BRT is a poor substitute for actual rail, because it is much lower capacity and much less powerful as a driver of development patterns. And Detroit absolutely has the population [[in the metro region) to support grade-separated rail transit. Cities with significantly smaller regional populations [[Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, etc.) are building out extensive rapid transit systems right now. Detroit just has a complete lack of political will to move towards a transit-oriented development framework as these cities are doing.
Of course with that in mind, I'd certainly take BRT as proposed in the 2016 RTA plan over what we have today.
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