Why the SMART Bus System is the Worst in America [[After DDOT)

[nain rouge]

[[an article I wrote)

Buzz.

Creak.

Urr.

Whoosh.

Ah yes, the many moods of the friendly SMART bus. SMART of course being short for Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, and the bus in this case a white, boxy Gillig Low Floor with sporty orange and red vertical stripes.

But a turd by any other name would smell as bad, and SMART certainly stinks.

Yet tens of thousands of Metro Detroiters depend on SMART to get to work every day, or maybe just the welfare office. Either way, according to SMART the average jaunt to wherever it is you’re going takes about a half an hour – that is, unless you dare to transfer between buses. When one considers that most crosstown buses only arrive once an hour, and most north-south buses arrive once every half-hour, what should be a simple 10-15 mile trip can quickly turn into a migraine of suburban sprawl proportions. Especially since the buses are rarely on time.

So, in the end, the thirty minute transit time is self-reinforcing, because you’d to be crazy or desperate to attempt a longer trip. Or worse, me.

Get this: I can bike and, more often than not, beat SMART to my destination. Yes, it’s that bad – an entire fleet of buses defeated by a lanky kid on a Huffy. Once, out of sheer desperation, I called the SMART hotline and asked if their buses ran 20 minutes late or 40 minutes early. No one, from what I gathered, was quite sure.

Still, occasionally you run out of options and have to ride the bus, packed in with your fellow unfortunate passengers like sardines along traffic-choked hellholes like Woodward, Gratiot, or 9 Mile. Sometimes, sadly, it’s too much for SMART too handle. The strain on the system’s limited resources killed the Detroit Diesel engines in the dozens of Gillig models SMART bought in the early 2000s, and I’m pretty sure the grim reality of life taking the bus in Detroit has killed more than one bushy-tailed rider’s hope for humanity.

Fact is, life in the Motor City ain’t easy if you aren’t a car. Period. Dot. Dot. Dot.

Logistically speaking, a big part of SMART’s problem is that funding it is optional for municipalities, like public transportation in a major metropolitan area is a side of cream cheese or an extra value meal. Livonia, for example – a city of nearly 100,000 people just west of Detroit – voted against the SMART millage after years of support. ‘I don’t take the bus, so why pay for it?’ they figured. It’s an attitude that’s crippled bus services regionally.

The other major problem is that Metro Detroit has two bus services, one run by SMART and the other by the struggling DDOT, or Detroit Department of Transportation. When in reality, we only really need one. But because of the arbitrary divide, you need two buses to go up Woodward from Detroit to Pontiac instead of one; federal money for public transportation is split unevenly across two inefficient systems; and poor Detroiters face inordinately long travel times to get to the hundreds of thousands of jobs in the suburbs.

Then again, the people on the bus aren’t the “job creators”. They aren’t in the top tax brackets. In fact, if you ask the average voter in Livonia, we’re leeches. So who cares, right?

Well, shame on us, I say. We can afford millions of cars like it’s nothing, but somehow a few hundred buses is too much, that we can’t even be bothered. It raises the question: who do we really serve? Ourselves or the greater good?

[mtburb]

The strain on the system’s limited resources killed the Detroit Diesel engines in the dozens of Gillig models SMART bought in the early 2000s, and I’m pretty sure the grim reality of life taking the bus in Detroit has killed more than one bushy-tailed rider’s hope for humanity.

The other major problem is that Metro Detroit has two bus services, one run by SMART and the other by the struggling DDOT, or Detroit Department of Transportation. When in reality, we only really need one. But because of the arbitrary divide, you need two buses to go up Woodward from Detroit to Pontiac instead of one; federal money for public transportation is split unevenly across two inefficient systems; and poor Detroiters face inordinately long travel times to get to the hundreds of thousands of jobs in the suburbs.

Well, at least SMART has newer buses than you described...to be specific, eight hybrid buses, two of them articulated. Plus, they're supposed to be soon getting ex-DDOT New Flyers.

