Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute

**antongast** · February-01-15, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by SyGolden48236

Again, the choice to do what he does lies solely with Mr. Robertson. If he did not want to do what he does he could move closer to his job, find a job closer to his home, or simply not work and be a leech on society.

He is doing a good thing. Quit trying to make this an argument about the evil "man". The evil "capitalist boss". Nobody is forcing Mr. Robertson to do what he does.

Why don't you celebrate the man for having a good work ethic instead of trying to make this into something it is not? The only person whose opinion matters is Mr. Robertson. And he obviously doesn't have a problem doing what he needs to do to be a contributing and productive member of society.

In light of the fact that you're just posting the same words over and over again in a slightly different order, I guess my response is:

Originally Posted by antongast

He's working his ass off day after day, depriving himself of sleep and ruining his health, and he's still exactly where he started. Meanwhile the factory owner who only knows him as "that guy with the really good attendance record" is getting richer and richer year after year off James Robertson's work ethic and dedication.

I'm getting the strong impression that you find this response distasteful, but I don't understand why you think it's incorrect. I don't dispute that he's not being forced to work this job, and I don't dispute that he has a good work ethic. I'm pointing out that his choices and his work ethic appear to be enriching the factory owner and not him. Your responses give me no reason to believe that I'm wrong about this.

**morebread** · February-01-15, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by antongast

He's working his ass off day after day, depriving himself of sleep and ruining his health, and he's still exactly where he started. Meanwhile the factory owner who only knows him as "that guy with the really good attendance record" is getting richer and richer year after year off James Robertson's work ethic and dedication.

^^^this^^^

**noise** · February-01-15, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by antongast

In light of the fact that you're just posting the same words over and over again in a slightly different order, I guess my response is:

I'm getting the strong impression that you find this response distasteful, but I don't understand why you think it's incorrect. I don't dispute that he's not being forced to work this job, and I don't dispute that he has a good work ethic. I'm pointing out that his choices and his work ethic appear to be enriching the factory owner and not him. Your responses give me no reason to believe that I'm wrong about this.

Do you know the business owner? How are you certain he's getting rich?

Hey, maybe the owner started at the company sweeping the floors, worked hard to save his money earning minimum wage, and was able to buy it and have a chance at being successful!

**Johnnny5** · February-01-15, 10:31 PM

Even though there's a foot of fresh snow on the ground I think Mr.James Robertson is going to be a very happy man tomorrow morning while he makes his trek to work. The GoFundMe account set up for him is up to $36,000 and quickly climbing! That's nearly 2 years salary for him at $10.55 per hour.

**old guy** · February-01-15, 10:50 PM

Good for him. Perseverance pays out. Tough way to do it, but..... hey. Life is funny, kind of.

**chicagoforlife** · February-01-15, 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan

Damn, that's some hardcore dedication. Is there really no bus running down Woodward south of 8 Mile?

I believe that DDOT only runs until 1:00.

**Wesley Mouch** · February-02-15, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by noise

Do you know the business owner? How are you certain he's getting rich?

Hey, maybe the owner started at the company sweeping the floors, worked hard to save his money earning minimum wage, and was able to buy it and have a chance at being successful!

Prejudice against businesses is just as bad as racial prejudice. Its judging without basis.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · February-02-15, 01:20 AM

Originally Posted by antongast

He's working his ass off day after day, depriving himself of sleep and ruining his health, and he's still exactly where he started. Meanwhile the factory owner who only knows him as "that guy with the really good attendance record" is getting richer and richer year after year off James Robertson's work ethic and dedication.

I agree. If the owner of the company was any type REAL person who actually cared, he would have helped him purchase a car by now. It's nice that his wife cooks him dinner every day, but he needs a way to get to work. These companies use to show loyalty to their workers, especially one that has never missed a day of work. This is ridiculous man. And for those that didn't read the article, it said that he stays with his girlfriend who inherited the house they live in, so at this point why move closer to his job, when the house is probably paid for.

**Gpwrangler** · February-02-15, 06:22 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

I agree. If the owner of the company was any type REAL person who actually cared, he would have helped him purchase a car by now. It's nice that his wife cooks him dinner every day, but he needs a way to get to work. These companies use to show loyalty to their workers, especially one that has never missed a day of work. This is ridiculous man. And for those that didn't read the article, it said that he stays with his girlfriend who inherited the house they live in, so at this point why move closer to his job, when the house is probably paid for.

I wouldn't automatically assume the owners of this place are bad people. It's a small shop that survived the automotive downturn and the guys I knew from there were long timers.

