Bing gives unions 30 days to fix buses or he'll do "whatever it takes".

**kraig** · October-20-11, 03:27 PM

http://detnews.com/article/20111020/...t-takes’

How dare those mechanics not fix the buses because the City hasn't ordered the parts that were needed.

Bing is running the City more and more like Bing Steel. He doesn't want to provide the employees the needed supplies to get the job done. He doesn't pay the vendors that are providing goods and services to the City [[unless they're part of his crew). And then he cancels contracts, while still owing money on them, citing that the vendors aren't honoring their part of the contract because they can't afford to keep providing the goods and services for months on end without getting compensated.

I hope a legitimate candidate surfaces within the next two years. Because Bing has to go.

**downtown_racine** · October-20-11, 03:49 PM

438 buses and 224 of them are dead ?
Mechanics ? Sound like lazy parts changers, any cobbler with a bit of ambition could have started parting certain busses out and fixing others, not the greatest but better than nothing.
Maybe if the drivers and passengers would not beat the piss out of everything the equipment would fare a it better.

**Diehard** · October-20-11, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by kraig

http://detnews.com/article/20111020/...ever-it-takes’

How dare those mechanics not fix the buses because the City hasn't ordered the parts that were needed.

Bing is running the City more and more like Bing Steel. He doesn't want to provide the employees the needed supplies to get the job done. He doesn't pay the vendors that are providing goods and services to the City [[unless they're part of his crew). And then he cancels contracts, while still owing money on them, citing that the vendors aren't honoring their part of the contract because they can't afford to keep providing the goods and services for months on end without getting compensated.
.

What's your source? I didn't see that anywhere in the story.

**Novine** · October-20-11, 04:23 PM

"I hope a legitimate candidate surfaces within the next two years. Becasue Bing has to go."

All of which should have been realized when he first ran. Bing sold pundits and voters on his skills as a businessman and that those skills would translate to city government. Why anyone would have believed either premise is a mystery to me.

**kraig** · October-20-11, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by Novine

"I hope a legitimate candidate surfaces within the next two years. Becasue Bing has to go."

All of which should have been realized when he first ran. Bing sold pundits and voters on his skills as a businessman and that those skills would translate to city government. Why anyone would have believed either premise is a mystery to me.

I hear you. I didn't vote for him, but, I did understand why a lot of people did. At this point, I feel the same as I felt with Kwame, he's proven that he's not the right person for the job and shame on us if we let him get back in.

**kraig** · October-20-11, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Diehard

What's your source? I didn't see that anywhere in the story.

My fault Diehard. Terrence King, Bing's top transportation person, stated during a City Council meeting that it was mangement's fault for not ordering the parts. That information is in another article. I'll post that if/when I find it.

**Detroit Stylin** · October-20-11, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by Novine

"I hope a legitimate candidate surfaces within the next two years. Becasue Bing has to go."

All of which should have been realized when he first ran. Bing sold pundits and voters on his skills as a businessman and that those skills would translate to city government. Why anyone would have believed either premise is a mystery to me.

Same reason people voted for Bush...because of his MBA....but we see how all of his business ventures ended up...the same way he left the country...

**R8RBOB** · October-20-11, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Novine

"I hope a legitimate candidate surfaces within the next two years. Becasue Bing has to go."

All of which should have been realized when he first ran. Bing sold pundits and voters on his skills as a businessman and that those skills would translate to city government. Why anyone would have believed either premise is a mystery to me.

We were hoodwinked!! We been bamboozled!! Detroit was led astray by the words of Dave Bing. He came rolling into town from the city of Franklin to save us but instead he is slowly dooming us. Why did the "street vote" help Kilpatrick win in 2005?

**firstandten** · October-20-11, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by Novine

"I hope a legitimate candidate surfaces within the next two years. Becasue Bing has to go."

All of which should have been realized when he first ran. Bing sold pundits and voters on his skills as a businessman and that those skills would translate to city government. Why anyone would have believed either premise is a mystery to me.

People didn't find out until after Bing was in office that his company was going down the tubes so yes the electorate thought he was the successful businessman he said he was. But as I stated before even when times were good GM and others were literally force feeding him what he needed to be sucessful.

We need a legit candidate to run against him any ideas ?

**getmoore** · October-20-11, 07:30 PM

Did anyone notice that the problem with the buses being slower than normal started when the mechanics stopped receiving overtime which took them from getting around a $100,000 per year back down to about $40,000 per year? DDOT hasn't been running things very well for years but it was never like this. The slowdown seems VERY intentional to me.

**kraig** · October-20-11, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by getmoore

Did anyone notice that the problem with the buses being slower than normal started when the mechanics stopped receiving overtime which took them from getting around a $100,000 per year back down to about $40,000 per year? DDOT hasn't been running things very well for years but it was never like this. The slowdown seems VERY intentional to me.

