Delivering reliable and safe transit for southeast Michigan

How SMART’s core values are driving safer service, trust and mobility across the region

By Tiffany J. Gunter, General Manager | Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation

The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) in southeast Michigan is experiencing industry-leading growth. In 2025, our fixed-route buses, paratransit and microtransit services welcomed more than 7.9 million riders—a 10% increase over the previous year. On several of our most popular routes, including the FAST services on Woodward and Gratiot and the Nine Mile Crosstown, ridership increased by more than 35% between February 2025 and February 2026. This growth reflects SMART’s continued focus on delivering a customer experience that attracts and retains riders across the region.

Over the past two years, we expanded service to communities that had not seen regional transit in decades, added one of the region’s largest shopping destinations to our network and provided shuttle service for thousands of visitors traveling into downtown Detroit for the 2024 NFL Draft.We also reduced travel times by up to 10 minutes while simultaneously increasing frequency on our express bus routes.

On some of their most popular routes. This growth is continuing – our 461-462 FAST Woodward Route experienced a 40% increase in ridership in February 2026 compared to 2025. The 562-563 FAST Gratiot route experienced a 38% increase.

Creating a strong customer experience is not only about getting people from Point A to Point B — it is also about how we get them there. That work begins inside our organization. By prioritizing the purpose and value of our work, we take better care of customers, creating a virtuous cycle of service quality, trust and ridership growth.

To anchor this philosophy, we established five core values organized around our SMART acronym. These values drive our day-to-day operations andare essential in our efforts to provide a positive customer experience:

• Safety
• Multiplier
• Adaptability
• Respect
• Transparency

Safety first, always

Safety is the foundation of a strong customer experience and our highest operational priority. This year, we made a deliberate commitment to enhance safety at our bus stops and transit centers — where riders begin their journeys.

Our SMART SPACES (Safer Places Accessible Communities and Effective Stops) program guides investments in stops, shelters and transit facilities to improve safety, comfort, accessibility and usability. The program evaluates lighting, shelter placement, wayfinding and pedestrian access to ensure a safe, consistent and dignified customer experience before passengers ever board a bus.

Multiple benefits

At SMART, every action we take should have multiple, positive outcomes. Our Royal Oak Transit Center is a perfect example. As one of our most visible intermodal hubs, it sits next to the Royal Oak Amtrak station and connects several high-ridership SMART routes with intercity rail.

Recognizing its importance as a regional gateway, we are planning targeted upgrades to improve comfort, functionality and passenger amenities. These improvements will not only enhance the customer experience but also strengthen connections to downtown Royal Oak and encourage greater use of both SMART and Amtrak.

Adapting to change

SMART's core value of adaptability reinforces our responsibility to respond to shifting conditions and rider expectations while making our services easier to use.

One of the strongest examples is SMART Flex, our on-demand microtransit service that fills first- and last-mile gaps with app-based and call-in shared rides. Designed to complement, not compete with, our fixed-route buses, SMART Flex expands access in areas that cannot support traditional bus service.

Adapting to meet customers' technology expectations, we offer the Transit Royale app, available free for a year through sponsorship by the Regional Transit Authority. Using the app, our customers can plan trips, pay fares and navigate service when and where they want. Further, we are modernizing our fareboxes to support tap-to-pay credit card functionality, enabling passengers to use the same payment methods they use anywhere else.

Employee recognition in motion

SMART puts its people front and center. One wrapped bus honors nearly 90 employees with more than 25 years of service, celebrating the experience, commitment and pride that shape SMART's customer experience.

Additional bus wraps recognize the employees who keep the system moving every day — from Principal Trainers who prepare every operator for service to the Maintenance staff whose expertise keeps the region operating safely and reliably.

Bus wraps recognize the commitment and dedication of SMART's workforce

Respect for others

As we continue to adapt our services to meet evolving rider needs, communicating with one another and our customers with dignity, integrity and accountability is essential. In addition to how we communicate, respect is also reflected in how we support our employees.

An exceptional customer experience is something we ask our agency. staff to deliver, but not without first equipping them with the tools they need to achieve it. We continue to invest in our operator and maintenance workforces. Upgrades, such as new HVAC systems, vehicle lifts, advanced driving simulators and updated shop equipment, strengthen safety, build confidence and instill pride in the work — qualities that directly. influence the customer experience.

Respect also shows up in our everyday actions. Here are a few examples:

• The SMART bus operator, who, during his break, found a Spanish translator to help a non-English-speaking passenger get home safely
• The operator, whose deep knowledge of the community helped reunite a missing young person with her family
• The employee who says his job isn't to clean the buses, it's to keep riders healthy

These are the actions that define who we are and how we elevate the customer experience, keeping riders coming back.

Transparency inside and out

Our goal is to ensure openness and accountability across the organization and the communities we serve.

For example, SMART hosts virtual employee forums each month, offering updates on priorities, performance and service reliability. Voluntary attendance at these events has grown from fewer than 50 participants to more than 140 — demonstrating how much our workforce values direct communication. Keeping employees informed and aligned strengthens frontline decision-making, which creates a more consistent, responsive customer experience.

Transparency also extends outward through our monthly Sounding Board sessions, where riders, transit advocates and community members can speak directly with SMART leaders. These real-time virtual conversations provide insights, address concerns and keep the customer experience central to every decision we make.

Delivering on our values every day

Together, our core values of safety, multiplier, adaptability, respect and transparency form the backbone of a system ready to grow beyond traditional boundaries. They are the principles that will carry. SMART into a future where every rider can move confidently throughout southeast Michigan.