I knew people who walked miles to the bus when they lost their license. I did it for awhile in college when my transmission went out [[worked full time also). Back then there was no bike rack on the bus and it was crazy to ride in traffic anyway. Lots of possible reasons. I'd rule those out before calling a mom and pop mold shop "evil capitalists"

**Pam** · February-02-15, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

I agree. If the owner of the company was any type REAL person who actually cared, he would have helped him purchase a car by now. It's nice that his wife cooks him dinner every day, but he needs a way to get to work. These companies use to show loyalty to their workers, especially one that has never missed a day of work. This is ridiculous man. .

Yes. As I said before one of the managers could at least pick him up from the bus stop. Sheesh. People working on that little sleep are a safety hazard. He could injure himself on the job or make a mistake, so it's also in the interest of the business to do something for him.

I wonder what his starting wage was if he is still earning so little after 10 years? I doubt the place would go bankrupt if they bumped him up to 12 or 13 bucks an hour.

**Dbest** · February-02-15, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by Gpwrangler

I'd rule those out before calling a mom and pop mold shop "evil capitalists"

Based on the context of the article why would I assume anything different? It's the same disconnect that exists at much larger corporations. The story says that co-workers felt bad for the man and had talked about helping him get a car. Sounds great for morale!

This reminds me of Wal Mart taking holiday donations for their own workers instead of, um, giving a gift card[[holiday bonus) to all their workers maybe?

I hope I didn't hurt any "businesses" feelings with my post.... If so, I'll give "business" a call tomorrow and apologize, okay Wes?

**Danny** · February-02-15, 10:03 AM

Detroit is no New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, We are car making Motor city and people are driving cars more than taking D-DOTs and SMART buses. That is now Detroit and its suburbs prospered today. There is no way from me to take 21 miles from area to work in the middle of nowhere. I feel really sorry for James Robertson that he has to talk either D-DOT or SMART buses from his area that lead him somewhere in Troy and then walk extra miles. Hopefully he would get a car or find some other form of transportation to his workplace. If the city James works in opt in SMART buses, then getting to work will be a breeze. However most suburbs don't want to messy workers or strange visitors from the ghetto to fool around in their peace and quite homes and businesses.

**professorscott** · February-02-15, 10:13 AM

I concur with most of what Mr. Henderson said in today's Freep: this is an example of systemic failure, of the region's utter and dismal failure to provide a basic public service at a regional level. There are so many steps that have occurred along the path to failure that it would take all day to explain it thoroughly, but let me just highlight a few things.

1. 1920-1956: Detroit decides to put all of its infrastructure weight into roads [[then highways, then freeways) for automobiles, thinning out and then finally dismantling completely what had been one of North America's better streetcar systems.

2. 1930s-early 2000s: Every time Detroit has an opportunity to put mass transit back in some reasonable way, it rejects it.

3. 2000s-2012: Detroit catastrophically cuts back bus service; while the population has declined about 70% since the mid 1950s peak, bus service [[trips per day) has declined between 98% and 99%. Among the changes, and one directly impacting our protagonist, was the end of 24 hour service on all routes.

4. 2010-2012: SMART, facing staggering budget cuts because its money is based on real estate valuations, ends all service into Detroit except at peak hours.

We are getting what we are paying for, kids, and the article on which this thread is based is just spelling out one victim's horror story. There are at least tens of thousands of people whose lives are negatively impacted by this chronic, unending and utter failure. Buying a car for one person solves one person's problem.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · February-02-15, 10:38 AM

It's all good, I see there are still good people in this world, as they have donated more than $31,000 to Mr Robertson to help his plight.

**nain rouge** · February-02-15, 10:48 AM

For awhile I had to take SMART from 10 & Gratiot to about 12 1/2 & Southfield. You'd think I was commuting to Ohio. It took almost 2 hours each way, over 4 times as long it took by car.

And guess what? I did it for a few months. And no, I didn't feel like a shining example of the American work ethic. It just felt like I was living somewhere that was designed poorly.

What kills me about all this is people think mass transit is a waste of money, but good transit actually saves people a lot of money: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/livability/f...andhousing.cfm

"While living in a city is often perceived as expensive, living close to transit and being able to walk or take a bike makes up for much of the premium in housing costs. Comparing North Center Chicago with North Aurora, a Chicago exurb, shows that living further from the central city can actually be more expensive. While the average monthly transportation cost in North Center is $632, that cost jumps to $905 in Aurora. Although housing does cost more in the downtown area, the combined cost of housing and transportation for the average household income in Aurora is $2,954 more than the cost for the average household in downtown Chicago."

Americans, on average, spend more on transportation than food: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesan.nr0.htm .

