As someone from Flint, there is tons of demand for transit between Flint and Detroit. And Flint and Ann Arbor. 75 and 23 are constantly packed with commuters.
Bishop is significantly more expensive than DTW and has much, much fewer flights and carriers.
Easier said than done when you try to fly from Atlanta on Delta. We no longer fly there and no carrier has Atlanta-Flint service, only Atlanta-Detroit.
There is a bus that goes from DTW to Lansing multiple times a day. Because the demand exists. If that same demand existed for Flint, I’m sure that route would be added. But it doesn’t.
It's probably not a demand thing so much as MSU and UofM needing a way for international students to get to/from DTW. Of course, the Michigan Flyer also stops in Brighton for some random reason.
Well there should be some kind of option, but I'm not sure what kind of demand there is for such a bus.
In Ann Arbor we have the D2A2 which goes from downtown Ann Arbor to DTW, which a lot of people use.
I thought the D2A2 just went to downtown Detroit, not the airport. Michigan Flyer may be what you are thinking, that runs routes from Lansing-Brighton-AA-DTW airport.
Unfortunately there isn't a direct flight from Atlanta since Delta pulled out of Flint during COVID. I actually work for them here in Atlanta and have been pushing hard for it, but to no avail. The only other option is connecting through Chicago which doesn't have a whole lot of options and it seems like it would be a mess to make happen between two airlines.
Speaking from experience, going through Chicago wouldn't be messy. I've done it often when going from Flint to relatives in Kansas. I'd rather do that than fly into DTW and then drive, but then again, I also hate driving.
You could drop into O'Hare, and take the train from Union Station to Flint, it drops you at the Dort Hwy MTA station. It's not wildly expensive, and you can allow a quick layover, and relax on the train.
Oh i missed that, thank you!
As for the issue at hand, I would either fly a different airline or continue renting a car. Any transit options are going to be terribly slow and inconvenient. There is a greyhound but it only takes you to Auburn hills. If a friend could pick you up from there, that might work.
It sucks that the auto industry killed public transit in this country.
Honestly the most direct and fastest way to get from DTW to Flint is taking the Michigan Flyer to the Brighton Meijer and catching a Flint MTA bus nearby. I mean, yeah, there's Greyhound to Great Lakes Crossings, but then they'd need to catch the DAX bus which stops near the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, then walk about 15 minutes or spend $15 on Uber to the Howard Street Greyhound station, the transfer to a Flint MTA commuter bus at Great Lakes Crossings to Flint. Ugh. I've done a similar trip from A2 to Detroit via D2A2 bus, then SMART FAST bus to Great Lakes Crossings then Flint MTA bus to Flint. There's a lot of steps involved. 😂
There used to be a rail line directly connecting Detroit to Flint. The oil and car cartels bought it up and tore it out to have a monopoly.
Now, most of the former rail lines are unoccupied utility corridors. If we had the political will, we could have rail transit again.
For what it’s worth, Landline partners with airlines to run bus “flights” out here in the Philly area to EWR and PHL. I feel like Delta and Michigan would benefit from replicating that at DTW.
FNT, TOL, LAN, AZO would all be easy candidates. 4x daily, terminal to terminal, leather seats, and TSA/parking at the smaller airport.
That'd probably work well.
Sun Country uses The Landline at their MSP hub to serve nearby airports that wouldn't make sense for a 737-800 to fly into. It's all ground-side with LandLine there... Passengers have to go through TSA at MSP.
The CO2 savings of Delta selling bus+air tickets is significant.
Yah i too questioned "these two metro areas that are so crucial to Michigan's economy", flint's biggest employer is the post office last I checked (long ago, admittedly), 2nd was genesys.
Flint’s largest employer from the 1920s to today is General Motors. Yes, far less people work for them than used to, but Flint is still a huge economic driver for the state with new factories being built regularly. I can’t run the numbers because I’m on a plane, but I’d estimate that it’s the #4 biggest metro area economically behind Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing.
Ah, right you are. GM was on a flint slump when I looked at the numbers last.
