I'm surprised I'm the first one to comment on this, but anyhow... from the Detroit News article and other conversations I have formed the opinion that a good many people believe SMART just doesn't want to provide local service in Detroit and that the Ordinance that Mr. Hertel refers to is a "ghost ordinance"; that is, it doesn't really exist.

The problem is, it does. Whether or not Mr. Hertel would like to operate full service within Detroit, the fact is that he legally cannot. Any SMART driver that picks up inbound passengers or drops off outbound passengers within the City is violating a city ordinance. I know this is a little bit difficult to believe nowadays, but there was a time when the City did not want competition in public transportation and so prohibited it.

First, from Sec. 58-4-1: "Inter-city bus means a bus which transports passengers for a prescribed fare either from a point or terminus outside the corporate limits of the city to any point or terminus within the corporate limits of the city, or from any point or terminus within the corporate limits of the city to any point or terminus outside the corporate limits of the city."

Now that we know what an inter-city bus is, we come to Sec. 58-4-76: "No person operating an inter-city bus shall transport passengers locally within the city or do what is commonly called a local business."

So there it is, verbatim. If you want SMART to assist with local transport in Detroit, the first thing you have to do is get 58-4-76 repealed. Then we can start to deal with any remaining issues.