Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation
The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is the public transit operator serving the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Beginning operations in 1967 as the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA), the agency was reorganized and renamed SMART in 1989. SMART operates 44 bus routes (supplementing the Detroit Department of Transportation), plus paratransit and microtransit services. History 1967–1989: SEMTA The Michigan Legislature passed the Metropolitan Transportation Authorities Act of 1967, which included the creation of Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA). SEMTA was charged to take over the ownership and operations of the fractured regional transit systems in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties, including the city of Detroit. The new authority acquired several suburban transit bus operations including Lake Shore Coach Lines (1971), Pontiac Municipal Transit Service (1973), Dearborn's Metropolitan Transit (1974), Birmingham's Great Lakes Transit (1974), and Royak Oak's Martin Lines (1975). However, the 1967 transportation act did not provide the regional authority with any means to levy taxes. By 1974, the Detroit Department of Street Railways (DSR) had been reorganized as a city department of Detroit, leaving SEMTA only coordination over the suburban services. That same year, SEMTA acquired a commuter train service between downtown Detroit and Pontiac