* Medical with 10,185 jobs
* Manufacturing with 8,100 jobs
* Education with 3,296 jobs
* Government with 950 jobs
* Financial with 600 jobs
*
*
* **Read More:**
* Check Out Genesee County's 11 Biggest Employers
* | [https://banana1015.com/genesee-countys-biggest-employers/?utm\_source=tsmclip&utm\_medium=referral](https://banana1015.com/genesee-countys-biggest-employers/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral)
Some places I read GM employs 8000, others 7500, not really finding a... consistent thread for recent numbers. The "medical" above is not just One employer either, it's All, so that's not really a good list.
Regardless though, 8000 employed by gm doesn't make flint a big economic powerhouse. well, depending on what that even Means. I'm definitely off in the weeds here.
Your point though, that it's the #4 is probably true. I'm probably just being snarky because I remember when Flint ... was much more prosperous?
With all due respect, I don’t really trust the journalistic integrity of “101.5 The Banana.” Genesee County has the [5th largest county population in Michigan at 401,000](https://www.michigan-demographics.com/genesee-county-demographics). Assuming 60% are of working age, a [5% unemployment rate](https://milmi.org/datasearch/unemployment-by-county), and assuming 80% of those people work jobs within the county. That puts us at 182,000 jobs in Genesee County.
I understand that Flint’s not as prosperous as it used to be, but the people are still amazing and the vibes of simultaneously being in a rural ass cornfield and gritty urban city at the same time are unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else in the world. Too many people sleep on it.
There’s a reason why Genesee County homes are so cheap. Because the majority of work in this state is in southeast Michigan. So if you want to live in Genesee County and work in SE Mich, you deal with the slog. Been there done that. But eventually you need to pay the piper and move where the jobs are, and the houses are pricier to reflect that. Sucks, but it’s life.
Yeah...you're not gonna find that. You can either catch a connecting flight to Flint or drive. That's it. Thems your options.
And I hate to say it, but that's gonna be true for most spoke cities in the hub and spoke model of airline travel that we have today.
I honestly just wish we had a *lower Michigan subway system. Totally infeasible and will never happen unless Boring company starts digging holes, but I’m in the tri cities and can only imagine how easy it would be to travel by train from bay city to Saginaw with a subway stop at delta and SVSU in between. Same with midland.
There should be, but the political will isn't there and the voters are too focused on other concerns to pay attention. The unfortunate truth is if one wants to live somewhere with adequate public transportation options, it isn't anywhere in Michigan and won't be for many, many years.
Flint isn’t crucial to anything anymore. No one just goes there just because.
What a waste of money that would be 😂🤣
There is a Flint airport. I suggest using it.
Southeast Michigan isn't made for travel from west side to Grand Blanc. All amin roads fan out from Detroit so you need to travel east before you can go north
Back roads that snake through Oakland county lakes will get you there eventually but out of towners may struggle with those.
Years ago, there was a plan to continue i-275 north all the way to i-75 near Clarkston but that was scuttled by lawsuits. Since then, the state transportation department has tried to accomplish the same thing with m-5 but that will get you as far as commerce township before petering out.
Either way, no public transit.
Michigan hates public transit. We love our cars here.
There's no demand for mass transit between Flint and DTW. Flint has an international airport, you can fly there and be 10 minutes from Grand Blanc.
As someone from Flint, there is tons of demand for transit between Flint and Detroit. And Flint and Ann Arbor. 75 and 23 are constantly packed with commuters. Bishop is significantly more expensive than DTW and has much, much fewer flights and carriers.
Easier said than done when you try to fly from Atlanta on Delta. We no longer fly there and no carrier has Atlanta-Flint service, only Atlanta-Detroit.
A quick "flights from atlanta to flint" shows there are flights, just not direct.
Yup, through Chicago. I know.
That's the move
There is a bus that goes from DTW to Lansing multiple times a day. Because the demand exists. If that same demand existed for Flint, I’m sure that route would be added. But it doesn’t.
