SMART is providing good bus service along Michigan Ave

That Great Guy · November-18-13, 07:48 PM

I live and work directly on a SMART bus route. I still need a car because I work all hours. I enjoy not having to drive all the time and the bike racks are really nice. The buses are full of people, clean and run on time.
I support the present property tax to be renewed August 2014, but don’t want higher transportation taxes, unless we can work to make mass transit competitive with the rest of the World to attract good jobs. So, I think SEMCOG should have evening meetings to help get more support from the passengers by increasing the revenues from fare boxes.

What are your thoughts on this? Should the SMART millage be raised a little more? Should we support an RTA millage or car registration tax?

**stasu1213** · November-18-13, 08:26 PM

You say SMART provides good services along Michigan which is true. SMART also stop picking up passengers after 6 or 7pm weekdays and doesnt come downtown on weekends. I woulf support any mileage if those afterhours services be reinstalled.

**Russix** · November-18-13, 09:53 PM

I find the current bus system setup in this region to be just terrible. Demand for it is high and the region's economic growth is tied to it.

That Great Guy · November-18-13, 09:59 PM

Demand is extremely high for downtown Detroit bus service. A chance for someone to make money.

That Great Guy · November-18-13, 10:16 PM

Downtown Detroit should have 24 hour 7 day a week public bus service to the airport and to Oakland and Macomb Counties. This can be done at a reasonable cost and more money can come from the passengers.

**trotwood** · November-19-13, 09:50 AM

I wish SMART were providing good consitant service in my area. At one point in time SMART was a very reliable means of public transport. In the last year or so it's become just slightly better than DDOT[[I emphazise SLIGHTLY). The buses seem to run when they[[drivers)want to. Calls to SMART customer service are a tedious frustrating experience for me.The last call I made to customer service line the worker sounded as she had been jarred from a nap.
SMART has gone way down hill from what it once was

**Wesley Mouch** · November-19-13, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by That Great Guy

Demand is extremely high for downtown Detroit bus service. A chance for someone to make money.

All we have to do is end the monopoly.

**professorscott** · November-19-13, 01:59 PM

There is not a real money making opportunity in transit, anywhere in North America. 100% of public transit systems are subsidized, like nearly every other public service.

Andy Didorosi [[Detroit Bus Company) might be able to make money, but he is selectively serving only the most popular destinations. That's a good idea and thank God he's doing that, I'm not knocking that service at all; just that doesn't provide transportation for the people and places that aren't along the DBC corridors.

There are two problems with public transportation in and around Detroit, and we can probably solve them both, but it takes political will.

1. Detroit's funding for transit [[I mean Detroit the region) is simply nowhere near adequate. Our per capita transit funding is about a third of the average for similar-population regions. Kids, we are getting what we are paying for. Want more? Pay more.

2. Within the DDOT service region, add to the underfunding the dark comedy of how DDOT itself actually works. City Council decides not to pay any vendors, so there are no parts available with which to fix buses; drivers have extremely lax time-off policies and many of them take maximum advantage of this; nearly all of the line supers were let go in one of the past sixteen hundred rounds of budget cuts. Plus, the route structure hasn't been thoroughly examined, ever; what we have today is the ashes of the post-WWII streetcar/bus system.

Fixing #1 just takes money, and hopefully in a year or two we'll get to vote on whether we want to do that. Fixing #2 would vex King Solomon but maybe if the RTA actually gets up and running it can start trying to work with the City on that.

That Great Guy · November-19-13, 05:29 PM

It is very possible for Detroit to build a World class public transit system which will attract new industries. Safety must always come first, then we must lower the per-passenger costs for the benefit of all.

**mtburb** · November-19-13, 05:59 PM

Well, I also live right along a SMART route [[#160) and am just a short walk away from another route that doesn't come downtown on weekends, but comes into Metro Airport every day [[#125).

I'm wondering if SMART is providing just about as good service along the three routes that pass through the city of Wyandotte [[two I already mentioned, plus route #140) as they are along Michigan Avenue.

I've noticed that sometime around the beginning of the month, there have been schedules that have been installed at stops along route #160 that didn't have them yet [[I've also noticed these at stops served by #125 and #140 since late spring and, apparently, they were [[and are) at stops along Gratiot as early as summer 2012, according to Google Street View).

Sorry if I tried to hijack this thread.

**Joseph C. Krause** · November-19-13, 06:00 PM

Professorscott's comments are so right that I am commenting just to encourage everyone to read them again.

That Great Guy · November-20-13, 06:30 AM

Originally Posted by Joseph C. Krause

Professorscott's comments are so right that I am commenting just to encourage everyone to read them again.

Fixing #1 just takes money is the core of the problem. If we vote in let's say a car registration tax of $125 per year in 4 counties for the RTA and raise the SMART property tax to 2.3 mils instead of the current 0.59 mil, I'm sure this will help fix #1 to keep and improve mass transit in Greater Detroit. The problem is what about those who make less then $15 per hour who don't have access to public transportation? That will take both competent and compassionate mass transit leadership at all levels of government and industry to solve, which is why we should all exercise our right to vote.

**Hermod** · November-20-13, 08:58 AM

Fixing #2 requires total termination of DDOT and all of its current employees and structure. The RTA then starts a bus company on preplanned routes with new hires [[former DDOT employees may apply if qualified by RTA standards for appearance, grooming, and intelligence). Drivers will have an emergency call button which triggers a SWAT team of transit cops with large heavy nightsticks to give wood shampoos to thug passengers.

**Scottathew** · November-20-13, 09:02 AM

I'd be willing to pay more for bus service via property taxes if the two systems were consolidated under a regional authority. I do not currently use busses, they don't go anywhere near my house.

**jaytheory** · November-20-13, 09:48 AM

, What would be the best route to get from downtown Detroit [[Fox Town) to Fairlane M-F 9am?

**DetroitPlanner** · November-20-13, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by jaytheory

, What would be the best route to get from downtown Detroit [[Fox Town) to Fairlane M-F 9am?

By bus? SMART 200 walk down to Michigan Ave.

By car? Fisher SD to M-10 Connector to I-96 to I-94 W. Exit Addison to Ford Rd.

That Great Guy · November-20-13, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Fixing #2 requires total termination of DDOT and all of its current employees and structure. The RTA then starts a bus company on preplanned routes with new hires [[former DDOT employees may apply if qualified by RTA standards for appearance, grooming, and intelligence). Drivers will have an emergency call button which triggers a SWAT team of transit cops with large heavy nightsticks to give wood shampoos to thug passengers.

There is a report related to this, that was found on the internet. Type save, fuel, tax and scroll to the Detroit link to view.