At minimum, #Detroit needs a train between the Detroit Metro Airport and Downtown.
Come on now.
This was last weekend.
Waited over 2 hours for a bus at the airport.
I am patient, but this should not happen.
Bus service cannot hope to (even remotely) satisfy a region the size of the Detroit Metro.
It simply cannot.
Not sure how many are coming in out-of-town for the #GrandPrix this weekend, but the #NFL Draft next year is going to be a disaster from a transportation perspective.
@adamjcook@adamjcook You're absolutely right about the abysmal state of transit in Detroit. City leaders don't care, and regional transit is hampered by the anti-transit politics of the most politically powerful suburbs. When Detroit tried to make a play for the new Amazon base, the most publicized reason for rejection was the lack of transit. There was about a year there when Duggan talked about the need to improve. But that's old news to them now and transit's probably worse now than it was
@adamjcook And DTW makes so much money from their parking lots. So so much. You can understand DTW better as a parking business supported by the presence of an international airport. They're never going to allow easy access to the airport via transit until the government forces them to
@adamjcook Also, fwiw, there are a few good (and underfunded) orgs around Detroit doing the hard work of advocating for better transit. Transit Riders United (where my gf works) is encouraging people to write to legislators about prioritizing transit in this year's state budge. They're encouraged about having a sympathetic state government for once, but Dems here need reminders that transit is an everyday issue in dire need of immediate improvement https://www.detroittransit.org/boost-mi-transit-funding/
Marcus, just curious . . . any insight from those involved into whether there might be more interest / traction for public transportation around Grand Rapids (or, generally, the western part of the state)? I always thought it would have to start there.
@serpicojam@adamjcook If you mean for any kind of statewide transit, my off-the-cuff answer is that I think places like Grand Rapids do whatever they can to keep any state investment in infrastructure from benefitting Detroit. I think I've heard Grand Rapids itself actually has decent transit, but there's no way they'd want it to hook up with a regional transit network connected to Detroit. That's just my own general understanding of the situation though
@adamjcook The Grand Prix isn't going to be a problem - it just doesn't draw that kind of massive out-of-town crowds - but the draft is going to be a mess in terms of transit and hotel space.
Threads like this make me think about how the lack of public transportation in #Michigan, secured over a century by the auto industry, has made it so difficult for the state to draw new investment and new industry.
@adamjcook Can you deliver this same message to the Pittsburgh area please? Those of us living in the area are exhausted from being shouted down by those that go no where and want to live in the 19th century.
@csnetprogrammer I really cannot understand how... between the so-called Bipartisan #Infrastructure Bill and the, ahem, Inflation Reduction Act (#IRA) how... how in the world... this route is not being planned as we speak.
And why new regional #rail projects are not seeing funding from that.
What an enormous miss if either:
Local jurisdictions or the federal government (where applicable) are not aggressively pursuing it; or
@adamjcook@csnetprogrammer “regional” rail would likely be throttled by the freight railroads and building a new ROW is very expensive. If the state want to use the money to fix a bridge, they have a right to fix that bridge
@adamjcook It is just tragic that the US has not invested in good intra and intercity mass transport. The high speed rail in Europe is wonderful, and subways rock for we tourists.
I can see, right now from the Transit app, that tomorrow's bus service will have similar issues.
I hope that the powers that be at the #Mackinac Policy Conference put regional transit in their Thinking Caps because if you want to talk about a top population and economic vibrancy killer... this is it.
Bus service needs to be complemented by intracity and regional #rail for a population center this size (and one in which we hope to grow).
Add comment