Transit Guide: Cass Corridor

8 min readJun 29, 2018

There are so many places to dine and explore along Cass Ave. Whether you work in New Center, Midtown or Downtown, attend Wayne State, are in town for an event or live nearby, public transit is the best way to explore the corridor so park it and ride!

Public transit comes in many forms these days. You could use a DDOT bus, SMART bus, QLine, MoGo bike or even a Lime, Bird, Spin, Link or Boaz Scooter! We’ll discuss them all after we touch on Michigan’s default method of transit: the automobile.

Parking

Cars are still the most popular way to get around but with all of the available transit you’ll only have to park once. Here’s a quick list of parking garages along Cass: Michigan Theater parking garage, Columbia Park surface parking, Fox Theater Garage, Henry St Garage, Little Caesars Arena Parking Garage, Cass Ave Parking, Masonic Temple Theater Parking Lot, 3456 Cass Parking Lot (Chinatown), Detroit Symphony Orchestra Garage, 25W Alexandrine Garage, Wayne State Parking Garages/Lots, Baltimore Garage, New Center Place Parking and New Center Garage. Street parking can be paid by app (Park Detroit). District Detroit also has an app for parking, guide & food ordering.

DDOT Bus

The Detroit Department of Transportation has been providing bus service since 1925. It operates (12) 24-hr routes, (10) enhanced routes and dozens of other local & express routes. Bus fare boxes accept passes and cash. The basic fare is $2.00 for a 4 hour pass and $5.00 for a 24 hour pass. Students 6–18 & seniors with proper ID as well as those with disabilities cost $0.50 for a 4 hour pass and $2.00 for a 24 hour pass. Be sure to ask for the 4 or 24 hour pass before you pay. For more info go to Pay with DART.

SMART, DDOT & QLine (starting 10/01) now use the DART mobile app. Download it HERE.

Route #16 Dexter is the main bus through the Cass Corridor.

The Dexter route is named after Dexter Ave which starts north of Grand Blvd. The route starts downtown near Huntington Place on Jefferson, runs up Cass to New Center, up Dexter to University of Detroit Mercy, out to WCCC and turns back around at 8 Mile. It is a 24–7 route with peak frequency of every 12 minutes, every 15 off peak and every 30 in the evenings. Late night service is every 60 minutes. Click here for the schedule.

Popular Destinations Near Each Bus Stop:

Financial District Bus Stops

Michigan & Washington:

Rosa Parks Transit Center
Westin Book Cadillac
Hotel Indigo
US District Courthouse
American Coney Island
Lafayette Coney Island
Transfer @ Michigan Ave to #261 FAST Michigan to Corktown, East Dearborn, West Dearborn & DTW. Also transfers to DDOT #2 Michigan Ave to Corktown & Fairlane Town Center, #3 Grand River to Redford and #6 Gratiot to Eastern Market.

Cass & Columbia (The District)

Cass & Ledyard — Back entrance to Little Caesars Arena

Cass & Temple

Cass & Peterboro (Chinatown)

Cass & MLK

Cass & Alexandrine

Cass & Canfield

Cass & Warren

Cass & Main Library

Cass & Kirby

Cass & Ferry

Cass & York

Cass & Amsterdam

Cass & Milwaukee / Baltimore

Cass & W Grand Blvd

West Grand & Second

West Grand & Third

West Grand & Lodge Service Drive

West Grand & Woodrow Wilson

Motown Museum

#4 Woodward runs 24–7 along Detroit’s main street with bus stops all along Woodward up to the State Fairgrounds Transit Center near 8 Mile. Buses run every 10 minutes during the day & every 30 minutes at night. Click here for the schedule.

Popular destinations include: Renaissance Center, Hart Plaza, Detroit Riverwalk, Campus Martius, Cobo Center, Foundation Hotel, Rosa Parks Transit Center, Westin Book Cadillac Hotel, Beacon Park, Grand Circus Park, Comerica Park, Ford Field, The Fillmore, Fox Theater, Hockeytown Cafe, Little Caesars Arena, WSU Ilitch School of Business, Whole Foods, Orchestra Hall, Children’s Hosptal of Michigan, The Magic Stick / Garden Bowl, MOCAD, The Whitney, Wayne State University, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Public Library, Detroit History Museum, Michigan Science Center, Charles H Wright Museum of African American History, College For Creative Studies, Amtrak, Ferne Botique, Urbanum, New Center and more.

Other useful routes through Midtown / Cass Corridor are

#23 Hamilton — Runs from downtown up Cass to Temple, Third, Wayne State, 2nd, Hamilton, McNichols, John R, State Fair, Woodward and ends at Meijer.
#42 Mid City Loop — Runs from MLK, up 2nd, through Wayne State, Henry Ford Home Health Care, Piston’s Performance Center, Rosa Parks, Hamilton, Manchester (Highland Park), Oakland Ave, Beaubien, St Antoine and back to Mack.
#8 Warren — This crosstown route runs between Detroit’s far east side & Dearborn. Use your free transfer to explore food options in Woodbridge, Dearborn & Old English Village.

FAST by SMART

The FAST Bus is the express regional route that runs between suburb and city on Gratiot, Woodward & Michigan Ave. We have a guide for it here. The FAST Woodward bus runs every 15 minutes between Pontiac & Detroit with convenient stops in Troy, Somerset, Birmingham, Royal Oak Beaumont, Royal Oak, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Ferndale, Palmer Park, Highland Park, Boston Edison, New Center, Midtown, Wayne State, Little Caesars Arena, WSU Mike Ilitch School of Business, Grand Circus Park, Cobo and downtown. Fares are just $2 for adults, $1 for kids 6–18 and $0.50 for seniors and those with disabilities. Get around the Cass Corridor on FAST & take it to and from the suburbs where parking is free!

QLine

Opened in 2017, Detroit’s streetcar travels from downtown to New Center, roughly 3.3 miles. It services downtown, Grand Circus Park, Fox Theater, Comerica Park, Little Caesars Arena, Midtown, Wayne State, Amtrak and New Center. Rides cost $1.50 for 3 hours and $3 to ride all day.

MoGo

Need to get from one spot to another quickly? MoGo Bicycle Sharing is for you. $8 buys you 24 hours worth of 30 minute trips. As you can see, there are plenty in Cass Corridor. Instead of waiting for an Uber or a bus, move yourself!

Lime & Bird Scooters

New on the scene in 2018, these scooters seemed to appear without explanation. You’re required to have a smart phone to scan the QR code and a debit/credit card to bill to. It is highly recommended that you wear a helmet. If you are a frequent rider you can send off for a free helmet for just the cost of shipping. You’ll find these all over Midtown on any given day. The cost is $1 to start then $0.15 a minute. If you want to make sure you have a ride back you can park your scooter but the meter keeps running.

Find all of this info and more at www.transitguidedetroit.com