I will start off by saying that I have been a strong supporter of BRT since the Speedlink proposal was promoted by SEMCOG and TRU more than a decade ago. I would love to see a BRT system like the one proposed by Snyder and Bing come to fruition, but the proposal advocated by Bing and Snyder is simply not based on anything even close to reality, unlike the very realistic Woodward light rail proposal.

First off, the catalyst behind the Woodward light rail project was the M-1 initiative, which was a proposal for a completely privately-funded 3.4 mile light rail line on Woodward. As a result of this proposal, the Detroit/Michigan representatives in Washington went to the US Department of Transportation and asked if this private light rail funding could be considered as the required local funding component needed to qualify for matching federal grants under the "new starts" program. The US DOT approved the use of this private funding as the required local match, and agreed to kick in enough federal funds to extend the light rail line all the way up to 8 mile road.

Due to the private funding and federal matching, the city, county, and state governments would only have to contribute a very small amount of funding towards the construction of the Woodward light rail line. Depending on the final cost and the actual amount given by the private M1 backers, this would result in the total city/state government paying for 0% to 15% of the total construction cost, which is a very insignificant amount in terms of the city and state budget.

On April 11, 2011, the Detroit City Council approved the issuance of bonds to finance the construction of the Woodward light rail project. According to the approved proposal. the project had an estimated cost of $530 million, and would be funded by these sources:

-$60 million in capital grant revenue bonds backed by 5307 federal grant funds
-$25 million federal TIGER grant
-$100 million from the M-1 group
-$317 million from Federal New Starts 5703 grants
-$17 million from state match for 5307 grants
-$10 million from DDOT 5307 grant

http://www.detroitmi.gov/LinkClick.a...=3138&mid=4444

This official document assumes a conservative contribution of $100 million from the M1 group, even though most sources report $125 million as the amount that the M1 group has committed to. The $530 million dollar estimated cost is $20 million short of the most common estimate of $550 million so, at most, the city and state [[combined) could possibly be responsible for a total of $87-$92 million in investment costs. Due to the fact that the vast majority of this local funding is backed by federal bonds and funds, the actual annual outlay by the city and state governments would be fairly small.

Just for the sake of argument, let's imagine that the federal government would not back the $60 million in capital revenue bonds, and we had to produce the cash up front. Hell, let's say that we have to cut a check for the $17 million in matching state funds, and we have to produce $10 million in up-front cash to cover the DDOT grant as well...

Of course, this scenario is quite ridiculous, as long-term federal bonds don't have to be paid up-front, in full, but if they did, how could we afford to pay for them?

According to popular belief, there is no way that Detroit and Michigan could ever afford to come up with $87-$92 million to fund a major piece of transportation infrastructure that would serve us for decades to come. Considering the drastic decrease in tax revenues brought on by the great recession of 2008 and the near collapse of the auto industry, the prospects of this type of government investment seem completely unrealistic to most people.

In reality, this level of investment is completely realistic, and well within our current abilities. To put it in context, the state of Michigan gave away $95 million dollars in film tax credits in 2010, and nearly as much in 2009. After Snyder cut back this very generous film tax credit to $25 million a year, the industry basically left Michigan in favor of states offering more handouts.

I don't want to turn this thread into a debate about the validity of film tax credits, but it stands as a good example of the ridiculous amount of tax dollars that we are willing to give away in a pathetic attempt to pay "desirable" companies and industries to come to our dysfunctional state.

If we can afford to spend a couple hundred million dollars, during the worst economic crisis since the great depression, in a feeble attempt to lure the film industry to Michigan for a couple years, I don't want to hear any bullshit excuses about how we can't afford to spend a fraction of that to make a major transportation investment that will result in a huge benefit for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of metro Detroit residents for decades to come.