Plus, although rather slightly unrelated, you also need two transit buses if you want to travel from Detroit to Ann Arbor, changing at Metro Airport. But, if you wanted to travel from Detroit to Flint or Port Huron, you will need to ride three buses!

[esp1986]

Chicago has multiple systems as well. The CTA system as well as PACE [[inner suburbs), and a few other lines for outlying suburbs. The difference there is two fold. One, everyone that wants to live in the city does, and can use the CTA to get to most amenities in the region. Two, the CTA and PACE both fall under the Regional Transit Authority, so they at least have a minimum level of coordination.

As nice as regional transit would be, I really don't think it is feasible in this region. Right now anyway.

All of the people in the suburbs are happily delusional in their auto-centric worlds. They will never support it, meaning there will not likely be enough ridership, and getting ballot measures through to fund it will be tough

The region, instead, needs to focus it's efforts on transit in the city, and grow demand for it over a generation or two. By investing in transit in the denser corridors in the city, i.e. Woodward, Michigan, E. Jefferson, Gratiot and Grand River; you connect the job centers to the neighborhoods, and make it easier for people to get around. That is what is keeping the areas surrounding Downtown from their revival… there's no way to get there! This is why demand for residential in Downtown, Midtown and Corktown is so high, but nowhere else. With parking becoming more scarce Downtown, driving is not the answer [[as is the case in any city). So naturally you look to the neighborhoods, but with no reliable way to get to them, they sit and wait.

Over a couple generations, the young people that want transit in the city, get to experience it, and see it's importance. If/when they move to the suburbs, they may want to continue to use it, meaning demand will start to migrate out.

The big issue is, so many potential users of mass transit leave the region. The people that are content with wasting two hours a day in traffic, or getting drunk and driving home from the bar are the ones that tend to stick around. By investing in the stronger corridors that already have enough ridership to support the investment, you provide an attractive option for people that want to stick around. And those are the people that are really key to supporting regional transit in the long run.

Bottom line, we need to start where the ridership is. The suburbs are largely happy with their cars. But if we invest in the stronger corridors in the city, people who want/require transit can relocate to those areas. Demand grows, spiders out, and the system as a whole can grow. But whoever the new mayor is, must make a priority of straightening out DDOT. Whether that means merging it into the RTA, or using the RTA to solicit local millages to support new transit in the city. The RTA can put out a ballot measure regionally, but that doesn't mean that the city can't push it's own through the RTA to invest more in the city. However, it has to go through the RTA to get federal funds.

[Hamtragedy]

ESP said


"The region, instead, needs to focus it's efforts on transit in the city, and grow demand for it over a generation or two. By investing in transit in the denser corridors in the city, i.e. Woodward, Michigan, E. Jefferson, Gratiot and Grand River; you connect the job centers to the neighborhoods, and make it easier for people to get around. That is what is keeping the areas surrounding Downtown from their revival… there's no way to get there! This is why demand for residential in Downtown, Midtown and Corktown is so high, but nowhere else. With parking becoming more scarce Downtown, driving is not the answer [[as is the case in any city). So naturally you look to the neighborhoods, but with no reliable way to get to them, they sit and wait."

This is so true, albeit two generations too late. Can you imagine a reliable line that ran Warren or Mack or Jefferson, [[or even pre-Chrysler plant debacle, Vernor, Charlevoix or Kercheval) to Grosse Pointe? Stops along the way, Lafayette Park, MLK High, West Village, Indian Village, and all those neighborhoods to East English Village or the Canals that no longer exist?

How about a Grand River Line where the only destinations are no longer Grandmont and Rosedale Park, but all the neighborhoods that were somewhat intact as late as 2000?

As a frequent visitor to the DC area over the last 30 years, I've watched a small three line, 15 stop subway system, morph into a 5 line 60 stop "why the hell do I need a car here?" clean, reliable, mobility authority, that has created destinations. I doesn't always happen overnight, but once that stop winds up in your neighborhood, it's only a matter of time before investment shows up, street-scapes get redone, and instead of being "your stop", it becomes a place where other people want [[or need) to go, and hell, even live there.

