Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation route 125 'Fort Street/Eureka Road'


	125 Fort Street/Eureka Road
Communities Served		Romulus, Taylor, Southgate, Wyandotte, Lincoln Park, Detroit, Ecorse, River Rouge
Route Type		Main Corridor Route
Days of Operation		Daily
Vehicles Used		Gillig Low Floor 35', Gillig Low Floor 40', Gillig BRT 40' HEV , New Flyer Industries D40LF , New Flyer Industries DE60LF
Vehicles at Peak		7
Terminal		Wayne
Average Daily Weekday Ridership (2018)		1,871

125 Fort Street/Eureka Road is a bus route operated by the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Route Details

3006 on route 125.

The current routing of route 125. This map also shows the current routings of routes 160 and 830.

This route connects Detroit Metropolitan Airport, one of the busiest and most modern airports in the United States, with downtown Detroit, the central business and culture hub of metropolitan Detroit. It is also the only SMART route that serves both of Metro Airport's terminals. One branch operates out of the McNamara Terminal via John Dingell Drive and Eureka Road and the other operates out of the North Terminal via William Rogell Drive, Goddard Road and Middlebelt Road. Both branches converge at Eureka and Middlebelt. Heading east from there, the route operates via Eureka east to the Meijer store in Taylor, pulling into that and through the northern parking lot of Southland Center, then traverses Racho Road back to Eureka, then continues east to Fort Street, traversing Fort to Outer Drive to West Jefferson Avenue to it's terminus at Coolidge Highway in River Rouge.

During weekday peak/rush hours, the route continues west on Coolidge to Interstate 75 to Springwells Street to Fort Street into downtown Detroit.

This route operates daily. Interestingly, although it is served by stops at the intersection of Eureka and Dix-Toledo Highway in Southgate, this route does not pull into a Walmart store that is located at that intersection which opened in 2011.

History

1976 - Service begins as a Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority route, replacing the Southland Center branch of route 110. Initially, it is operated as one of three branches of SEMTA's Fort Street route, the others being a branch to Flat Rock (numbered 120) and a branch that loops via Riverview neighborhoods (numbered 130). This branch operates from Eureka and Inkster Roads in Taylor north into downtown Detroit via Eureka Road, Southland Center and Fort Street.
January 17, 1989 - Service carried on by SMART.
June 25, 1994 - Service 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 11, 1995 - Midday, evening and weekend service rerouted from Fort and Outer Drive to Fort and Waterman Street via Outer Drive, West Jefferson and Waterman, replacing service on route 110, which becomes a weekday-rush-hour-only route. Weekday rush hour service, however, remains on Fort between Outer Drive and Waterman.
May 20, 2002 - Service extended from Eureka and Inkster to Metro Airport's LC Smith Terminal via Eureka, Middlebelt, Goddard and Rogell Drive, replacing portions of the newly-discontinued route 165.
November 27, 2006 - Service to the McNamara Terminal added, operating via Eureka and Dingell Drive. Alternating trips operate every half-hour all day to either the McNamara Terminal or the Smith Terminal. In addition, later evening service on all days is added.
December 3, 2006 - Sunday service modified to begin earlier.
September 4, 2007 - All service now operates between Fort and Outer Drive and Fort and West End Street via Outer Drive, West Jefferson and West End. Not only does this continue service lost by the discontinuation of route 110, it also crosses over from West Jefferson to Fort even closer to the Detroit city limits.
September 2008 - Smith Terminal stop relocates to the North Terminal.
December 12, 2011 - Due to systemwide service cuts, all non-weekday-rush-hour service now terminates at West Jefferson and Coolidge.
May 2013 - Service rerouted between West Jefferson and Coolidge and Fort and West End via Coolidge and Fort after the West Jefferson Rouge River bridge is damaged as it lowered while a freighter was passing through and is closed as a result.
Summer 2013 - Rouge River detour rerouted via I-75 between Fort and Springwells after the Fort Street Rouge River bridge also closes-albeit due to scheduled construction. As of 2016, the Fort Street Rouge River bridge has reopened, but the I-75 detour is still in place.

Vehicles

125 Fort Street/Eureka Road is a high-demand route and thus is almost always assigned Gillig Low Floor 40' buses and is also often assigned Gillig BRT 40' HEV buses. Gillig Low Floor 35' and New Flyer D40LF buses can make occasional appearances as well. Extremely rarely, the Wayne Terminal's New Flyer DE60LF , 3002, may appear as well.

Headways

Last updated: June 15, 2015

	Frequency	Buses Used
Weekday Peak	20-30	7
Weekday Midday	20-30	4
Weekday Evening	45-60	3
Saturday	45-70	3
Sunday	50-70	2

Destination Signs

125 FORT ST ~ 125 to R ROUGE (Vultron displays) or 125 FORT ST ~ 125 RIVER ROUGE (Luminator Horizon displays)
125 FORT ST ~ 125 to DETROIT (Vultron displays) or 125 FORT ST ~ 125 TO DETROIT (Luminator Horizon displays)
125 FORT ST ~ 125 to METRO AIRPORT (top line)/McNAMARA TERMINAL (bottom line) (Vultron displays) or 125 FORT ST ~ 125 TO McNAMARA TERMINAL (Luminator Horizon displays)
125 FORT ST ~ 125 to METRO AIRPORT (top line)/NORTH TERMINAL (bottom line) (Vultron displays) or 125 FORT ST ~ 125 TO NORTH TERMINAL (Luminator Horizon displays)