Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation route 495 'John R'


	495 John R
Communities Served		Troy, Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Detroit
Route Type		Community Route
Days of Operation		Daily
Vehicles Used		Gillig BRT 40' (HEV), New Flyer Industries XD60 , Proterra ZX5 40'
Vehicles at Peak		4
Terminal		Oakland
Average Daily Weekday Ridership (2018)		1,374

495 John R is a bus route operated by the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Route Details

The current routing of route 495. This map also shows current routing of route 494.

This route services John R. Street between the Oakland Mall Hub and State Fair Street, State Fair Street between John R. Street and Woodward Avenue and Woodward Avenue between State Fair Street and the State Fair Transit Center.

History

Pre-SMART

1920's - Route introduced, operated by the Detroit Motorbus Company and extending from the Highland Park Ford Plant via Woodward, 6 Mile, John R., 11 Mile, Main Street and Rochester Road to Rochester.
March 1, 1927 - Route sold to brothers Ira and Robert Martin.
1935 - Northern end of the route truncated to Center and 4th Streets (south of 11 Mile) in Royal Oak.
1968 - Certain trips on this route begin serving the then-recently opened Oakland Mall, while other trips continue to terminate in Royal Oak.
March 20, 1975 - Service carried on by Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority. At this time, the route extended from downtown Detroit (during peak/rush hours on weekdays only, otherwise continuing to terminate in Highland Park) to Oakland Mall via Woodward, McNichols and John R., with some trips servicing 11 Mile Road and terminating in Royal Oak.
Summer 1975 - Route numbered 495 by SEMTA.
Late 1970's - Royal Oak service eliminated, with all route 495 trips now serving Oakland Mall.

SMART

January 17, 1989 - Service carried on by SMART.
June 25, 1994 - Route taken over by the Detroit Department of Transportation in a route-swapping deal. As a result, it is now operated almost exclusively by New Flyer Industries D40 and Motor Coach Industries TC40-102A buses, as at the time these were DDOT's only buses equipped with electronic destination signs. Window cards were used when GMDD TC40-102N and RTS buses were assigned, since they still had rollsigns instead.
April 1, 1995 - DDOT gives control of this route back to SMART.
December 12, 2011 - Due to systemwide service cuts, route 495 south of State Fair Street is eliminated. From State Fair and John R., the route is realigned via State Fair and Woodward to a new southern terminus at the State Fair Transit Center.
January 2, 2017 - Three route 495 trips per day north of Oakland Mall are eliminated due to the 2016 closure of the ITT Troy school which these trips had served.
October 3, 2022 - Battery-electric buses commence service on route 495, which becomes the first SMART route to see revenue service from battery-electric buses.