[3] The RTA owns and operates the QLINE, a streetcar system serving the Downtown, Midtown, and New Center areas of the city of Detroit.

It runs every 60-90 minutes from 3:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, serving Downtown Detroit via a stop on Washington Boulevard near the Rosa Parks Transit Center.

A single ride on either route costs $6 when reserved online in advance, or $8 when purchased onboard; for frequent commuters, a pack of 50 tickets for is available for $100.

RefleX was a limited-stop bus service on Woodward and Gratiot Avenues, connecting Detroit with suburbs in Oakland and Macomb counties.

[11] On December 7, 1988, Public Act 204 was amended to restructure SEMTA, reducing the service area from seven counties to three, and excluding the city of Detroit.

To continue limited coordination and development of services between DDOT and SMART, however, regional leaders representing the three-county area and Detroit filed articles of incorporation to form the Regional Transit Coordinating Council on January 12, 1989.

From 2016 to 2018, the RTA coordinated RefleX, a limited-stop bus network connecting Downtown and Midtown Detroit with the region's northern suburbs.

In early 2015, the RTA retained Parsons Brinckerhoff and AECOM to study improved mass transit along the corridors of Gratiot and Michigan avenues.

The proposal passed in the counties of Wayne and Washtenaw, but very narrowly lost in Oakland and was defeated handily in Macomb.