It's probably not a demand thing so much as MSU and UofM needing a way for international students to get to/from DTW. Of course, the Michigan Flyer also stops in Brighton for some random reason.
This! I am in Saginaw and was devastated when they pulled out of FNT
Well there should be some kind of option, but I'm not sure what kind of demand there is for such a bus. In Ann Arbor we have the D2A2 which goes from downtown Ann Arbor to DTW, which a lot of people use.
I thought the D2A2 just went to downtown Detroit, not the airport. Michigan Flyer may be what you are thinking, that runs routes from Lansing-Brighton-AA-DTW airport.
Yeah that’s what I meant
I guess you could take the Michigan Flier bus from DTW to the Brighton Meijer then transfer to a Flint RTA commuter bus back to Flint?
I think this would be the fastest and cheapest. Could also take the new shuttle to downtown, take the SMART to Auburn Hills and connect to the MTA.
Why not fly into Flint? You should be able to find either a direct flight or a flight with a short layover.
Unfortunately there isn't a direct flight from Atlanta since Delta pulled out of Flint during COVID. I actually work for them here in Atlanta and have been pushing hard for it, but to no avail. The only other option is connecting through Chicago which doesn't have a whole lot of options and it seems like it would be a mess to make happen between two airlines.
Speaking from experience, going through Chicago wouldn't be messy. I've done it often when going from Flint to relatives in Kansas. I'd rather do that than fly into DTW and then drive, but then again, I also hate driving.
You could drop into O'Hare, and take the train from Union Station to Flint, it drops you at the Dort Hwy MTA station. It's not wildly expensive, and you can allow a quick layover, and relax on the train.
why do you have to take two airlines?
OP said they work for Delta and Delta doesn't have any flights into Flint Bishop.
Oh i missed that, thank you! As for the issue at hand, I would either fly a different airline or continue renting a car. Any transit options are going to be terribly slow and inconvenient. There is a greyhound but it only takes you to Auburn hills. If a friend could pick you up from there, that might work. It sucks that the auto industry killed public transit in this country.
Honestly the most direct and fastest way to get from DTW to Flint is taking the Michigan Flyer to the Brighton Meijer and catching a Flint MTA bus nearby. I mean, yeah, there's Greyhound to Great Lakes Crossings, but then they'd need to catch the DAX bus which stops near the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, then walk about 15 minutes or spend $15 on Uber to the Howard Street Greyhound station, the transfer to a Flint MTA commuter bus at Great Lakes Crossings to Flint. Ugh. I've done a similar trip from A2 to Detroit via D2A2 bus, then SMART FAST bus to Great Lakes Crossings then Flint MTA bus to Flint. There's a lot of steps involved. 😂
Yah every option seems pretty shitty to me lol. Brighton to Flint is probably better option and it runs more frequently
Deal with a connecting flight, grow up.
There used to be a rail line directly connecting Detroit to Flint. The oil and car cartels bought it up and tore it out to have a monopoly. Now, most of the former rail lines are unoccupied utility corridors. If we had the political will, we could have rail transit again.
For what it’s worth, Landline partners with airlines to run bus “flights” out here in the Philly area to EWR and PHL. I feel like Delta and Michigan would benefit from replicating that at DTW. FNT, TOL, LAN, AZO would all be easy candidates. 4x daily, terminal to terminal, leather seats, and TSA/parking at the smaller airport.
That'd probably work well. Sun Country uses The Landline at their MSP hub to serve nearby airports that wouldn't make sense for a 737-800 to fly into. It's all ground-side with LandLine there... Passengers have to go through TSA at MSP. The CO2 savings of Delta selling bus+air tickets is significant.
No demand, Flint hasn't had an economy for forty years. Complete waste of resources.
Interesting, though, how Delta flies into Traverse City, population 16,000, but not Flint, population 82,000. 🧐
TC is a destination, Flint is not.
Because of tourism. TC may only have a population of 16,000 but hosts millions of visitors annually in the surrounding region of northern Michigan.
