Colonel William A. Phillips

The Blake Transit Center (commonly abbreviated as BTC or The Blake) is the Ann Arbor hub for the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority. It connects 17 bus routes in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan and several intercity routes, and it is LEED Gold certified.^[3] The current building is the second Blake Transit Center, built in the early 2010s to replace a smaller building on the west side of the block that could no longer manage the increased utilization.

Service

The Blake is the larger of the AAATA's two transit centers, serving as a destination for 17 routes.^[4] It serves as the main hub for Ann Arbor's hub-and-spoke bus transportation model. Four of these routes (3, 4, 5 and 6) connect the Blake to the smaller Ypsilanti Transit Center by various routes.

Regional Service

In addition to serving local routes, the Blake is also the Ann Arbor terminus of the D2A2, an express bus service between Ann Arbor and Detroit. The other end of the line is at Grand Circus Park, providing access to the Detroit People Mover, the QLine, DDOT buses, SMART buses.

The Michigan Flyer bus service has its Ann Arbor stop on 5th Ave next to the Blake, connecting Ann Arbor both to Detroit Metropolitan Airport as well as to East Lansing and Brighton, Michigan. Finally, the Blake is one stop for the Indian Trails line 1488, which connects to Detroit, Jackson, Lansing, Clare, Gaylord, and St. Ignace.^[5]

History

The original single-floor transit center was built in 1987 for the purpose of moving bus stops off Fourth Avenue and preventing transferring riders from having to cross the street;^[6] the cost of the project was just over $1 million.^[7]

Naming

In 1989, the transit center was renamed the Blake Transit Center following the unexpected death of Richard Dumas Blake.^[8] In his time working at the AATA, Blake worked as a bus driver, the Coordinator of School Services, the Safety Director, and the Systems Manager for Marketing.^[9] Blake was well known in the community for his outreach programs including Charlie Bus, a program to teach elementary school children to ride the bus.

New Building

The current version broke ground in November 2012. This new building includes more modern facilities and more space, including restrooms, offices and a staff break room. The building was constructed in part due to the increase in ridership since the original building was constructed, and in part due to the increase in bus traffic, with the old building handling 40 buses per hour at its peak.^[10]

The grand opening on 7 July 2014 was attended by US Representative John Dingell and Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje, amongst other notable federal and state officials and local civic leaders.^[3]

Planned Expansion

Immediately to the south of the Blake at 350 S Fifth Ave is a surface parking lot commonly called "The Y Lot" due to its history as the former site of a YMCA building that provided affordable housing in downtown Ann Arbor.^[11] Due in part to the increase in buses at the Blake, resulting in many buses stopping along Fourth Ave, the city has incorporated plans for four additional bus bays to extend the availability of off-street bus stops.^[12] The lot was sold to the Ann Arbor Housing Development Corporation in September 2023,^[13][14] and a Request for Proposals is open until 8 February 2024.^[15]

References