$30-million grant will improve DDOT, SMART service

[begingri]

WASHINGTON – A $30-million federal grant to support bus systems in metro Detroit was announced Thursday, with the funding to be split between the city of Detroit and the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation.

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, [[D-Bloomfield Township), was the first to announce the award Thursday under the Federal Transit Administration's State of Good Repair Program. He said the money will be used to buy replacement buses as well as renovate facilities and add on-board security cameras.

Further details about what the money will go to pay for – such as a specific number of buses – were not immediately available.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2012120719039

[JenniferL]

I hope SMART is able to go back to providing full service routes from Detroit to the suburbs and back. I don't like changing busses at the Fairgrounds!

[DetroitPlanner]

The $30 million is a capital grant. Both the capital and operations side of providing transit are woefully underfunded around here. I am glad they got the money, but it won't due much to improve service.

[trotwood]

I hope SMART is able to go back to providing full service routes from Detroit to the suburbs and back. I don't like changing busses at the Fairgrounds!

So do I. I hate having to change busses at the Fairgrounds!!

[Hermod]

The $30 million is a capital grant. Both the capital and operations side of providing transit are woefully underfunded around here. I am glad they got the money, but it won't due much to improve service.

The most successful transit systems in the world come close to meeting their operations costs out of the fare box. None can cope with capital costs. The least successful transit systems can only get 25% of their operating costs out of the fare box.

[Detroitnerd]

The most successful transit systems in the world come close to meeting their operations costs out of the fare box. None can cope with capital costs. The least successful transit systems can only get 25% of their operating costs out of the fare box.

Ah, that fare box again. You just can't resist promoting the "fare box fallacy" again?

Hermod, the most successful transit systems in the world are the ones that move the most people and create the most density, not the ones that approach profitability. Trying to just a transit system on its profitability is the wrong yardstick. It makes about as much sense as trying to figure out how profitable a water pipe under your street is, or how much profit is produced by a chair in a classroom.

And, as GP usually asks, how profitable are Michigan's roads? The gas taxes can't cover their maintenance right now, let alone the billions of dollars that will come due over the next 10-20 years. But, OK, you keep thinking about that "fare box."

[j to the jeremy]

Ah, that fare box again. You just can't resist promoting the "fare box fallacy" again?

Hermod, the most successful transit systems in the world are the ones that move the most people and create the most density, not the ones that approach profitability. Trying to just a transit system on its profitability is the wrong yardstick. It makes about as much sense as trying to figure out how profitable a water pipe under your street is, or how much profit is produced by a chair in a classroom.

And, as GP usually asks, how profitable are Michigan's roads? The gas taxes can't cover their maintenance right now, let alone the billions of dollars that will come due over the next 10-20 years. But, OK, you keep thinking about that "fare box."

A-thank you.

Still, the fact that DDOT and SMART jointly applied for funding is a step in the right direction for regionalism, albeit a VERY small step.

[cramerro]

The $30 million is a capital grant. Both the capital and operations side of providing transit are woefully underfunded around here. I am glad they got the money, but it won't due much to improve service.

DP - this is spot on. The grant is to purchase and rehab buses, install security cameras on both systems, and help with some other capital needs [[depending on how the awarded funds are doled out)... which will improve safety and reliability [[and may have some small positive effect on operating costs of the buses), but will not provide any additional funds to hire more drivers, etc to increase the amount of service being provided.

[Hypestyles]

... so $15 million to each system. I wonder will it even be publicly announced just what will the funds go for. bus maintenance/upgrades? replacing any outdated vehicles? Supplies for ongoing repairs? Stabilize the payroll fund?

[[just what are done with the mothballed buses? scrap yards?)

[cramerro]

... not necessarily a 50/50 split. Right now, DDOT gets 65% of our area's Federal Transit Administration funds, to SMART's 35%. The list of projects included in the joint application [[which totalled much more than the $30 Million awarded) are on the FTA's award list: http://www.fta.dot.gov/about/12322_14745.html