Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert wants to see the federal government fund expanded mass transit around Southeast Michigan.

Doing so could help further the efforts of Detroit and the broader region to attract talent, Gilbert said Thursday morning during an event at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham hosted by the Detroit Free Press. To that end, the mostly privately funded, 6-year-old QLine streetcar that runs along Woodward Avenue could serve as an example that a wide array of parties can work together in the region to get things done.


“The more groups that get behind doing a regional system would [[increase) the chances of the feds funding it,” Gilbert said during the sold-out event. “And just think about how great that would be if you have lines going to [[Detroit) Metro Airport, up Woodward all the way to Pontiac and then going west and going east. It would be unreal. It would be a different city.”


Ridership on the QLine — a 6.6-mile loop between Congress Street downtown and West Grand Boulevard in the New Center area — has been increasing, growing 62% year-over-year, as Crain’s reported in September.


Critics have long contended that the streetcar fails to provide the necessary mass transit viewed as needed throughout the region, and something that sets metro Detroit apart from other major metros in the U.S. with unified systems. While the various transportation systems in Southeast Michigan have been growing and adding service in recent months, the region remains far from having a unified transit infrastructure.


But doing so is critical, according to Gilbert, the founder and chairman of Detroit-based Rocket Companies Inc. [[NYSE: RKT), the umbrella company for Rocket Mortgage and a host of other consumer finance and real estate companies. Gilbert was blunt in his analysis Thursday that expanded transit service was just one of many items needed for the city of Detroit and the broader region to attract talented workers.


The millennial and younger generations “brag” about not having to own a car, Gilbert contended, and ensuring they can do so here is necessary for the region’s economic development effort.


“We've got to be in the game,” Gilbert said. “We weren't in the game for decades — we lost decades. You guys probably all have children or brothers or sisters or relatives that moved to different cities. I think it's become a badge of honor for some parents to brag that their kid is in New York or Chicago. We’ve got to change that.”


Conditions to attract workers from elsewhere while also keeping some of the young people who grow up in the state have improved, the businessman argued. He largely pointed to many of his own efforts through his real estate company Bedrock LLC to reinvigorate downtown Detroit.
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/transp...d-mass-transit