Detroit missed it, and it's no more brilliantly evidenced than right now. If you have to ride a bus 25 minutes from downtown to Grandmont, and all you see along the way is burned, torn down, overgrown fields, closed up police and fire stations, and the pittance of commercial businesses that remain, why the hell would you want to live there, yet alone make that a destination?

[DetroitPlanner]

We have a poorly funded transportation system because that is what people want. Demand better from your elected officials. However be prepared to pay for it.

Comparing Detroit to DC is really a joke. DC would not have the transit it does have if it was not demanded by the federal government. Detroit is little more than a backwater to them.

[Detroitnerd]

I would prefer not to blame underserved prospective transit riders for the poor transit service we have. SEMCOG is undemocratic, MDOT is essentially a road-building organization, and suburban and outstate leaders are running this show. The Michigan constitution has long posed a barrier to collecting revenues for transit.

We don't need to worry about growing ridership in the city. The demand is there along several thoroughfares. All we need to do is upgrade to a mode that carries more riders more efficiently than buses.

The real problem is that the leadership of the state of Michigan is composed of people who believe that success is a large house on a large tract of land in a remote community where you must drive everywhere for everything. They associate cities [[at least majority-minority cities) with failure, and believe a anybody living there is a failure. Transit, in their minds, is a way to provide a way for losers who can't afford a car to get around.

People who love cities and real rapid transit: Leave. Just go. As fast as your little legs will carry you. Go someplace that values cities and transit. For the foreseeable future, the region will simply get transit boondoggle after boondoggle. If you stay, you'll never get what you want, and you'll be blamed for not getting it too.

[esp1986]

We don't need to worry about growing ridership in the city. The demand is there along several thoroughfares. All we need to do is upgrade to a mode that carries more riders more efficiently than buses.

That's just it. There is demand, albeit only on a couple thoroughfares. But, that's where we need to start. That is what will help development spider out. It won't spider out without public spending to help…

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Comparing Detroit to DC is really a joke. DC would not have the transit it does have if it was not demanded by the federal government. Detroit is little more than a backwater to them.

Agreed, DP. Comparing Detroit's transit [[or any city's) to another city's system is highly problematic at best. There can be lessons learned about what does/doesn't work, but we are in a thousand ways different from DC, then and now. Just for starters:

1) The greater-DC area is much more densely populated by people, and also by places of employment and tourist destinations.
2) DC has a a huge, constant number of tourists who naturally flock to the Metro rather than drive or take cabs.
3) Washington is a bona fide college town. College kids come from all over the country, and they often rely on mass transit.
4) Because the government is the dominant employer [[both in the district and the suburbs), it has been able to follow a deliberate plan of locating new/renovated offices & other facilities near Metro stations.
5) Because the government owns so much land around DC, a lot of Metro stations and rail lines run on previously existing government property, reducing immensely the acquisition cost, and eliminating layers of litigation in eminent domain suits.

I am in favor of improving and expanding our mass transit in the city and the suburbs. But it is not reasonable to base our expectations on the systems in very different places. We must also make sure that there are no rogue transit projects whose price tags are outrageously out of line with potential ridership [[California High Speed Rail is the perfect example of that). Michiganders, myself included, will keep loving our cars. But there are places where new rail and expanded/improved bus service makes sense. I think both M1 rail and BRT make sense; our city buses should be newer, cleaner, safer, more frequent. All transit systems should seek to use the same fare system [[a statewide Metrocard is my preference), which would make it simple and easy for people to use the people mover, a BRT bus to Birmingham, or a city bus in Ann Arbor, Lansing, or Grand Rapids with one swipe. But saying we need a New York or Washington style transit system is A) asking for something that is unbuildably expensive; B) asking for something that we couldn't afford to operate even if it magically appeared. Our transit needs are real, moderate, and attainable. I hope the RTA and other local and state people think to, too.

