Route 5, the Packard bus, runs every 15 minutes during the day between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, with more frequent service during rush hours. Some routes (the 5B and 5C) terminate at the Meijer on Carpenter Road instead of going all the way to Ypsi, and the 5D cuts off a corner of the route for faster though not more frequent service to remote destinations.
From Ypsilanti, here's where the bus goes:
Major stops
- Ann Arbor District Library - Main Branch
- Ann Arbor District Library - Malletts Creek Branch
- Ann Arbor Main St. Area
- Blake Transit Center
- Catholic Social Services
- Colonial Square Co-op
- Downtown Ypsilanti
- Eastern Michigan University
- Estabrook School
- Evergreen Pointe Apts.
- Forest Hills Co-op
- Georgetown Mall
- Jewish Community Center
- Meijer (Carpenter Rd.)
- McKenny Union
- U of M Institute for Social Research
- U of M West Quad
- University Townhouses Cooperative
- Ypsilanti High School
- Ypsilanti Transit Center
Literary history
Ok, this is a fun thing: the Academy of American Poets recently created a map of 31 treasured literary landmarks in the the United States.
Number 19 on the list, as you can see, is "Robert Hayden's bus route, Ann Arbor, MI." They don't provide more info on the site, but the Ann Arbor News did a piece on August 6:
"With eyesight too poor for driving, Hayden often rode the bus from the corner of State and William Streets to Packard and Gardner Streets, then walked the short distance to his home ... AATA Route 5 played a humble but important supportive role in his later career."
So your bus route has been memorialized ...
Hayden was consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress in his day -- that's the role that's now called U.S. poet laureate. I like his stuff a lot. His best-known piece is here: Those Winter Sundays.
Route map
The route, starting from the Blake Transit Center:
- William Street heading east
- right on Thompson Street, heading south
- stop at Thompson Street at Madison Street by West Quad
- left on Packard Street, heading southeast
- stop by Jimmy John's.
- stop by Packard Street at Wells Street. Get your knife sharpened at Arbor Vacuum .
- stop by Packard Street at Granger Avenue
- stop in front of Chia Shiang, near Morgan and York and Fraser's Pub.
- stop at the dead Georgetown Mall, no businesses left. Lots of dirt moving around though!
- south on Stone School Road
- east on Ellsworth Road; there's the Stone School Plaza with an Ahmo's, and a Thai restaurant at the corner
- north on Platt Road
- east on Packard Road
- stop at Packard Road at Carpenter Road for a White Castle slider
Route maps
- Route 5 page at the AAATA
- Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor map (pdf)
- Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti (pdf)
