Bus services

[Honky Tonk]

"If we had just a little awareness and freedom, we would challenge the automobile. But to take note of them harm done by progress is to begin to question the very foundations of our society and to hasten the transition to a different model of social life. Contesting the automobile is going terribly far. It is going against the opinion of fascinated humanity. Protecting the speed of cars is more important than saving people. The first minimal exercise of freedom would be to make cars a secondary accessory which is used only in exceptional circumstances. But modern people, fascinated and diverted, put things the other way around. They want to go out and they are back in their cars. They smash themselves up, thinking to grasp the reflection of happiness."
-Jacques Ellul

Sounds like another guy who couldn't get the hang of driving.

[dtowncitylover]

Sounds like another guy who couldn't get the hang of driving.

Ad hominem.

Luckily this isn't a prerequisite to a happy, meaningful life.

[casscorridor]

Stigmas aside, excellent bus services is hard to implement in Detroit because of the region's low population density and spread out employment. Buses almost exclusively serve low income people who can't drive because it's simply too inconvenient for everyone else.

Even attempts at high frequency services along the "spoke" avenues have mostly failed to attract riders. But again, it's too inconvenient because prospective riders don't plan their days visiting places along a single corridor. They might travel to many places scattered around the region, some of which are not accessible by transit and even if they were, it would take too long as compared to a car.

In cities where transit really thrives [[think New York, London, etc) driving actually tends to be inconvenient and more expensive.

[expatriate]

Ad hominem.

Luckily this isn't a prerequisite to a happy, meaningful life.

Unfortunately we have created an auto-dependent society where the price of even middle class citizenship is car ownership and we encourage its perpetuation by building even more suburban sprawl. Widening I-94 in Detroit only excerbates the problem and is a huge misallocation of resources.

[stasu1213]

Detroit had shuttle busses in the late 90s for lighter routes such as Hayes, California, Imperial, and East Vernor. These shuttles were also used during non peak hours on main routes such as Jefferson, Gratiot, Mack, Schoolcraft, etc after 7pm and throughout the night. Why don't DDOT reinstall those smaller bussed during after peak hours and light routes? DdOt would save a lot Olga's.