The University of Michigan is launching a new shuttle service that will take students and staff to Detroit Fridays and Saturdays free of charge.



U-M is beginning a free shuttle service to Detroit.

The MDetroit Center Connector will begin making runs between Detroit and Ann Arbor on Oct. 5.

The shuttle will take students and staff to U-M's Detroit Center, on the corner of Woodward Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It will also drop them off downtown, at the city's Cultural Center, Eastern Market and Southwest Detroit.

The connector is receiving its pilot funding from the Third Century Fund, U-M's $50 million internal grant campaign.

"The university's ties to Detroit run deep, but until now, there have been few options for a reliable transit system connecting us," Addell Austin Anderson, director of U-M's Detroit Center and co-director of the MDetroit Center Connector, said in a release. "Our aim is not to become a full-scale transit provider, but to better facilitate and advance learning and engagement with the city, as well as to deepen relationships between Detroit and the U-M community."

Organizers are also exploring the idea of eventually expanding the service to allow residents of Detroit to visit Ann Arbor.

The shuttle will make four runs to Detroit and back to Ann Arbor on Fridays and five on Saturdays, leaving as early as 8 a.m. and returning from Detroit as late as 11 p.m.

Check out the full schedule.

Staff from the Detroit Center began surveying U-M students and faculty about the need for a connecter in February. They found that the majority of the 300 survey respondents would be more likely to visit Detroit and engage in cultural and social activities there if they had easy access to transportation.

Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for the Ann Arbor News. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@mlive.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.