[EastsideAl]

You also have to keep in mind that the planning, building, and maintenance of the Washington transit system has been heavily pushed and subsidized by the federal government. This is why the Washington area has the nicest and most comprehensive newer transit system in the country. A system that is fully regionalized and is still being expanded. While older systems in larger cities like New York and Chicago limp along with almost no federal funding, little or no support for expansion, and remain overly-dependent on farebox revenues for basic operations and maintenance.

They will never support it, meaning there will not likely be enough ridership

The region, instead, needs to focus it's efforts on transit in the city, and grow demand for it over a generation or two.

There is actually plenty of demand over a lot of lines on both systems in the Detroit area, particularly since the recession started. Many buses are completely jammed, and it is not unusual to see buses skipping stops during rush hours because there is simply no space left on them for the riders who are waiting.

Much of the problem with transit funding in the Detroit area though, as with so many other things around here, is that those buses are mostly jammed with the "wrong" people.

[esp1986]

There is actually plenty of demand over a lot of lines on both systems in the Detroit area, particularly since the recession started. Many buses are completely jammed, and it is not unusual to see buses skipping stops during rush hours because there is simply no space left on them for the riders who are waiting.

Much of the problem with transit funding in the Detroit area though, as with so many other things around here, is that those buses are mostly jammed with the "wrong" people.

The buses being jammed has more to do with service cuts than anything else. Ridership is up, but not that much.

[Hamtragedy]

I'm not necessarily trying to compare mass transit in DC to Detroit. What I'm saying is if you visit any city with functioning mass transit, especially in this country, even on Chicago south side, guess what is near every stop? A neighborhood. Sure, some are nicer than others, but some commerce and houses are better that what we have, which is miles and miles between viable neighborhoods.

That trip by bus or car up Grand River is brutal.

[stasu1213]

I had heard a rumor that DDOT and SMART will merge in the near future. Is that rumor true?

[stasu1213]

Are there any signs that construction had started on the light rail system on Woodward? Is it still in the so-called planning stage?

[finster]

It may be my own little pipe dream but since it's my fantasy here we go: I'm hoping the RTA can figure out how to put DDOT, SMART, and AATA [[They really know how to run a bus system so get as many of their employees as you can) under one roof [[speaking metaphorically, as I doubt a true total merger could happen, but you never know, expecially with DDOT and SMART, which definitely need to be combined), along with M-1 rail and the People Mover. You definitely want a universal fare card usable on and between systems also.

Present a package of a real, viable, non idiotic transportation structure to the voters of the five county region for a small millage dedicated to the RTA and I believe it would have a decent chance of passing. Once the Feds see dedicated, regional funding like this they will stop shaking their heads in disappointment and will be on board like there's no tomorrow so fast it'll make your head spin.
Trust me when I say that many suburbanites HATE, HATE, HATE what has happened to Detroit and the resulting image of the entire region. Many of these suburban voters have proven they will support the DIA and Zoo, etc. even if they never go. This is why I think something they perceive as not throwing good money after bad will stand a shot.

With the changes in leadership and the restructuring of Detroit this feels like a real,possible gamechanger in the fortunes of the region and now would be the best time to try to capitalize on it.

[professorscott]

In answer to two recent questions:

1. Bus systems - the Regional Transit Authority is not explicitly charged with merging the bus systems, and that's not actually the right word for it, but there's nothing in the RTA laws that actually require DDOT or SMART to keep running buses. The RTA can't absorb the liabilities of DDOT, and it's not possible for DDOT [[which is a City department, and not any kind of separate organization) to merge with the three county transportation authorities that more or less own SMART. Having said that, it never made sense to me to have two separate bus systems, and if it's possible to create one new bus system and get it funded, that would be optimal. But the RTA is just getting off the ground and doesn't have any significant funding of its own, so it's going to be a while before we start seeing how it wants to structure regional transit.

2. M1 Rail - their web site has been recently updated, www.m-1rail.org, and has a lot of information. They are finished planning and are soliciting bids for streetcars, and have selected the contractors to build the line in two phases. I'm not sure exactly when you'll see the first bulldozers on site, but I think it'll happen pretty soon.