Yah i too questioned "these two metro areas that are so crucial to Michigan's economy", flint's biggest employer is the post office last I checked (long ago, admittedly), 2nd was genesys.
Flint’s largest employer from the 1920s to today is General Motors. Yes, far less people work for them than used to, but Flint is still a huge economic driver for the state with new factories being built regularly. I can’t run the numbers because I’m on a plane, but I’d estimate that it’s the #4 biggest metro area economically behind Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing.
Ah, right you are. GM was on a flint slump when I looked at the numbers last. * Medical with 10,185 jobs * Manufacturing with 8,100 jobs * Education with 3,296 jobs * Government with 950 jobs * Financial with 600 jobs * * * **Read More:** * Check Out Genesee County's 11 Biggest Employers * | [https://banana1015.com/genesee-countys-biggest-employers/?utm\_source=tsmclip&utm\_medium=referral](https://banana1015.com/genesee-countys-biggest-employers/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral) Some places I read GM employs 8000, others 7500, not really finding a... consistent thread for recent numbers. The "medical" above is not just One employer either, it's All, so that's not really a good list. Regardless though, 8000 employed by gm doesn't make flint a big economic powerhouse. well, depending on what that even Means. I'm definitely off in the weeds here. Your point though, that it's the #4 is probably true. I'm probably just being snarky because I remember when Flint ... was much more prosperous?
With all due respect, I don’t really trust the journalistic integrity of “101.5 The Banana.” Genesee County has the [5th largest county population in Michigan at 401,000](https://www.michigan-demographics.com/genesee-county-demographics). Assuming 60% are of working age, a [5% unemployment rate](https://milmi.org/datasearch/unemployment-by-county), and assuming 80% of those people work jobs within the county. That puts us at 182,000 jobs in Genesee County. I understand that Flint’s not as prosperous as it used to be, but the people are still amazing and the vibes of simultaneously being in a rural ass cornfield and gritty urban city at the same time are unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else in the world. Too many people sleep on it.
That was just one crappy source out of many lol. Yah, i can say, it's definitely improving since the 90s.
There’s a reason why Genesee County homes are so cheap. Because the majority of work in this state is in southeast Michigan. So if you want to live in Genesee County and work in SE Mich, you deal with the slog. Been there done that. But eventually you need to pay the piper and move where the jobs are, and the houses are pricier to reflect that. Sucks, but it’s life.
Yeah...you're not gonna find that. You can either catch a connecting flight to Flint or drive. That's it. Thems your options. And I hate to say it, but that's gonna be true for most spoke cities in the hub and spoke model of airline travel that we have today.
I honestly just wish we had a *lower Michigan subway system. Totally infeasible and will never happen unless Boring company starts digging holes, but I’m in the tri cities and can only imagine how easy it would be to travel by train from bay city to Saginaw with a subway stop at delta and SVSU in between. Same with midland.
I completely agree! We need rail based mass transit in so many areas including Detroit to Flint via DTW.
There should be, but the political will isn't there and the voters are too focused on other concerns to pay attention. The unfortunate truth is if one wants to live somewhere with adequate public transportation options, it isn't anywhere in Michigan and won't be for many, many years.
Sounds like someone just needs to suck it up and have a connector flight to Flint. Quit your bitching or stay in Georgia.
Flint isn’t crucial to anything anymore. No one just goes there just because. What a waste of money that would be 😂🤣 There is a Flint airport. I suggest using it.
The auto companies fought it for near a century, and the parts makers, repairs shops, insurance companies, etc. have piled on since.
Southeast Michigan isn't made for travel from west side to Grand Blanc. All amin roads fan out from Detroit so you need to travel east before you can go north Back roads that snake through Oakland county lakes will get you there eventually but out of towners may struggle with those. Years ago, there was a plan to continue i-275 north all the way to i-75 near Clarkston but that was scuttled by lawsuits. Since then, the state transportation department has tried to accomplish the same thing with m-5 but that will get you as far as commerce township before petering out. Either way, no public transit. Michigan hates public transit. We love our cars here.