Cutting Bus Service on Sunday?

**Hypestyles** · August-13-09, 10:45 AM

If this goes through, it could have some significant repercussions, especially in an election year..
http://www.freep.com/article/2009081...uns-on-Sundays

I drive, but I distinctly remember my years when I didn't.. and the difficulty of getting to various places by bus, especially during evening hours, late hours, and weekends.. I remember being a kid in Gary, IN, when the decision was made to cut all bus service on Sundays.. it was interminably frustrating..
At the very least, Bing needs to look at maintaining the most frequently used routes, and cut back on the number of buses a day..

and to think how people constantly harp against having light rail projects here..

**Detroitnerd** · August-13-09, 10:47 AM

Nice re-election present. This ought to put him in solid with Detroiters.

**French777** · August-13-09, 10:55 AM

I believe I remember reading that DDOT Bus system is the only one in the country that is owned and opperated by a city. Is that true?

**Detroitnerd** · August-13-09, 10:59 AM

Maybe true. Goes back to the early 1920s, when the city bought the streetcar operations within city limits. Then it was the Detroit Department of Street Railways [[DSR), which gradually added bus service and tore up streetcar track whenever it could. All part of a strategy, no doubt, to help our largest employers. [[And you can see how well they've done by us, helping make the city into the glittering metropolis that all love and revere.

)

**iheartthed** · August-13-09, 11:14 AM

This is clearly a scare tactic.

**Danny** · August-13-09, 11:29 AM

Mayor's Bing's proposal to eliminate D-Dot Sunday bus service may effect starting August 28, 2009. However it hold off after August 28 2009. I urged all Detroiters and suburbanites to FIGHT this rediculous plan. Take back city public transportation. Fight the powers that be! PROTEST NOW!

Detroiters need D-DOT Sunday and Saturday bus service for church services, to and from work and visiting friends and do errands. The city will lose more money on the fare box rather than saving or making money. Save D-DOT from financial ruin from city leaders.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

Tell our leaders that they must maintain city services or face recalls during for after their election year.

For Neda Soltani's sake

Bearinabox · August-13-09, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

This is clearly a scare tactic.

If so, it's a successful one. I'm scared.

**Danny** · August-13-09, 12:16 PM

That's right bearinabox.

Just like in the book "Animal Farm" by Orsen Wells.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

Four legs good, two legs bad.

Four legs good, two legs better.

**iheartthed** · August-13-09, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Bearinabox

If so, it's a successful one. I'm scared.

Well, this is not to say that this has no possibility of happening but...

A few months ago the MTA here in NYC started floating doomsday scenarios about extraordinary fare hikes and service cuts. They did eventually implement a fare increase, but it was nothing like what they had proposed. And none of the service cuts that they threatened ever became reality. It was a scare tactic to get the state to increase funding to the system so that they could plug their budget. My guess is that Bing is trying to push through some type of negotiations with the DDOT unions.

Trainman · August-13-09, 09:59 PM

The Detroit Department of Transportation - DDOT should be privatized to be a for profit company.

The Michigan Department of Transportation – MDOT is still required to pay for the handicapped, if we fight for this funding but it is not enough to pay for the able bodied unless DDOT and SMART can lower their per passenger costs.

We have nearly the highest mass transit taxes in the nation compared to other cities according to the federal transit database. For example, Chicago residents pay less then half that we do as a matter of fact.

It is time for Wal-Mart, Burger King, Targets, Meijer, Pizza Hut, Wendy's and McDonalds to pay their own able-bodied workers and not the taxpayers.

It's time to vote NO next August 2010 to cap the SMART property tax.

See the updated Trainman’s save the… in DETROIT LINKS

**Jason** · August-20-09, 11:11 PM

A lot of people who work retail jobs, or other types of jobs that aren't 9-5 M-F, and who depend on the bus are going to get fired.

Now is a time when people are more likely to loose their cars or not be able to afford them, so I think if anything, now is the time to expand bus service. Mayor Bing must be out of touch with his constituents if he thinks this is a good idea.

Bearinabox · August-21-09, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by Jason

A lot of people who work retail jobs, or other types of jobs that aren't 9-5 M-F, and who depend on the bus are going to get fired.

Now is a time when people are more likely to loose their cars or not be able to afford them, so I think if anything, now is the time to expand bus service. Mayor Bing must be out of touch with his constituents if he thinks this is a good idea.

Pretty much.