Regions with better mass transit tend to have lower transportation costs: http://www.cnt.org/repository/2012-F...t-Rankings.pdf . I know from experience that Honolulu is very aggressive about public transportation, and so it comes as little surprise that it destroys all other medium metros for transportation costs.

**ghettopalmetto** · February-02-15, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Even though there's a foot of fresh snow on the ground I think Mr.James Robertson is going to be a very happy man tomorrow morning while he makes his trek to work. The GoFundMe account set up for him is up to $36,000 and quickly climbing! That's nearly 2 years salary for him at $10.55 per hour.

Sweet! Now Mr. Robertson will only have to pay for gas, insurance, tires, tune-ups, shocks, state registration fees, oil changes, wiper blades, etc. until he retires.

How generous.

**bailey** · February-02-15, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by professorscott

We are getting what we are paying for, kids, and the article on which this thread is based is just spelling out one victim's horror story. There are at least tens of thousands of people whose lives are negatively impacted by this chronic, unending and utter failure. Buying a car for one person solves one person's problem.

Ok, but are we to judge the system on this guy's rather odd commute? he commutes away from the city center at an off time and returns to it in the middle of the night. As someone up the thread noted, he'd have less of a nightmare commute if he worked a different shift.

Further, if the jobs are at M-59 and beyond in the exurbs and you're worried about making sure a swing shift guy can get there, is there ANY mass transit system that will ever efficiently service everyone and make even a little financial sense? It's mass transit, not door to door Uber. It's never going to fit all people. That's not a defense of the status quo... I'm just thinking that no matter how many times a day that bus runs, it's still not getting to some random industrial park in the exurbs faster or better than a car. There also needs to be a massive shifting of where the jobs are...and I don't see that ever happening.

**softailrider** · February-02-15, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto

Sweet! Now Mr. Robertson will only have to pay for gas, insurance, tires, tune-ups, shocks, state registration fees, oil changes, wiper blades, etc. until he retires.

How generous.

Fifty two thousand dollars more then anyone has givin me lately.

MAcc · February-02-15, 12:12 PM

Sorry to be a cynic, but this man is obviously mentally troubled. I don't see giving him a $30K+ check ending well. Anyone with average IQ would have moved to Pontiac ten years ago.

**nain rouge** · February-02-15, 12:32 PM

What's crazy is that even if he lived on the east side of Pontiac, it's questionable if the bus could get him to work at the times he needs. That said, at least the walk would be a lot shorter, probably closer to 6 miles.

**dtowncitylover** · February-02-15, 01:34 PM

I feel sorry for Mr. Robertson and his long commute. This is testament to our failed transportation policies. Just like our economy, we have failed to diversify.

I feel sorry for the people who gave because this is testament to the complete ineptness of Metro Detroiters have towards mass transit. They are willing to give a single commuter money to buy a car than to support a tax that could help all commuters, at least that has been the trend in the past.

This guy's commute has nothing to do about the American dream or American work ethic. He does have a work ethic, yes, but he would still have that same drive, no pun intended, if he had a car or reliable transit options. We have the freedom to live where we want and work where we want. He prefers to live in Detroit and work for this company. His commute, though, in any other major metro area would be supplemented better with transit than ours. I don't know any other metro area that allows their communities to "opt-out".

I hope the editorial that came out after this will resonate with people to foster a new spirit and willingness to bring effective, reliable transit options about, both with cars, public transit, bikes, etc.

**Gpwrangler** · February-02-15, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by ghettopalmetto

Sweet! Now Mr. Robertson will only have to pay for gas, insurance, tires, tune-ups, shocks, state registration fees, oil changes, wiper blades, etc. until he retires.

How generous.

With plenty of decent $4000 cars out there I could drive for 10 years on that 50 grand including insurance and gas and have money left over for a nice set of rims.

**canuck** · February-02-15, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by MAcc

Sorry to be a cynic, but this man is obviously mentally troubled. I don't see giving him a $30K+ check ending well. Anyone with average IQ would have moved to Pontiac ten years ago.

Ok maybe his synapses ain't superconctive, but his calves look like a tree trunk.

**RaumVogel** · February-02-15, 02:36 PM

This made the front page of Reddit.

**Wesley Mouch** · February-02-15, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by MAcc

Sorry to be a cynic, but this man is obviously mentally troubled. I don't see giving him a $30K+ check ending well. Anyone with average IQ would have moved to Pontiac ten years ago.

Pity Liberalism is a scourge. This may not end well. Nice intentions, but we don't really know the story. Those tossing cash his way could be doing a great thing. Or they might be destroying his happy life. We don't know.