Blue Water Area Transit (BWAT) is the public transit operator serving Port Huron, Michigan and surrounding St. Clair County. Operated by the Blue Water Area Transportation Commission (BWATC), the BWAT system includes fixed-route buses in the Port Huron area, plus commuter routes (connecting the city to

SMART Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * '' SMart'', a children's television se ...

Metro Detroit The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the a ...

) and paratransit services. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday.

History

Following the cessation of private buses in Port Huron in 1968, BWAT commenced operations in 1976, with the assistance of neighboring

SEMTA The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is the public transit operator serving the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, United States. It supplements the Detroit Department of Transportation, which operates buses within the ...

. BWAT began operating buses powered by

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...

in 1996, and soon held the largest alternative-fuel transit fleet in Michigan. The system's current fleet consists almost entirely of CNG-powered buses. December 2015 saw the opening of the Blue Water Transit Bus Center in downtown Port Huron, which serves as the system's main hub. The $9.8 million facility includes a small store, as well as underground boilers to keep the sidewalks clear of snow and ice in the winter. In 2021, BWAT acquired two Proterra ZX5 battery-electric buses, becoming the first Michigan transit agency since the 1970s to operate electric buses.

Routes

BWAT operates eleven fixed bus routes, using a fleet consisting mostly of

Gillig Low Floor The Gillig Low Floor (originally named Gillig H2000LF and also nicknamed Gillig Advantage) is a transit bus manufactured by the Gillig Corporation. The second low-floor bus introduced in the United States (after the New Flyer LF), the Low Floor ...

, ElDorado Axess, and ElDorado E-Z Rider buses.

Local routes

These routes operate from 6am-11pm Monday-Friday and 7:45am-11pm on Saturdays. Numbered routes begin and end at the Blue Water Transit Bus Center downtown. *1 – Electric Ave *2 – 24th Street *3 – Sams Club transfer *4 – Holland *5 – Pine Grove/ Mall *6 – Home Depot *9 – Beard/Dove *Shopper Shuttle (circulator through Fort Gratiot Township, serving Birchwood Mall and other retail stores) *Blue Water Trolley (downtown

tourist trolley A tourist trolley, also called a road trolley, is a rubber-tired bus designed to resemble an old-style streetcar or tram, usually with false clerestory roof. The vehicles are usually fueled by diesel, or sometimes compressed natural gas. The ...

circulator, runs June-September)

Regional routes

These operate only on weekdays, connecting Port Huron to Chesterfield Township in Macomb County, where connections are available to

's route 560 and Gratiot FAST. * I-94 - express from Port Huron to Chesterfield, with intermediate stops at park-and-ride lots in Marysville and

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; two trips each way in the morning, one trip each way in the evening. * M-29 - local service via Marysville, St. Clair, Marine City,

Algonac Algonac is a city in St. Clair County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,110 at the 2010 census. Algonac is located at the southern end of the St. Clair River, just before it splits into a large delta region known as the St. Cl ...

, and New Baltimore; one trip each way in morning, and another in the evening.

Cost

*Adult fare - $.80 *Children 17 and under - $.65 *Senior/disabled - $.40 *Under 5 – free

References

External links

BWBus
{{Michigan public transit Bus transportation in Michigan Transportation in St. Clair County, Michigan Port Huron, Michigan