Does Anyone Know How to Get to the Detroit Airport

[vwalton]

I'm hoping to get to the Detroit Metro Airport on the East-bound Wolverine. Is this possible, or am I dreaming? Does it entail a ridiculously expensive cab ride? Thanks for any info.

 

[reppin_the_847]

There are a couple ways to do this without breaking the bank. You could take the Wolverine to the Dearborn stop and then take a taxi to DTW airport. The distance from the Dearborn station to DTW checks out at about 15.3 miles (23 minute drive).

A more budget way to make the trip would be to take the Wolverine to Ann Arbor...take a short taxi to a Michigan Flyer bus stop in Ann Arbor (www.michiganflyer.com). Take the Michigan Flyer bus straight to DTW airport.

You could also take the Blue Water train from Chicago to East Lansing, cab it to the Marriott stop for the Michigan Flyer and take the bus straight to DTW airport as well. Best of luck!

 

[vwalton]

Thanks for the info...I didn't know about this bus!

 

[reppin_the_847]

I'm in grad school @ Michigan State but I'm from the Chicago area. That's the only reason I know about this additional transit option. Unfortunately you still may need to take a short taxi from the Ann Arbor Amtrak station to one of the Michigan Flyer stops.

Thanks for the info...I didn't know about this bus!

 

[thully]

There are a few different options. As far as stops off the Wolverine, Ann Arbor and Dearborn would make most sense, with Dearborn being the best option if you wanted to take a taxi (though if time were most important, getting off at Ann Arbor and taking a taxi there would be fastest). You can also take the Blue Water to East Lansing and catch Michigan Flyer there, though that would be considerably out of the way..

From Ann Arbor Michigan Flyer has partnered with AATA to offer the AirRide service to DTW (myairride.com) - which is basically the same as the standard Michigan Flyer, though it now stops at the downtown Blake Transit Center (and on some trips the Central Campus Transit Center). As such, you can simply take a downtown-bound AATA bus from the Amtrak station (either #17 right at the station, or #1/#2C from Beakes St) to the BTC and transfer right there to the AirRide. You can also walk from ARB to the BTC, though at 0.8mi that probably wouldn't be advisable in winter or with lots of luggage. Fare for AirRide is $12 each way with reservation, and for the local AATA bus the fare is $1.50. Do make sure you check the schedule before planning a trip - you won't be able to get AirRide or AATA late at night (i.e. coming from #354), and the AATA local bus to BTC doesn't run after 6pm or so on weekends (though AirRide runs a bit later).

From Dearborn, in addition to the taxi there are bus options as well. SMART has some bus stops near the Dearborn station and services DTW as well. However, you'll probably have to make at least one transfer, maybe more if it's a weekend. That would probably be your cheapest option ($2.00 + $.25/transfer), though it would take longer than the AirRide from Ann Arbor. Also, it may be difficult to do this with lots of luggage as it's just a regular city bus that mostly carries commuters (whereas AirRide uses buses more like a Thruway bus/Greyhound).

Coming from the west, I'd probably recommend Ann Arbor if you were going to do a bus since it would be quicker and the transfer would be simpler. However, if you wanted the cheapest option taking SMART from Dearborn would save a bit of money - though it would probably involve the most hassle and be the slowest of the various options. If you wanted to just take a taxi, Dearborn would be cheaper, but Ann Arbor would be quicker from the west given that Dearborn would involve backtracking.

In any case, with an Amtrak-airport transfer like this, I'd make sure I'd allow plenty of time for the connection or have alternatives if you miss your flight - you don't want a 1 hr delay to make you miss a non-refundable, non-exchangeable flight. Taking #350 and catching a later flight from DTW would be safest...

 

[saxman]

I've taken the Michigan Flyer from Ann Arbor a couple of times. With the cab fare from the station across town to the bus stop, makes it almost a wash, but slightly cheaper than a cab from Dearborn. I took a cab once from Dearborn to the airport and seem to remember it being a flat fee of $25. I can't remember what company that was, but I think it was based in Dearborn. I remember having to call a cab as well, as there were none lined up at the station in Dearborn.

You'd think we can start being intermodal more, but DTW is far from that and so is Michigan Flyer. Be nice if these bus companies could actually serve a station.

 

[Trogdor]

Problem with bus companies serving Amtrak in Michigan is hardly anyone really uses the Wolverine to get to the airport, and the train's OTP is so horrible that the bus would either have to build in a ton of extra time, or the train would miss half the time.

 

[PerRock]

Actually the Wolverine's OTP is really good for a non-NEC train. In the last week the latest 350 arrived in Ann Arbor was about 30mins and it only did that twice. both 352 & 354 had delays of about 10mins at most.

Dearborn is starting to build a new intermodal station that when complete will most likely be the best stop for someone going to Metro, however they just recently broke ground on it so it'll still be a while. Another future option will be the MiTrain which plans to have a Metro Airport stop (with a connecting bus to the terminals). One would take the Wolv to Ann Arbor then change to the MiTrain, however that train still has to start running first.

All in all I would suggest the Ann Arbor - MiFlyer route as it's probably easiest to do for the price. If you cannot get the #17 bus from the station (to late or weekend) there is a taxi stand in front of the station which usually has a few taxis at it whenever a train is due in.

peter