They turned on their porchlights to signal the bus to pick them up for the ride to work at the Chrysler plant in Highland Park. In 1939 nine Westacres residents bought a used bus to share the cost of commuting to work. They formed the Westacres Chrysler Employee Transportation Association (WACETA) which grew to 25 workers paying dues for the purchase and operation of a series of buses over the years. They issued stock, elected officials, and shared maintenance and driving duties. Over its 50 years, this program gained national attention as America’s longest-running, privately-funded ride share program.

The West Bloomfield Trail was once a railbed of the Grand Trunk Railroad, built through the region in the 1880s to serve far-flung agriculture and industry. A mile down from here, where the trail passes Cass Lake Road, the trail meets the trace of a light rail electric trolley track that was built in 1899. It served communities from Pontiac through Farmington to Detroit, and later became part of the larger Detroit United Railway (DUR). Your journey through history on the trail follows the route of the trolley track and the Grand Trunk rail, running side-by-side, as far as Orchard Lake Road.

Railroad locomotives thundered through this countryside for more than 130 years. The Michigan Air Line Railway was completed in 1884, a branch of the historic Grand Trunk Railway that became a vital shipping network between manufacturing centers of the automotive industry in lower Michigan. As this railway was later abandoned, the rails were torn up and the quiet natural corridor preserved. The West Bloomfield Trail is a 6.83 mile-long portion of the old railway offering remarkable interaction with nature while it enriches the community.