[nain rouge]

Well, at least SMART has newer buses than you described...to be specific, eight hybrid buses, two of them articulated.

8! 8!!! That's almost as many buses as my elementary school had.

But seriously, if you're a SMART rider, your chances of sitting in one of those hybrids are slim to none. I know I've never had the pleasure.

I'm not necessarily trying to compare mass transit in DC to Detroit. What I'm saying is if you visit any city with functioning mass transit, especially in this country, even on Chicago south side, guess what is near every stop? A neighborhood.

I believe the failure of our bus system has been a big contributor to Detroit's epic free fall. If you don't own a reliable car, access to jobs is so poor that you really only have 3 choices. 1) Ride the bus for 3 or more hours a day. 2) Apply for government assistance/welfare. 3) MOVE THE HECK OUT OF METRO DETROIT.

Without good transit, a big metro can't provide economic mobility for its poor, and a major underclass results. Just look at this place. It's turning into a ghetto of epic proportions. When cities like Southfield and Warren begin to fail - and fail hard - it's really bad news for the long-term health of Metro Detroit. Soon, what will we have left? 20 Mile and Grosse Ile?

[stasu1213]

In answer to two recent questions:

1. Bus systems - the Regional Transit Authority is not explicitly charged with merging the bus systems, and that's not actually the right word for it, but there's nothing in the RTA laws that actually require DDOT or SMART to keep running buses. The RTA can't absorb the liabilities of DDOT, and it's not possible for DDOT [[which is a City department, and not any kind of separate organization) to merge with the three county transportation authorities that more or less own SMART. Having said that, it never made sense to me to have two separate bus systems, and if it's possible to create one new bus system and get it funded, that would be optimal. But the RTA is just getting off the ground and doesn't have any significant funding of its own, so it's going to be a while before we start seeing how it wants to structure regional transit.

2. M1 Rail - their web site has been recently updated, www.m-1rail.org, and has a lot of information. They are finished planning and are soliciting bids for streetcars, and have selected the contractors to build the line in two phases. I'm not sure exactly when you'll see the first bulldozers on site, but I think it'll happen pretty soon.

I don't know. The shovel could had been in the ground a month ago while bids were being solicited for streetcars. To me it is just another excuse to prolong it. It is heading towards December and the ground will be too hard to start this year. have a car. I catch the bus. I could travel both ways. It just bugs me when I hear excuses after excuses why the shovel had not been in the ground as so promised for August or September. Forget it. It is not going to happen. Snyder or someone will put a monkeywrench in the plans.

[DetroitPlanner]

It is easy to have good transit when you have a fat millage of 2. http://www.a2gov.org/government/fina...ertyTaxes.aspx

SMART Millage? 0.6. http://www.smartbus.org/newsinfo/pre...s-Release.aspx

DDOT Millage? 0.0!

[nain rouge]

But why should THEY pay for BUSES when THEY don't ride them? More liberal handouts!

[Scottathew]

nain rouge,

Nice article, I enjoyed the read.

I am for beefing up our bus system. I live in a community not served by any bus system.

Many folks complain about how subsidized the buses are, but we can't forget about how subsidized roads are in general.

Buses lessen traffic, are good for the environment, and in big cities mass transit increases the quality of life.

[DetroitPlanner]

nain rouge,

Nice article, I enjoyed the read.

I am for beefing up our bus system. I live in a community not served by any bus system.

Many folks complain about how subsidized the buses are, but we can't forget about how subsidized roads are in general.

Buses lessen traffic, are good for the environment, and in big cities mass transit increases the quality of life.

If you really want to frustrate them, tell them that it is gas tax revenues that subsidize the busses! Yeah roads are subsidized, but not to the amount that roads subsidize buses. http://www.governing.com/blogs/fedwa...Taxs-Fate.html

Since the recession the gas tax has dropped to the point where there is not enough revenue to cover what congress has promised for transportation. This means now both modes are heavilly subsidized, and it it a mess to try to untangle, as transit is funded through the highway trust fund, and the highway trust fund is subsidized by selling bonds to China.