It's not the mechanics, it's the management. From the moment Bing took office in 2009, he's been attacking the bus system. Don't forget he tried to shutdown service on Sundays and was trying to eliminate nighttime service altogether. Now he's trying to get that done by not providing the mechanics the parts needed to fix a bus or two or 200.

**Johnnny5** · October-20-11, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by getmoore

Did anyone notice that the problem with the buses being slower than normal started when the mechanics stopped receiving overtime which took them from getting around a $100,000 per year back down to about $40,000 per year? DDOT hasn't been running things very well for years but it was never like this. The slowdown seems VERY intentional to me.

Perhaps the overtime hours were needed to keep up with the repairs of an aging fleet.. Or are you suggesting that they should work overtime for free or for less than 1.5x their hourly wage as they are guaranteed by law?

**antongast** · October-20-11, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by downtown_racine

Maybe if the drivers and passengers would not beat the piss out of everything the equipment would fare a it better.

Citation needed.

DetroitPole · October-20-11, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by downtown_racine

438 buses and 224 of them are dead ?
Mechanics ? Sound like lazy parts changers, any cobbler with a bit of ambition could have started parting certain busses out and fixing others, not the greatest but better than nothing.
Maybe if the drivers and passengers would not beat the piss out of everything the equipment would fare a it better.

Yeah, citations fucking needed. What the fuck do you know from Podunk Wisconsin? I ride the bus regularly and most people simply glumly wait for buses that don't come and then sit silently on the coach while the driver does his or her best to navigate poorly maintained streets in a broken-down old vehicle. Why don't you show some fucking respect for people who are just doing or trying to get to their jobs.

**professorscott** · October-20-11, 11:02 PM

I agree with the last post. I have been a passenger on DDOT buses many hundreds or thousands of times and it is most uncommon for a passenger to abuse the equipment. The drivers never do. What does happen is the roads abuse the buses [[they are in very bad shape in some areas) and the spacing of stops abuses the buses [[no vehicle will last very long if it has to start and stop, every block or every other block, for six or eight or ten miles).

As to swiping parts from one bus to fix another bus, that would work somewhat if the buses were all the same, but they aren't. The buses were purchased in batches over the years and there aren't as many interchangeable parts as you might think.

The big problems are too few mechanics and a shortage of repair parts, and both of these problems are budget-driven.

**Gistok** · October-20-11, 11:08 PM

I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around... but thanks for the perspective Detroit_Pole and ProfessorScott...

**Zacha341** · October-20-11, 11:59 PM

Well stated: DP and Prof Scott.... yeah most of us 'unfortunate' riders [[long term or occasional as I am, thankfully) are too weary and down-trodden from the wait to have much energy to tear the conveyance down once we do get on board.

Originally Posted by DetroitPole

Yeah, citations fucking needed. What the fuck do you know from Podunk Wisconsin? I ride the bus regularly and most people simply glumly wait for buses that don't come and then sit silently on the coach while the driver does his or her best to navigate poorly maintained streets in a broken-down old vehicle. Why don't you show some fucking respect for people who are just doing or trying to get to their jobs.

**Dexlin** · October-21-11, 01:04 AM

I've said this one every post on transit, but what's the end game in all of this? Already a full third of Detroiters are without an automobile [[and this was back in 2000) in a city where a third of the population officially lives in poverty getting even poorer because the people lucky enough to get a job lose them because of a shitty bus system that's getting even worse because the city's losing revenue year after year after year. Because the city is getting poorer, fewer and fewer people can afford cars even if they wanted one putting even more demand and responsibility on the bus system to get people to their jobs.

Sure, there is mismanagement by the administration. Bing has made it very clear mostly through his actions that the Detroit Department of Transportation is not one of his top priorities [[when it should be). But, this is kind of a sideshow. The real issue is structural, and it doesn't matter who the mayor and administrators are.

I don't see any hope; I don't see any hope at all, and it's sad. Realistically, the only real option is to find someone to guaruntee the debt of both SMART and DDOT, disband both, and start over with a regional authority, but that ain't gonna happen. Otherwise, these two sick systems are going to embarrassingly limp along for a few more years and finally die in a bitter bankruptcy. If they re-emerge at all they'll be some ridiculous dial-and-ride short-buses, or some private corporation will take over a few key lines and everybody else will be left in the cold wherever the corporation can't make any money.

**getmoore** · October-21-11, 06:47 AM

Originally Posted by Johnnny5

Perhaps the overtime hours were needed to keep up with the repairs of an aging fleet.. Or are you suggesting that they should work overtime for free or for less than 1.5x their hourly wage as they are guaranteed by law?

It seems like that from the outside doesn't it. But from the inside......

muskie1 · October-21-11, 09:26 AM

I guess that if there is an intentional work slow down it is a major issue. I think that when contract time comes up an idea might be to pay the techs. like almost all repair shops do , by book time. You only make money when you fix something. You would also need to be efficent in doing your job because if a repair takes to long you make nothing extra.