FIVE POINTS
The Five Points bus line was a lesser known DSR route which operated along
the city's far west border — in the far northwest corner of the city.  Five Points
Street actually serves as the boundary road between the City of Detroit and
Redford Township.  The bus route began on October 5, 1941, and continued on
as a
DSR bus line for nearly twenty years.

The original
Five Points route began at Grand River and Lahser, and traveled
via Redford, north on Lahser, west on Seven Mile, north on Five Points to Eight
Mile; and returned via east on Eight Mile, and south on Lahser back to Grand
River.  Both service and ridership on the line were light, with headways
scheduled at 15 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes during the midday
hours.

Effective on June 19, 1951, the
Five Points line replaced a portion of the Six
Mile
(McNichols) Shuttle, and was extended along McNichols to the Glenhurst
Golf Course
(just past the western city limits).  Headways on the Five Points–
Six Mile Shuttle
averaged 20 minutes during peak hours and 40 minutes
during off-peak hours.  However, beginning Oct. 2, 1953, the
Six Mile service
was discontinued and the route was cut back to McNichols and Lahser Road,
and now looped via Lahser, Argus, Rockdale to McNichols.  Effective May 1,
1955, the Sunday service on the
Five Points line, along with nine other bus
routes, was discontinued due to "little demand" on that day of the week.

On average, two to three coaches serviced the route during peak hours, while
only one coach operated during the base. During the 1950s, the 31-passenger
Ford, Transit and Checker coaches were used to service the line, which was
assigned out of the
Coolidge Terminal.


The
Five Points line would continue in operation until the route was
discontinued on April 1, 1960.  The Lahser and Eight Mile portions of the route
were replaced by the new
Eight Mile West line.  The portion of the route which
operated along Five Points was only serviced during the weekday morning and
evening rush hours.  A branch extension of the
Grand River Express line would
begin at Eight Mile and Five Points, and operate via Five Points to Grand River.
From there the express coaches would continue along their route into
downtown.
Information for the above article compiled from data info supplied by Jack E. Schramm, courtesy of  "DSR BUS ROUTES, 1932-1945"
(
"Detroit's DSR, Part 2" -- March-April 1992 edition of Motor Coach Age magazine), and "DSR BUS ROUTES, 1945-1975" ("Detroit's
DSR, Part 3"
-- May-June 1993 edition of Motor Coach Age magazine), and also from the 1957-58 and 1963 DSR Service Maps in the
author's possession. The 1959 Five Points transfer is courtesy of the Stan Sycko transfer collection.

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