Relaunching SMART's Adopt-A-Stop Program

May 17, 2026 — Professional Efforts

A small flower bed next to a concrete walkway and a trash can. A bus is driving past the stop. — Adopt-A-Stop participants are invited to add personal flair to the bus stops they agree to maintain. (Pictured: 9 Mile / Church WB, adopted by Mr. & Mrs. Harris)

The Adopt-A-Stop program is a bus stop maintenance partnership between SMART and community volunteers modeled after similar efforts in Ann Arbor, Flint, and at numerous other transit agencies across the country. Originally started in 2017 by SMART’s Marketing & Communications team, the program is free and open to individuals, community organizations, and business owners across SMART’s fixed route service area.

Push brooms, snow shovels, trash grabbers, snow melt, glass cleaner, and several pre-stuffed drawstring bags on a shelf in a storage room — The staging rack inside the newly-rebuilt Adopt-A-Stop HQ (read: stockroom, but cool). Pre-built welcome kits stuffed with rolls of trash liners, work gloves, glass cleaner, and other goodies are ready to ship out when new applications roll in!

Adopt-A-Stop saw years of success before the pandemic and subsequent staffing changes forced its temporary suspension. In early 2025 I spearheaded efforts to formally restore the program as the acting coordinator, this time as a joint initiative between Marketing and SMART’s Planning & Scheduling team which complements the larger bus stop improvement project . Participant feedback is among the many factors which shape overall infrastructure upgrades.

Nine members of a local fraternity, all dressed in white, red, and black, pose with a pushbroom in front of their custom sign mounted to a bus stop pole — Members of the Gamma Chapter of Delta Phi Delta Dance Fraternity clean up a stop to celebrate Earth Day in April. View reel on Instagram (Full credit to Marketing & Communications for the media shoot!)

Participants submit a program application form outlining responsibilities and expectations, while SMART provides all necessary cleaning supplies. And the big draw? Each participant is recognized with a custom sign at their adopted bus stop.

An Adopt-A-Stop sign labeled "Your Name Here" — Want to get people wildly excited about bus stop maintenance? Give them their very own sign! Submit your name, your organization’s name, your business’s name, your pet’s name, your online handle… make it yours (subject to review and approval by yours truly, of course)

For more info and to view a map of all current participants, visit SMART’s Adopt-A-Stop program webpage . If you’re an agency staff member interested in the finer details of administering the program or lessons learned, please feel free to reach out through the email listed on the form. And if you’re a local rider, consider applying - we’d love to add your name to the map! 🚌