Bay Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Bay Metro) is the primary bus agency providing intra- and inter-city routes for the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area centered on

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in Bay County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from the Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the princip ...

since 1974.

History

Public transportation in Bay City began with the Bay City Street Railway Company, which operated

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public transport, public rail transport, ...

s starting in 1865. Electric

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

s began replacing the horsecars in 1889; by 1893 electric lines ran down Washington, Center, and Third Streets, meeting at Center and Washington; an

interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

electric line connected Bay City to Saginaw, Flint, Detroit, and Cincinnati by 1895. The West Bay City Street Railway Co. (1889) and Union Street Railway Co. (1892) eventually merged as the Bay Cities Consolidated Railway Co. (1893), which underwent several name changes until the streetcars were replaced by buses in 1921. From 1921 to 1974, public transportation was provided by private operators (Balcer Bros. and Hibblers Bay City Community Service) with one interruption between 1958 and 1959. Bay Metropolitan Transportation Authority began operations in 1974; its headquarters were built in 1981 in Bay City, Michigan, and most fixed routes operate out of the Central Bus Station in downtown Bay City at 1124 Washington Avenue. Bay Metro temporarily suspended service during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the American state of Michigan were discovered on March 10, 2020, one day before the outbreak of the disease was officially declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. As of December 20, ...

; fixed-route service resumed on July 6, 2021, with Routes 1 and 4 following in late August.

Governance

Bay Metro is governed by a board of directors selected by the chair of the Bay County Board of Commissioners. The term of each Bay Metro board member is three years; the total membership has varied between nine and eleven.

Services

Bay Metro operates nine fixed routes and a

dial-a-ride Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

point-to-point service branded DART.

Fares

Fixed route fares are US$1, with discounts for students with a valid identification card ($0.75) and qualified individuals (seniors and disabled, $0.50). Single-ride DART fares are US$1.50.

Transfers

Riders on Route 4 may transfer to

Saginaw Transit Authority Regional Services Saginaw Transit Authority Regional Services (STARS) is the operator of public transportation in Saginaw, Michigan. Ten local routes service the metropolitan area, and about a million passengers use the agency for transport each year. On July 14, 2 ...

at the

Saginaw Valley State University Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is a public university in University Center, Michigan, United States, in Saginaw County. It was founded in 1963 as Saginaw Valley College. It is located on in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, appr ...

stop or to Midland County Connection at the Midland DHHS stop. No fare discounts are offered.

Fleet

The fixed-route transit fleet primarily uses

Gillig Gillig (formerly Gillig Brothers) is an American designer and Bus manufacturing, manufacturer of buses. The company headquarters, along with its manufacturing operations, is located in Livermore, California (in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay A ...

Advantage buses in 29' and 40' nominal lengths.

References

External links

* * {{Michigan public transit Public transportation in Michigan Bay City, Michigan