While Hillsdale welcomes visitors from across the nation, the college has a problem: the drive from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, which is at least an hour and a half.
Leonard Smith says he offers a solution with his 11-passenger van and his new business, Curb to Curb Shuttle Service.
Curb to Curb services the Hillsdale, Jonesville, and Coldwater areas. Smith said the service runs primarily from those locations to Toledo and Detroit, although he occasionally drives to Kalamazoo and Cleveland as well.
“It’s called Curb to Curb because I will pick people up at the curb where they live and then drop them off and they just have to walk in. There’s no having to run or do anything, it’s just very simple,” Smith said.
With nearly 50 years of experience in the automotive industry, most recently at Stillwell Ford in Hillsdale, Smith decided to start his own shuttle business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I started thinking about what I might be able to do, as a retired gentleman, to look at some extra income,” Smith said.
He purchased an 11-passenger van and installed running boards and lettering on the vehicle.
“That way, while I was out and about, it would basically be its own billboard going down the road, so it helped with trying to get some advertising done,” Smith said.
He has recently extended his service to visitors and students of Hillsdale College. The company has business cards at the Dow Hotel.
“When I was working with the car dealers, I believe Amy Coney Barrett had come in for a speech, they had me pick her up at the airport. And I brought her here,” Smith said. “That’s basically how I started getting the thought in my mind to work with the college.”
Hillsdale College already offers a shuttle service for students looking to get to the airport, and charges $55 for a one-way ride between the college and the airport.
Junior Jack Little has used the college’s shuttle service frequently in his two years at Hillsdale College, and has been pleased with the service.
“It’s a pretty easy-to-use process. They pick you up from the door by baggage claim at the airport, and then they bring you to a hotel which is kind of their staging ground, and then you go from there, once enough people are collected,” Little said. “They’ve been running it for quite a long time now, in a rural area. I think they’ve got it down, probably the best that any kind of logistical transportation thing can be nailed down.”
The college’s shuttle service to the airport is available only to students, and not their parents or other visitors. Smith’s service is available for both students and visitors.
Smith’s service from the Detroit airport to the Dow Hotel costs $110 for a one-way ride, and he prefers to get 30-60 days’ notice, since most customers purchase airline tickets then.
“I do have some people that give me 48 hours notice, when things have changed and they have a situation that they couldn’t help,” Smith said.
Although Smith is currently available by appointment only, he hopes to eventually establish set times during the morning and afternoon when he’ll be driving to Detroit.
