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In recent articles, Hertel is quoted as saying that there will be a bill introduced in the state legislature and signed by Granholm in regards to creating the regional transit authority by the end of the year. The reason for rushing the plan through would be so the region could be under the next reinstatement of the national transportation bill. Has anyone heard anything on this? Hopefully it will get through before the legislature ends for the year.
Please god, let this happen. If the tri-county area & state knows what's good for it, combining SMART, DDOT, and other local transit authorities into one larger body is the best thing it could do.
Been paying attention to the pace of progress in Lansing? It's a miracle if anything gets done up there these days.
Q: Why don't politicians look out the window in the morning in Lansing?Quote:
Originally Posted by Novine
A: Because then they'd have nothing to do all afternoon.
I had to share this for all of the light rail haters.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13896363
I find it ironic that most of the people here who people hate on the idea of light rail are right-wing. And yet, in right-wing-friendly areas like SLC, they build light rail no problem, consider it a crowning success.Quote:
Originally Posted by Novine
I don't think any of us are "haters", but some are more about how the light rail and/or commuter rail projects are going to get paid. But in the end, it really does pay for itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Novine
Yet those same people never question how roadwork is paid for. They're under the illusion that the gas tax covers all the costs of building roads, which, if that were the case, wouldn't that imply there wouldn't be any sort of backlog of roadwork to be performed?Quote:
Originally Posted by dtowncitylover
RTA WILL NOT HAPPEN! Too much bureaucracy and economic red tape.
This isn't 1989. It's 2009. Those arguements are archaic. A RTA must happen in order to more cost-effective and if we want to become a better region. I think politicians and us citizens are realizing this, though mass transit probably isn't on the average person's mind daily.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny
A one percent three county sales tax for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County is proposed. One half percent for the county road commission and another one half percent for the NEW Regional Transit Authority is what is wanted by transit tax advocates.
Is this what you DY’ers want?
Sure go ahead and make my day and pay this for my bus ride and my road. Let’s all share the costs.
And then next year maybe Santa’s elves will make us new buses, so the SEMCOG / MDOT Multi Billion Dollar freeways can then be built in 2011 with the money that used to pay for SMART in Livonia.
That’s the purpose of the SMART Tax nest August 2010
Learn all the facts in Trainman's save the... in DETROIT LINKS
TRAX's starter line was 15-miles with 16-stops. Ours is 3.4-miles with 12 stops. Can we expect the similar success of TRAX? no
The starter line would have to extend to Pontiac which probably won't happen as long as L. Brooks Patterson is still Oakland County Executive.Quote:
Originally Posted by Russix
Different system with different purposes. I dont think light-rail can fufill our suburban commuting needs... commuter rail is better. Light-rail is best with stations close together, fequent trips [[every 5-7 min?), and high speeds. I think the station spacing proposed for woodward is good. It'll be successfulQuote:
Originally Posted by Russix
As much as I'm still of the belief that a regional authority will happen sooner than later, simply because the region simply can't get any worse as far as regional cooperation is concerned, the disbelief by some of this happening is not unfounded, and it's definitely no archaic. Does no one remember how this very decade DARTA was killed? It could definitely happen, again, but god I hope not.Quote:
Originally Posted by dtowncitylover
Whether the region gets light rail or not, DARTA [[or a DARTA-equivalent) is an absolute necessity for the long-term health of the region. I do think we're in a better position than 1989 and even the early 2000's when DARTA was killed. I think the ultimate outcome of the Cobo regional authority shows that things are changing, if even begrudgingly, because Detroit has no where else to go; there is no longer any place left to hide from our social and economic malaise.
Detroit as a city has backed itself into a corner, and it's taken years to get to this point. The condition and prospects for the city are so dire at this point, that regionalizing many of the city's services will be the only option if Detroit expects to save itself from receivership and an eventual breakup into smaller cities- which would probably save many of the better parts of the city from eventual destruction.
Regionalizing transit, police, fire, parks, schools, libraries, etc, is the only way it's going to make it. Miami-Dade county realized this early on, and while not ideal, consolidates costs and keeps everything pretty much covered.
As a veteran mass-transit user in the suburbs, it's absolutely unbelievable to me that there are two separate bus systems here. I remember trying to figure out a bus transfer schedule to Wyandotte from my current location [[Eastpointe) and realizing that it would take either three buses and a bicycle ride or four buses just to get from point A to point B. And this is without even having the benefit of a rapid transit service as one of the transfers.
There really needs to be a regional transit authority, even if it is just to get bus routes slightly normalized.
It falls back on all my other arguments:
1. Is it Detroit [[ in this case Michigan )
2. Does it make sense?
If 1 and 2 both apply, said issue will never happen.
In order for this RTA to happen government ,bureaucracy and the use of regional tax dollars must be set up. It's going to LONG, LONG, LONG time for serveral paperwork to go through sevaral cubicle offices. DARTA tried its best to bring mass transit to the Metro-Detroit Area but it failed through fare costs. DARTA IS DEAD and so will the RTA if the politicians and bureaucrats don't see the results.Quote:
Originally Posted by dtowncitylover
As long as the Governor and local politicians are controlled by the union we will never see a regional transit authority. I think Granholm is going to ride on our assumptions until she leaves office in 2011 and continue to lead us on by false promises.