Bus services

[stasu1213]

Being the midst of the suddenly increasing gas prices Detroit and it's surrounding suburbs should focus on improving bus services and bringing back discontinued lines especially those that ran from the suburbs to the city. DDOT had improved it's services under Dan Dirks as director. Now that he has stepped down services had became worse especially when riders had to start paying again during the pandemic. Transit should be improved so that citizens could use transit while saving money having their cars parked

[401don]

Being the midst of the suddenly increasing gas prices Detroit and it's surrounding suburbs should focus on improving bus services and bringing back discontinued lines especially those that ran from the suburbs to the city. DDOT had improved it's services under Dan Dirks as director. Now that he has stepped down services had became worse especially when riders had to start paying again during the pandemic. Transit should be improved so that citizens could use transit while saving money having their cars parked

...or the city spends a fortune running more empty buses at 4-5 bucks a gallon.

[stasu1213]

...or the city spends a fortune running more empty buses at 4-5 bucks a gallon.

Ridership can increase with good promotions of using transit and save more money in your wallets and purses. The Grand River bus is always crowded as well as Gratiot. Ridership will increase now that these places if employments including offices are reopening

[401don]

Ridership will increase now that these places if employments including offices are reopening

Difficult to argue with that sentence.

[Rocket]

and save more money in your wallets and purses.

It's hard for buses to ever be a good value, unless your parking fees are high, or your time is worth less than $4 an hour.

Per example; You have a 22 min commute by car that consumes 1 gallon of fuel each way [2 gallons a day @ $4.10 per gallon = $8.20 and 44 minutes per day].

However, riding the bus means that 44 min round trip is now takes 2:15. And a DDOT only buss pass for the month costs you $50 [$70 for DDOT + SMART], which = $2.27 for each of the 22 working days in a month.

So $8.20 gas - $2.27 bus pass = $5.93 in savings per work day, but at the expense of an extra 91 minutes of travel time [a chunk of which is you standing out in the cold waiting for a bus or a transfer].

So $5.93 divided by the extra 91 min = $3.95 an hour.

So the question becomes, 'is your time worth more or less than $3.95 an hour?'

Or put another way, how much does gas need to cost for it to make sense to ride a bus? If you make $14 an hour, gas would need to go up to just over $14 a gallon. And that presumes the bus fares don't also increase, and you don't mind standing in the cold waiting for buses.

[Meddle]

And the bus is always on time.

And the bus never breaks down.

Are there are never troublesome people on the bus.

And the bus schedule matches your personal schedule.

And the bus goes where you need to go.

[stasu1213]

Those figures are only used in a car reliant city as Detroit. If Michigan fixed the "Damn Transit Aystem" and stop spending millions of dollars on cheap asphalt citizens could have a reliable transportation system. Duggan and Dan Dirk had improved DDOT until Dirk had stepped down around 2018. The new director had taken DDOT back to it's unreliable glory days beginning a year before the pandemic hit this country. Gas prices are around $4.00 a gallon. $60.00 dollars a week to fill your tank. $240 a month to travel to work and back only [[ this is driving a compact to sub compact car). Let us not forget the wear and tear on your car especially damage to your tires and suspension caused by the potholes on these Damn roads that the State probably hired some fly by night contractor to pave. I think that riding reliable transit for only $70.00 a month would save Michiganders a hell of a lot

[Rocket]

Those figures are only used in a car reliant city as Detroit.

Well, that's like all but 1-4 cities in the country.

I think that riding reliable transit for only $70.00 a month would save Michiganders a hell of a lot

Unless you live in New York city, using public transportation means remaining poor your entire life.

It also means you cannot have a home [for which you will need to buy stuff], and it means you can't raise children.

In most cities it only works for one of the adults in the house to go to work, and even then, they need to be very low paid for it to make financial sense.




Has anyone seen the Q-Line move? I don't go down that stretch a lot,.. but the handful of times I have, there were only 1-2 Q-Line cars on the road, and none of them were actually moving. Also, none seemed to have any riders inside.

It was my understanding that they were back up and running since last September, and the rides were going to be free until this April 1?

So is it free and still unused?

[Meddle]

My deep rural county has a transit system I've used once when i needed to get my car serviced. I have to call at least the day before and make an appointment within their schedule. They come to my house and take me to the exact address I need to go to. It doesn't cost me anything as long as both ends of the trip are in my county. Going out of the county incurs a mileage rate.

The vehicles are modified van sort of things with wheelchair access for those who need it.

If cities could work out that type of system, I'd be more for it.

[Seven&wyo]

My deep rural county has a transit system I've used once when i needed to get my car serviced. I have to call at least the day before and make an appointment within their schedule. They come to my house and take me to the exact address I need to go to. It doesn't cost me anything as long as both ends of the trip are in my county. Going out of the county incurs a mileage rate.

The vehicles are modified van sort of things with wheelchair access for those who need it.

If cities could work out that type of system, I'd be more for it.

Honey, if you’re not going to post something interesting or intelligent just don’t post at all

[Dumpling]

Meddle, that is a good post. You could add
the thought that the bus drivers in rural areas
are often community people that watch over
the folks on their routes. There was a recent
tragic story of a rural lady who passed away
suddenly in her car, on her farm, leaving her
dogs and ponies without food or water, so
that they also perished.

If she had taken the bus even just once a week
there probably would have been a better scenario.

You could add how often does your county think
about cutting out the bus service to save tax
dollars?

[jackie5275]

Has anyone seen the Q-Line move?

