lansing Capital City Airport, is a public, Class C airport located 3 miles (5 km) northwest of downtown Lansing in a portion of DeWitt Township, Michigan that has been annexed to the City of Lansing via Public Act 425. Small areas of the airport are located in Watertown Township, and Delta Township. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.
The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA), branded as TheRide, is the public transit system serving the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area in the U.S. state of Michigan. In fiscal year 2021, the system had a ridership of 1,725,797.
US Highway 131 (US 131) is a north–south United States Highway, of which all but 0.64 of its 269.96 miles are within the state of Michigan. The highway starts in rural Indiana south of the state line as a state road connection to the Indiana Toll Road. As the road crosses into Michigan it becomes a state trunkline highway that connects to the metropolitan areas of Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids before continuing north to its terminus at Petoskey. US 131 runs as a freeway from south of Portage through to Manton in the north. Part of this freeway runs concurrently with Interstate 296 (I-296) as an unsigned designation through Grand Rapids. US 131 forms an important corridor along the western side of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, running through rural farm and forest lands as well as urban cityscapes. Various names have been applied to the roadway over the years. The oldest, the Mackinaw Trail, originated from an Indian trail in the area while other names honored politicians. An attempt to dedicate the highway to poet James Whitcomb Riley failed to gain official support in Michigan.
Interstate 94 (I-94) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Billings, Montana, to the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. In Michigan, it is a state trunkline highway that enters the state south of New Buffalo and runs eastward through several metropolitan areas in the southern section of the state. The highway serves Benton Harbor–St. Joseph near Lake Michigan before turning inland toward Kalamazoo and Battle Creek on the west side of the peninsula. Heading farther east, I-94 passes through rural areas in the middle of the southern Lower Peninsula, crossing I-69 in the process. I-94 then runs through Jackson, Ann Arbor, and portions of Metro Detroit, connecting Michigan's largest city to its main airport. Past the east side of Detroit, the Interstate angles northeasterly through farmlands in The Thumb to Port Huron, where the designation terminates on the Blue Water Bridge at the Canada–United States border.
US Highway 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that runs from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan. In Michigan, it runs for 210 miles (340 km) between New Buffalo and Detroit as a state trunkline highway and Pure Michigan Byway. On its western end, the highway is mostly a two-lane road that runs through the southern tier of counties roughly parallel to the Indiana state line. It forms part of the Niles Bypass, a four-lane expressway south of Niles in the southwestern part of the state, and it runs concurrently with the Interstate 94 (I-94) freeway around the south side of Ypsilanti in southeastern Michigan. In between Coldwater and the Ann Arbor area, the highway angles northeasterly and passes Michigan International Speedway. East of Ypsilanti, US 12 follows a divided highway routing on Michigan Avenue into Detroit, where it terminates at an intersection with Cass Avenue.
Railroads have been vital in the history of the population and trade of rough and finished goods in the state of Michigan. While some coastal settlements had previously existed, the population, commercial, and industrial growth of the state further bloomed with the establishment of the railroad.
US Highway 23 (US 23) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Jacksonville, Florida, to Mackinaw City, Michigan. In the US state of Michigan, it is a major, 362-mile-long (583 km), north–south state trunkline highway that runs through the Lower Peninsula. The trunkline is a freeway from the Michigan–Ohio state line near Lambertville to the city of Standish, and it follows the Lake Huron shoreline from there to its northern terminus. Serving the cities of Ann Arbor and Flint, US 23 acts as a freeway bypass of the Metro Detroit area. Overall, the highway runs through rural areas of the state dominated by farm fields or woodlands; some segments are urban in character in the Ann Arbor, Flint and Tri-Cities areas. The section from Flint north to Standish also carries Interstate 75 (I-75) along a concurrency that includes a segment that carries almost 70,000 vehicles on a daily basis.
The Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) is the public transit operator serving Flint, Michigan and surrounding Genesee County. It also owns and operates the inter-modal Flint station, which also serves Amtrak and Indian Trails.
Transportation in metropolitan Detroit comprises an expansive system of roadways, multiple public transit systems, a major international airport, freight railroads, and ports. Located on the Detroit River along the Great Lakes Waterway, Detroit is a significant city in international trade, with two land crossings to Canada. Three primary Interstate highways serve the region.
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The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) is a public transit agency serving Metro Detroit and the Ann Arbor area in the U.S. state of Michigan. It operates the QLINE, and coordinates and oversees public transit operations by other agencies, including DDOT, SMART, and the Detroit People Mover. Its area covers the counties of Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne.
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The Ann Arbor Bus Depot was an intercity bus station located at 116 W. Huron in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was built in 1940 as the Eastern Michigan Motorbus Terminal, and operated as a bus station until its demolition in 2014. It was designed by the Cleveland-based architects Banfield and Cumming, in partnership with Ann Arbor architect Douglas Loree, in an Art Deco style. Between 1988 and 2001, it was listed as an Individual Historic Property on the Ann Arbor Register of Historic Places. The Bus Depot was demolished in 2014 to make way for a six-story, 110-room hotel on the property, although its facade and marquee are being preserved and will be incorporated into the new hotel. It served as Ann Arbor's Greyhound station until shortly before its demolition in 2014. It was also both the last surviving example of Streamline Moderne architecture and the last public Art Deco structure in Ann Arbor.
Cora V. Taylor was an American businesswoman from Michigan known for founding what is now the Indian Trails bus service with her husband Wayne Taylor. She was the first woman in the United States to be issued a chauffeur's license.
The Detroit Bus Station is an intercity bus station in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. The station, managed by Greyhound Lines, also serves Barons Bus Lines, Flixbus and Indian Trails. The current building was constructed in 1991.
The Blake Transit Center (BTC) is a major public transit station in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the main hub for TheRide, serving as the terminus and transfer point for 17 Ann Arbor-based routes in the system's hub-and-spoke bus network. It also serves as a transfer point for multiple intercity bus services.
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Owosso (Main Office) 109 East Comstock Street Owosso, MI 48867"; "Kalamazoo 1015 East Michigan Kalamazoo, MI 49048"; "Romulus 28685 Smith Road Romulus, MI 48174
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