Clinton Township Adds SMART Bus Hours for Seniors, Special Needs Residents

Responding to a growing need in the community, Clinton Township is expanding its SMART bus service for senior, disabled and special needs residents. 

The SMART program currently operates three buses, five days per week, eight hours each day. The Clinton Township board of trustees voted Oct. 9 to expand the program’s service hours to eleven hours per day for each bus.

As part of the increased service, one bus will be dedicated solely the transportation of Clinton Township residents who attend the Macomb Academy, a charter school for developmentally disabled adults, ages 18-26.

The program’s extended hours will allow this bus to transport the students to and from school without affecting the service available to senior and disabled residents of the township.

The expansion of service hours, which will cost approximately $18,375, will be 100 percent funded by SMART Municipal/Community Credits and Specialized Service dollars allocated to Clinton Township. These dollars will also cover the additional $3,000 for maintenance/gas and $9,235 for dispatch hours. 

No general fund dollars will be used for this expansion.

The SMART Transportation Committee, which includes Treasurer Bill Sowerby, Trustee Joie West, Senior Center Director Matt Makowski, Assistant Director Debbie McClellan and Macomb County ombudsman for SMART Fred Barbret, said it is “confident that dollars allocated to the program for 2012-13 and previous years unspent allocations will cover necessary expanded expenses.”

“We’ve had a longstanding relationship with the township,” Barbret said. “There’s an increased demand and there’s an opportunity to serve residents and local agencies here. I think it’s a great opportunity here to allow us to serve other folks as well and free up some resources.”