Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority
public transit operator in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA
The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA), branded as TheRide, is the public transit system serving the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area in the U.S. state of Michigan. In fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 – October 2024), the system had a ridership of 5,170,030.
History
Predecessors
Bus service in Ann Arbor began in 1925, when streetcars of the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Street Railway were replaced by buses. Multiple privately owned bus companies in Ann Arbor faced financial difficulties beginning in the late 1940s. Great Lakes Greyhound ended its Ann Arbor services in 1957, and its successors faced financial ruin. St. John Transportation Company of Dayton, Ohio began service in 1968, with a guaranteed subsidy from the city. Even with its subsidy, St. John's costs proved higher than expected, and it ceased operations in January 1969.
In 1969, the city of Ann Arbor directed the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority to purchase and run its own buses.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority” is public transit operator in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Arbor, Area and Transportation, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “public transit operator in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4766233. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2024, 2023, 1925 and 1957.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority primary sources, Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority archive and Arbor research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.