[canuck]

I'm not necessarily trying to compare mass transit in DC to Detroit. What I'm saying is if you visit any city with functioning mass transit, especially in this country, even on Chicago south side, guess what is near every stop? A neighborhood. Sure, some are nicer than others, but some commerce and houses are better that what we have, which is miles and miles between viable neighborhoods.

That trip by bus or car up Grand River is brutal.

One thing we dont often read on this forum though, is the fact that lacking proper transit, detroit probably suffered more blight than other cities. I wonder what your thoughts are on this. Do you think better bus or other transit options would have stopped decline or was the decline parallel to other blighted services.

[esp1986]

One thing we dont often read on this forum though, is the fact that lacking proper transit, detroit probably suffered more blight than other cities. I wonder what your thoughts are on this. Do you think better bus or other transit options would have stopped decline or was the decline parallel to other blighted services.

Transit, undoubtedly, played a major role in this for Detroit.

Sure, people were already leaving when Detroit pulled up the streetcar tracks. But that's when the exodus really began. With such high property taxes to pay for those services, and some people now forced to own maybe not one, but two cars, people realized that there was no sense in paying those high property taxes if they weren't getting any services for them, so they left for the suburbs in greater numbers.

Like it or not, some people are just above taking a bus, and that played a big role in this.

Cars are not cheap to own, so it has never justified paying high city income/property taxes if you are forced to own one anyway. Now is a little different, as there is not even a reliable bus system to take, but it was much the same back then. People were used to the trains, and didn't want to ride the bus.

[Al Publican]

I thought about taking the Smart bus from downtown where I was staying over Labor Day weekend to the Grosse Pointes but service after around 7pm has apparently been curtailed. While still living in Detroit around 2002, I sometimes took the Smart bus to the Mack and Vernier Rd area. That seems more difficult now. Metro Detroit needs one bus system, not two.

[Joseph C. Krause]

25 minutes to Grandmont would be nice. I live downtown and rode 21 Grand River out there to check out Always Brewing one afternoon: 15 minutes waiting for the bus, 45 minutes from Washington and Clifford to Grandmont.

I think the best way to improve transit is to require that local politicians are only allowed state IDs, not driver's licenses, during their terms.

I drove a car until two years ago, when I gave it up because I have a form of macular degeneration called Stargardt's disease. I moved from Corktown to the CBD, in part because it's the most walkable and best connected to the rest of the region by foot. It's also possible to walk over to a hotel and flag down a cab without calling dispatch, and now Uber exists and has just introduced a cheaper fare.

But now, downtown is getting trendy and rents are skyrocketing. I'm paying through the nose to live in what I feel is the only livable neighborhood other than Midtown on foot. For all of Detroit's problems, I have never wanted to move away -- especially because all of my friends and family are here. But this introduces strong pressure to leave. I haven't, because I've decided to just pay the rent penalty as long as I can and because no other place beckons.

That still doesn't change the face that being carless [[and bicycle-less, for the same reason) in Detroit is crippling. I am a second-class citizen now, and every other problem caused by my eye condition has a workable solution. For example, I'm reading these posts using the screen-reading voice built in to my Mac.

It's only getting more expensive to live in the middle of the city. If I am unable to afford to stay here, my options seem to be either moving to a neighborhood which will further reduce my quality of life or leaving Michigan.

I would like to point out that Washington's transit system is actually run by many operators that are all coordinated. The orange line crosses two states and the DC seamlessly without transfer or hiccough. It's not that we need to merge the systems and that's the only solution, it's that they are poorly managed and underfunded. The routes and deployment are amateurishly implemented. A lot of issues could be addressed by regular busses, on schedule, with a good transit app for your phone, and with local and express service on corridors such as Grand River, instead of just one dumb bus stopping every two blocks for a 13-mile route.