How are the buses getting worse!?

**YounginDetroit** · September-22-14, 07:40 AM

Just for the record I do have faith in Duggan, bankruptcy and Detroit overall reinvention. With that being how are the buses getting worse! Half a goddamn hour a woodward or dexter bus. And its not even cold. I dont know the first thing about public transportation but christ. Does anybody have any idea of how or when this will get remotely better because this is just embarassing.

**Scottathew** · September-22-14, 07:43 AM

I remember it was such a hot issue, he was giving timelines of when more buses would be in service and they were hiring tons of mechanics.

It would interesting to get an update of what he's done and what he expects things to be at the 1-year mark.

**Danny** · September-22-14, 07:44 AM

All D-DOT buses are getting worse and so is SMART buses, too! But folks who work for them are trying their best to keep them running.

**nain rouge** · September-22-14, 07:47 AM

Detroit continues to lose population and tax revenue. They're going to save a few areas, but if you want to live in a normal city, you should just leave now. There are tons of big cities in the US - and even the Midwest - that are way better if you don't want to live in a suburb.

**YounginDetroit** · September-22-14, 07:54 AM

I want to live in Detroit thats not the issue. I just dont understand the incompetance of the bus drivers. Thats why no one who actually rides the busses feel sorry for bus drivers when theyre asses get kicked. THEY DESERVE IT. When three or four busses go.north in a half an hour and no bussed are coming south for a half an hour I just dont understand.

**stasu1213** · September-22-14, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

Detroit continues to lose population and tax revenue. They're going to save a few areas, but if you want to live in a normal city, you should just leave now. There are tons of big cities in the US - and even the Midwest - that are way better if you don't want to live in a suburb.

Gary Brown is in charge of the DDOT and was placed in that position by the Governor and Orr. He is probably screwing up the system.

**stasu1213** · September-22-14, 07:56 AM

DDots director unfortunately answer to Brown

**Dan Wesson** · September-22-14, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by YounginDetroit

When three or four busses go.north in a half an hour and no bussed are coming south for a half an hour I just dont understand.

It's called the inbound rush and the outbound rush.

**stasu1213** · September-22-14, 08:27 AM

Get on contact with Brown and tell him to take hands off the bus bus system

**Lowell** · September-22-14, 08:33 AM

Let's not forget the bus drivers like all City of Detroit employees have not had a stellar wage history in recent years. Morale cannot be high in what is a very, very stressful job.

But on the brighter side I did hear on WDET this AM that they are hiring a new class of drivers.

**DetroitPlanner** · September-22-14, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by YounginDetroit

I want to live in Detroit thats not the issue. I just dont understand the incompetance of the bus drivers. Thats why no one who actually rides the busses feel sorry for bus drivers when theyre asses get kicked. THEY DESERVE IT. When three or four busses go.north in a half an hour and no bussed are coming south for a half an hour I just dont understand.

That has nothing to do with the route that the bus driver is assigned. They are doing their jobs. It is not their fault that the transportation system is underfunded. Want to kick someone's @$$? Kick the voter's and those who they elect who refuse to fix the issue.

**313WX** · September-22-14, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

Detroit continues to lose population and tax revenue. They're going to save a few areas, but if you want to live in a normal city, you should just leave now. There are tons of big cities in the US - and even the Midwest - that are way better if you don't want to live in a suburb.

Pretty much...

**nain rouge** · September-22-14, 08:36 AM

Public transportation in Detroit is like half-deflated balloon. You can squeeze it to make one side look fully inflated, but then you've just squeezed all the air out of the other side. You can get rid of Brown, sure. But the new guy/girl will just squeeze a different part of the balloon and call it progress. The game is to see how often you can do that before people catch on.

That's why it almost makes sense to be corrupt in Detroit. Eventually, people WILL catch on and blame you for the state of the balloon. Might as well get what you can while you can, because you aren't gonna last in Detroit.

**Hermod** · September-22-14, 08:37 AM

Lack of qualified mechanics, lack of spare parts, too much bureaucracy. We need a RTA which begins from zero and hires only the best qualified with rigid testing standards for drivers, mechanics, and parts clerks BEFORE hire.

**313WX** · September-22-14, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Get on contact with Brown and tell him to take hands off the bus bus system

I'd rather stab a pen in my wrist before having to go through Brown noser for anything, if a choice was given...

**nain rouge** · September-22-14, 08:43 AM

If you want a chance at good services, you have to move to the chosen neighborhoods: Downtown, Midtown, Corktown, Indian Village/West Village, Rivertown, Woodbridge, Sherwood Forest/Palmer Woods, and MAYBE the Grand River corridor from Rosedale Park to Old Redford. Dave Bing pretty much told the rest of the city to pound sand throughout his entire term in office, but no one took it seriously. Duggan knows the truth, but realized the value of lip service - squeeze the balloon and talk about getting the population back to 1,000,000. Problem "solved".

