Govind Tekale
Detroit commuters searching for SMART bus schedule changes 2027 face a major service overhaul. The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation has proposed three new routes and seven route extensions for next year, with public hearings beginning November 16. Anyone who relies on the system for daily trips should review the proposal before the comment period closes.
SMART announced the proposed changes on October 15, 2026. The three new routes are Route 120 Fort Street, linking downtown Detroit with Flat Rock via Corewell Trenton Hospital; Route 290 Newburgh, serving Farmington Hills, Livonia, Westland and Wayne; and Route 295 Plymouth, connecting northwest Detroit, Redford, Livonia, Plymouth and Canton. Seven existing routes would also gain extensions or weekend service, including the 160 Downriver, the 200 and 210 Michigan Local-Westland consolidation, the 250 and 255 Ford Road lines, Saturday service on the 525 Groesbeck, and Sunday service on the 780 Fifteen Mile. Rollout is phased across April, June and September 2027. Hearings are set for November 16 by Zoom, November 17 at the Trenton VFW and November 18 at Westland City Hall. Details appear in the SMART official notice, and written comments are due December 31, 2026.
Written comments can be emailed to PublicHearing@smartbus.org or mailed to 535 Griswold Street, Suite 600, Detroit, MI 48226. Daily riders should also understand a separate deadline. Under the MCL 124.419 statute, a bus crash injury claim requires formal written tort notice within 60 days, a window far shorter than the general lawsuit period.
What SMART Riders Need to Know About Michigan’s 60-Day Claim Rule
The 60-day requirement is not satisfied by every filing. In the Atkins ruling, a standard no-fault personal injury protection application was found not to count as formal tort notice, so a rider who files only that paperwork may lose a claim. The Niles precedent offers a different outcome for riders without a household auto policy. In that case, the transit agency’s insurer covered them first, provided they served the 60-day written tort notice. Riders dealing with any transit disruption after a crash should therefore treat the notice as a required step rather than assume existing paperwork is enough. The proposal also has an environmental dimension. Cross-suburban transit is generally credited with reducing reliance on single-occupancy vehicles. Metro Detroit has no subway service to fall back on, so expanded bus connections give more residents an alternative to driving alone for work and errands.
Many riders assume the standard three-year Michigan deadline for personal injury lawsuits applies to every accident. That period governs many claims, but the 60-day SMART notice requirement can cut off a claim far sooner. The gap between those two deadlines is where injured riders can lose rights they expected to keep.
What new routes is SMART bus adding in Metro Detroit for 2027? Three new routes are proposed: Route 120 Fort Street, Route 290 Newburgh and Route 295 Plymouth, alongside extensions to seven existing routes. Public hearings run November 16 through 18, and the written comment deadline is December 31, 2026.
Comments may be sent by email to PublicHearing@smartbus.org or by mail before December 31. If the proposal advances, rollout will occur in phases across April, June and September 2027, giving riders time to review the changes and plan around them.
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