Today begins a monthly article series from local blogger and downtown worker Laura Bien. Laura is a frequent bus rider and will be writing about a different AATA Route each month.

The March Route of the Month is the #3 Huron River

Could this be AATA’s most beautiful route? Read on to find out:

Route of the Month: Huron River #3
The AATA’s most beautiful route

Is route #3 the favorite route of AATA bus drivers? Do the riverside scenes compensate for the extended driving time of one of the AATA’s longest routes? Does route #3 have any drawbacks for drivers?

“The nastiest part of the route,” says one route 3 driver, “is Geddes at US-23.” A long line of afternoon rush hour cars piles up each day on Geddes across from Concordia University, intent on getting on 23.

Traffic is slowed to a crawl as the crowd of vehicles inches towards the highway. Once past this bottleneck, the Ypsi-bound route turns towards the elevated Dixboro Bridge, with its river vistas.

“You have the river valley. It’s relatively scenic,” says the same driver. “And the customers are nice.”

“Some drivers don’t like the long routes,” says another regular route #3 driver. “I go down [to Ypsi] and then become the 5 [Packard route] on the way back. I’ve been on this route since August.” Both drivers express a liking for route 3.

So do its riders. “[Route 3] has kept us from replacing our second car,” says regular rider Tad Wysor, a mechanical engineer with the EPA. He rides the 3 from downtown Ypsi to the EPA offices off Plymouth. Wysor’s use of the 3 illustrates how the AATA can promote good health. He often puts his bike on the bus’s front bike rack and once boarded the 3 with skis in hand, nonchalantly parking them under his seat. Wysor says he enjoys riding the 3 and misses it when he doesn’t. “I miss reading, or dozing, or pulling out the laptop to work on something,” he says. The route has become an established part of his daily routine.

It’s an established part of the AATA system, too. One of the AATA’s older routes, the #3 appears on 1982 and 1984 AATA route maps housed in the Bentley Historical Library. In 1982, a mere 15 routes, including the #3, serviced the Ann Arbor area, compared to today’s 27 routes. Although the number of routes has almost doubled since then, the fare has not–it was 60 cents in 1982 and is $1 today, although 60 cents in 1982 is, after inflation, equivalent, to $1.35 today.

The only route to service the area’s three major schools of U-M, WCC, and EMU, and the only route to service the area’s three major hospitals of U-M, Veteran’s Hospital, and St. Joseph’s, route #3 also offers riders three notable vistas.

On leaving St. Joe’s for Ann Arbor, the #3 passes a riverside band of thick forest that offers views of spring greens, summer lushness, fall color, and winter austerity.

Another woodsy moment occurs on Geddes (see photo above) just east of Huron River Drive, where tall trees arch over the curvy road.

The #3’s best vista is on Dixboro Bridge (see photo below).

On the morning commute, sometimes fog fills the river valley like a sleepy white dragon. Afternoons, the river sparkles in the lowering sun. A rider gazing at it likely will conclude that the #3 is the AATA’s most beautiful route.

–Laura Bien

What route would you like to see profiled for next month?
Email your suggestion to ypsidixit@gmail.com.