Privatize DDOT Today !!!

[Trainman]

It's best for the city of Detroit to privatize DDOT and lay off union workers.

The city can and should competitively franchise the entire bus system to one of a number of large bus companies, for a period of up to 20 years. Under such an arrangement, the private company would provide a basic level of service specified by the city of Detroit, charge fares within a broad range authorized by the city, and renew the bus fleet and facilities. Like D-DOT today, the private company would have an exclusive right to operate service along the city's routes.

Another option would be to have competitive contracting. In England, London Transport, which is twice the size of New York City's public transit system and 15 times the size of D-DOT, competitively bids out to private contractors all of its bus services. Competitive contracting has reduced operating costs 45 percent, inflation adjusted. In addition, service quality and the number of passengers using the system are both higher than before. London Transport maintains its right to establish routes, fares, and service standards. It even tells the private contractors how to paint their buses.

London is not the only major urban area to competitively contract its transit services. Other cities that have competitively contracted transit services, or are in the process of doing so, include Stockholm, Sweden; Copenhagen, Denmark; Adelaide and Perth, Australia; and Helsinki, Finland. The European Union is issuing regulations that will require most public transit systems to be subject to competition. In America, the cities of Denver and San Diego have saved 35 percent and 40 percent, respectively, thanks to competitive contracting for transit services.

Detroit could reduce the cost of its operations by at least 40 percent using competitive franchising or competitive contracting. This estimate is based on hourly operating costs. Detroit spends more than $75 per service-hour per vehicle, whereas competitively contracted buses cost approximately $45 per hour, a 40-percent difference. Savings of this magnitude could exceed $60 million annually.

Detroit outlaws the use of "jitney" services by private vendors. A jitney may be a taxicab, van, or minibus that charges a flat fee while operating along established routes. In New York, jitneys are providing low-cost, flexible service to low-income residents that are less costly than transit service and more convenient for many riders. Many will provide door-to-door service for repeat customers. If legalized, they could supplement current transit service, reduce subsidy requirements, and provide a new source of income for city residents who could become jitney entrepreneurs. All of this would benefit the community by increasing employment and providing higher levels of service to people who do not have ready access to automobiles

The efforts of transit tax advocates are not to protect Federal and State funds but to replace them with a tax on fast food and other regressive tax increases to BAIL OUT both SMART and DDOT

The November 2006 Livonia SMART bus reductions are proof that both federal and state funds for SMART and DDOT are fast becoming history.

Learn the truth about southeast Michigan's mass transit funding in Trainman’s save.. In DETROIT LINKS