I've seen it moving with riders a few times a week. As a matter of fact, I happened to see a collision with one of the trains & a car near the Baltimore station. I don't know if the rides are still free, but I've seen up to a dozen people on them. Although, that's not a whole lot of riders.

[401don]

I've seen it moving with riders a few times a week. As a matter of fact, I happened to see a collision with one of the trains & a car near the Baltimore station. I don't know if the rides are still free, but I've seen up to a dozen people on them. Although, that's not a whole lot of riders.

So you're saying it's not having the success of the people mover?

[Gistok]

Honey, if you’re not going to post something interesting or intelligent just don’t post at all

Good Lord, after using the DYES function of reading a members most recent posts... you really shouldn't be calling anyone "honey"... Yikes!

[Meddle]

You could add how often does your county think
about cutting out the bus service to save tax
dollars?

It isn't tax funded as such. Mostly by state and federal grants and probably some donations. It's more of a regional service, about six or eight counties.

The key factor is no set routes .... all on call, by appointment.

[Seven&wyo]

Good Lord, after using the DYES function of reading a members most recent posts... you really shouldn't be calling anyone "honey"... Yikes!

You got it, sweetheart

[Lowell]

The bus transit situation has to be greatly improved for riders with the implementation of smart phone apps that allow realtime. tracking of the buses. They work very much like the Uber of Lyft apps where you see the available cars moving about on the map. This is the case with the DDOT and Ride Smart apps as seen in these screen snaps.

Current Dexter Buses:


Smart bus on Grand River Route:

[Gistok]

You got it, sweetheart

Lol... touché...

[Margaret's boy]

This might be a solution to Detroit's transportation problems. God knows it's got to work better than the dysfunctional public transit Detroit and Windsor residents rely on. From The Windsor Star:
"Passengers will soon be in the driver’s seat as Tecumseh and Leamington prepare to launch on-demand public transit bus services .Rather than conventional “fixed-route” transit offered in most municipalities — with buses following a posted schedule of stops — “on-demand” systems dispatch the bus in response to specific requests by passengers using a smartphone app, website or by phoning a call-in centre."

"Tecumseh municipal council gave its approval Tuesday to a March 28 launch. Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald told the Star on Wednesday that her town will launch its on-demand transit service the first week of May."
“We’re very excited about it,” said MacDonald. “Our expectation is certainly that our ridership will increase.”

[Danny]

The bus transit situation has to be greatly improved for riders with the implementation of smart phone apps that allow realtime. tracking of the buses. They work very much like the Uber of Lyft apps where you see the available cars moving about on the map. This is the case with the DDOT and Ride Smart apps as seen in these screen snaps.

Current Dexter Buses:


Smart bus on Grand River Route:

The problem about this bus tracking apps is most people don't know where to pick up the apps. So we will had to spread the word.

[cramerro]

Your best bet is actually to use Transit App. SMART has stopped servicing the app due to some technical issues and the real-time feed has been upgraded and improved, and sent to Google Maps, Apple Maps, Transit App, and a few others. If you look on Transit App and you see the three-bar symbol to the upper right of a time prediction, that means it is getting actual real-time information on that trip - you should see that symbol on nearly every SMART prediction [[at least within 30-60 minutes).

[Zacha341]

Yep, YEP and Y-E-P! When all's said and done I prefer driving [as do others]. Especially as core civility has all but dissolved when dealing with the public in a closed captive-audience setting like a bus or subway.

No thank you.

The maniac drivers on the road bad enough.

And the bus is always on time.

And the bus never breaks down.

Are there are never troublesome people on the bus.

And the bus schedule matches your personal schedule.

And the bus goes where you need to go.

[dtowncitylover]

Yep, YEP and Y-E-P! When all's said and done I prefer driving [as do others]. Especially as core civility has all but dissolved when dealing with the public in a closed captive-audience setting like a bus or subway.

No thank you.

The maniac drivers on the road bad enough.

"If we had just a little awareness and freedom, we would challenge the automobile. But to take note of them harm done by progress is to begin to question the very foundations of our society and to hasten the transition to a different model of social life. Contesting the automobile is going terribly far. It is going against the opinion of fascinated humanity. Protecting the speed of cars is more important than saving people. The first minimal exercise of freedom would be to make cars a secondary accessory which is used only in exceptional circumstances. But modern people, fascinated and diverted, put things the other way around. They want to go out and they are back in their cars. They smash themselves up, thinking to grasp the reflection of happiness."
-Jacques Ellul

[Honky Tonk]

"If we had just a little awareness and freedom, we would challenge the automobile. But to take note of them harm done by progress is to begin to question the very foundations of our society and to hasten the transition to a different model of social life. Contesting the automobile is going terribly far. It is going against the opinion of fascinated humanity. Protecting the speed of cars is more important than saving people. The first minimal exercise of freedom would be to make cars a secondary accessory which is used only in exceptional circumstances. But modern people, fascinated and diverted, put things the other way around. They want to go out and they are back in their cars. They smash themselves up, thinking to grasp the reflection of happiness."
-Jacques Ellul

Sounds like another guy who couldn't get the hang of driving.

[Zacha341]

^ Hah! Everyone has their preferences for sure HT. I stated mine.

Everyone has their circumstances, values, their family, safety needs, employment, etc - not everyone can walk far, or wants to cycle beyond exercise.

I do find it interesting how much some spend on fancier, problematic car makes/ models the drain their wallets. But even that IS their choice.

Detroit is clearly an urban setting, hardly rural. Not all are retired. I drive family members and others who no longer drive. They too prefer NOT to ride busses.

Unapologetically, though not really a long-distance driver, I like driving.

I want to retain that particular 'freedom'.