**nain rouge** · September-22-14, 08:46 AM

Oh yeah, and there are glimmers of hope in Hubbard Farms/Mexicantown, but with the way the historic/old part of Mexicantown has been allowed to decay, I'm not so sure about it.

**Johnnny5** · September-22-14, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by YounginDetroit

I want to live in Detroit thats not the issue. I just dont understand the incompetance of the bus drivers. Thats why no one who actually rides the busses feel sorry for bus drivers when theyre asses get kicked. THEY DESERVE IT. When three or four busses go.north in a half an hour and no bussed are coming south for a half an hour I just dont understand.

So the number of buses and routes are somehow the drivers fault? Let me guess, you blame the waitress when your steak arrives overcooked?

All the bus drivers do is drive the route and bus that they are assigned to. They have little to no control over routes, the number of stops or the number of buses.

**313WX** · September-22-14, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by nain rouge

Detroit continues to lose population and tax revenue. They're going to save a few areas, but if you want to live in a normal city, you should just leave now. There are tons of big cities in the US - and even the Midwest - that are way better if you don't want to live in a suburb.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say unless you graduate from UofM/MSU with a 4.0 in a STEM field or you're close to retirement making $25+/hr, it would be best to leave Michigan altogether. The state's best days are behind it.

**nain rouge** · September-22-14, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

In fact, I'd go as far as to say unless you graduate from UofM/MSU with a 4.0 in a STEM field, or if you're not close to retirement making $25+/hr, it would be best to leave Michigan altogether. The state's best days are behind it.

Pretty much. Unless you're an engineer that loves cars, Metro Detroit is pretty underwhelming. And if you do get a job outside of the Big 3, it'll be PR for for the Big 3 or something like that. Without all that money the autoworkers in the factories used to spend in the region, it's pretty moribund. I found that a lot of young professionals in Detroit actually rely on the low cost of living and grants and whatnot from the automotive royalty to get by. It's a strange scene.

**Hypestyles** · September-22-14, 09:41 AM

Many of the buses are worse. I had car problems in the past two weeks, and had to catch buses to get to work. I can say for sure that the Grand River route is horrible. I remember waiting for a Grand River circa 6:30 a.m., and by 7:30, 3 buses had driven by—totally packed with people-- without stopping—okay, one bus stopped just short of the actual bus stop to let a few people off [[the back door), then it kept going.
The Michigan Avenue is an alternative route for me, but even that bus ended up being horribly late one day. Apparently the Plymouth Limited route that used to go downtown isn’t active anymore, which was another option of mine that’s not an option anymore. The Livernois bus is fairly reliable, but it doesn't get me downtown; I still have to transfer.
After work, In the afternoon/evening, trying to catch the Jefferson bus is aggravating, because it’s apparently 40 minutes apart based on the schedule; it was easier for me to walk to one of the People Mover stops and catch that to the Rosa Parks station. I’ve even caught the People Mover in the morning once I got to the transit center, got off at the Ren Cen then walked the rest of the way to work.

**Hypestyles** · September-22-14, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Gary Brown is in charge of the DDOT and was placed in that position by the Governor and Orr. He is probably screwing up the system.

Brown's an ex-cop. Why the heck is he involved with the public transit system?

**Scottathew** · September-22-14, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

Brown's an ex-cop. Why the heck is he involved with the public transit system?

Brown loves to feed at the public trough.

**313WX** · September-22-14, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

Brown's an ex-cop. Why the heck is he involved with the public transit system?

He's the COO of the city, making $225K per year [[a position BTW created out of thin air). So basically, everyone in the city answers to Brown noser for any duties Duggan/Orr/Snyder delegates to him.

It was his reward for doing Snyder's bidding as he tried to take over the city's operations. So it's a textbook example of cronyism at its finest, as Brown noser's hardly qualified for the job...

**middetres** · September-22-14, 10:33 AM

I've said this before...they should cut out all but the 15 routes with the highest ridership, increase frequency on those routes to make them more predictable and reliable. Build the confidence back in the system from there.

The system is still spread too thinly...

Also, they missed an opportunity to streamline routes when they installed the new bus stop signs a few years back. There are way too many bus stops on these routes, some only a block apart. There should be no more than 4 or 5 stops per mile. If you can't walk 1/8 of a mile [[660 feet) that's pretty sad!! Nothing worse than one person getting off the bus at one stop then someone pulling the chord to get off at the next stop one block away. Definition of lazy!! And , no, neither one was elderly or handicapped.

Dail-a-ride service should be beefed up for the elderly and handicapped to make up for the reduction in routes and bus stops.

Another thing that slows down the system is the boarding process. Get rid of taking cash. Make everyone get a re-loadable transit card. No swipe, just tap to pay your fare. Again, it's ridiculous to have 20 people waiting to board a bus and everyone's digging in their pockets for change.