Oakland County uses state grant to launch test of free small-bus service for military vets

Free Press staff
·2 min read
Small SMART buses like this will be used in a summer-long test in Oakland County offering free rides to military veterans, their care givers, and their widows and widowers. The bus shown here was at a career fair in Pontiac in June 2023.
Small SMART buses like this will be used in a summer-long test in Oakland County offering free rides to military veterans, their care givers, and their widows and widowers. The bus shown here was at a career fair in Pontiac in June 2023.

Starting on June 1, military veterans in Oakland County will get free rides to where they need to go this summer.

Oakland County, in collaboration with the regional SMART bus system, plans to launch a free door-to-door bus service for veterans, as well as for the personal-care assistants, widows and widowers of veterans, the county announced on Thursday. To schedule a trip, call 248-419-7984. To ride, veterans should possess a veterans ID card from the Oakland County Clerk's Office, or a veterans designation on their driver's license, or their DD214 discharge certificate.

Billed as a “pilot program,” the service will be tested through Aug. 31 “or until the allocated funds are exhausted,” said a county news release. It will be offered on weekdays, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The county has set aside $28,000 for the program, using money from a state grant, said Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter.

“This service is a small way that we can honor the huge sacrifice our veterans have made for all of us,” County Executive Dave Coulter said. The goal is for the service to help veterans and their family members get to medical appointments as well as summer socializing “without worrying about the financial cost of transportation,” Coulter said.

The pilot program for veterans earned praise from Larry Obrecht, who as an Oakland County Commissioner from Lake Orion in the 1990s helped to found two local small-bus services – the North Oakland Transportation Authority and the Western Oakland Transportation Authority, known as NOTA and WOTA, both of which are likely to assist SMART with veterans transit in their areas. Obrecht said he expected the program to be a success and to fill a key need for veterans.

“I’m real big on helping our veterans,” he said, adding: “We do a lot of free things for people in America. It’s a good thing to help the people who keep us free.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: No car? It happens to military vets, but Oakland County has an answer