Detroit Bus Company Aims To Make Up For City's Transit Gaps With Private Enterprise

Bus riders in Detroit have not wanted for bad news in the last few months.

In November, drivers walked off the job to protest poor security. In a bid to save money in January, the city outsourced operations for the chronically mismanaged bus system to a private company. This month it confirmed that there will be route and service reductions starting next week.

Amid the glum news, however, one businessman said he hopes to turn the city's transit fortunes around with an unusual business model: a private jitney bus company to be called, simply, The Detroit Bus Company. Andy Didorosi, the entrepreneur behind the scheme, thinks he can have it up and running by April. Others are more skeptical.

"We're attempting to fix some Detroit transit issues in the best way we can," Didorosi said. "Our goal is just to roll the one bus to begin with and to learn. We know very little about running a transit company, and that is both a strength and a weakness."

The solitary first bus will run, he said, in a loop connecting downtown with some of Detroit's most popular -- and gentrifying -- neighborhoods. "We don't have a route in stone yet, or even in chalk," he said. "But the first route will likely be a greater downtown connector loop, drawing a circle connecting downtown, Corktown, Woodbridge, Midtown, Eastern Market, Greektown and back again."

Continued at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1297818.html

Yeah, good luck with that. What kind of pricing structure could possibly make this work? Each ride is $50?

I guess the private street car companies of yesteryear made it work, why not this bus company?

It doesn't say what type of bus, but there are 15 passenger Ford vans all over the place in NY, why not here?

Jump in, jump out.

Does Mr. Didorosi have any idea what bureaucratic hoops he will have to jump through in order to make the service legal, if he is going to charge a fare for the rides? Alternatively, if he isn't going to charge a fare, I'd love to see the business plan.

I'm not opposed to the idea at all, I just hope he's thought it through.

Without passing any kind of judgment on either enterprise, it is hard to imagine it will be easier to do this legally than it was to set up a food truck.

I'm very skeptical that he'll be able to legally pull this off...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by laphoque

I guess the private street car companies of yesteryear made it work, why not this bus company?

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The private street car companies weren't successful. The privately owned system was falling apart, and had to be taken over by the city and eventually became DDOT.

Even if this enterprise can legally get up-and-running, this guy is out of his mind if he thinks the average DDOT passholder will pony-up $10 a day for his unscheduled and limited service.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ndavies

The private street car companies weren't successful. The privately owned system was falling apart, and had to be taken over by the city and eventually became DDOT.

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No, the city refused to allow the DUR to raise fares for city service. The streetcar franchises were expiring and the city held the DUR hostage by not negotiating in good faith. The city then offered to buy [[confiscate) the city lines at a very low price. They had DUR over a barrel and DUR took the offer. The lines went to the city-owned DSR. The DSR then raised the fares to make the streetcar system economically viable [[for a time).

The DSR also raised the rates charged for the DUR suburban and interurban cars to reach downtown thus being one of the factors causing the demise of the DUR radial system reaching to Port Huron, Flint, Pontiac, Jackson, and Toledo.

I am not saying that the streetcar system would have been viable as a commercial enterprise on a long term basis, but the city inherited [[stole) a going concern.

How very third world.

At first people will sing the praises of somebody doing something and then the second that bus tapps the rear bumper of another vehicle watch 20 separate injury lawsuits pop up.

I'd love to see a regionalized system work but until it does, I'd love for this to work. I'd suggest a "tip-jar" and a big ol' sign saying "Ride at your own risk."

Plenty of Jitneys already operating in Detroit: http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=2536