  Sean_of_detroit Member Username: Sean_of_detroit Post Number: 2235 Registered: 03-2008 |
Mayor Cockrel just made this announcement during the State of the City Address.... | ||
Russix Member Username: Russix Post Number: 181 Registered: 11-2006 |
I'm gonna start looking for those 1/4 full SMART & DDOT Woodward buses, thats a new one for me. | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 1416 Registered: 01-2006 |
It's about damn time!! Hopefully they creat some more efficient regional routes and eliminate many of the double and triple serviced areas. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 490 Registered: 02-2008 |
Did he mention a new name or was it just that "they're going to merge". This is exciting though. Russix, are yousaying that the buses aren't full? Quite the contrary...of all the 450 Woodwards I've been on, 100% were full. | ||
Russix Member Username: Russix Post Number: 182 Registered: 11-2006 |
Dtowncitylover, I'm saying they are full. Detroitstar, I think SMART would take over the Limited services from DDOT. The idea has been floating around that SMART would operate only limited stops in the city but anyone can get on and off at the stops. This would take some of the load of DDOT and speed up SMART. Kinda BRT-ish. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5247 Registered: 06-2004 |
at the risk of buzzkilling - he said they were starting talks about merging | ||
Detroitej72 Member Username: Detroitej72 Post Number: 1179 Registered: 05-2006 |
Even the largest oak was once an acorn. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5248 Registered: 06-2004 |
Very true, and that's part of what the Mayor tried to get across tonight. | ||
Eastsideal Member Username: Eastsideal Post Number: 300 Registered: 10-2007 |
For those with short memories, we've been down this road before: http://www.detroittransithisto ry.info/DDOT/DDOTsuburbanroute s-1994.html It didn't work out very well. Lasted only 9 months in fact. It ended up exacerbating city-suburban tensions and starting a "bus war" of competition between the two agencies that lasted for a few years. Not saying this can't work, or that it shouldn't be tried. In fact I think it's the most sensible way to deal with the area's transit needs. But we need to heed and learn from the lessons of history, lest we doom ourselves to repeat them. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4099 Registered: 10-2003 |
This is kind of a given, and the area has been heading in that direction for quite a few months, now, with the Detroit Regional Mass Transit plan. There were only two options, keep the existing systems seperate but overseen by an umbrella organization, or merge the two creating the new organization. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5249 Registered: 06-2004 |
So you're trying to argue that merging two redundant systems is going to cost more instead of less? | ||
Eastsideal Member Username: Eastsideal Post Number: 302 Registered: 10-2007 |
I'm not at all sure what he's saying. But there isn't a major transit system in the country that supports itself (or in the world, for that matter). Transit is a public service, like paved roads or garbage pickup. | ||
Young_detroiter Member Username: Young_detroiter Post Number: 65 Registered: 08-2004 |
The Lansing area, with its Capital Area Transportation Authority, has the most reliable and efficient bus system that I have ever encountered. The buses are clean, almost always on time according to their schedule, suitable for the visually impaired or physically handicapped, etc. Furthermore, one can ride the bus to nearly any suburban location or community in the region for many miles. And the icing on the cake is that fares are low, and there are machines that print cards of bus fare or "credit" as a substitution for not getting change back. | ||
Young_detroiter Member Username: Young_detroiter Post Number: 66 Registered: 08-2004 |
The People Mover, regional bus routes, and any future commuter, light-rail systems should be headed by one entity, one authority. Instead of squabbling over municipal identities and power, our politicians should move this region forward together. Let us share the burdens and share the beauties of what is (Metro) Detroit. | ||
Young_detroiter Member Username: Young_detroiter Post Number: 68 Registered: 08-2004 |
Trainman, If a small state like Rhode Island can sustain itself and prosper, technically the Tri-Counties (Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties) could support themselves, having a third of Michigan's population and wealth of the OC. Nevertheless, I would like to see better transit other than Greyhound to move people, particularly students from Metro Detroit to the northern and western institutions including: U of M, Grand Valley, Central, MSU, etc. and vice versa. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 2211 Registered: 12-2005 |
Anyone can write a post like Trainman, all it takes are a few keywords and an on-line random paragraph generator: NO, the truth is that written accords are in place that do not protect the $100 Million per year that SMART and DDOT get from fuel tax money. How do you think Livonia got away with slashing bus service to Wal-Mart? | ||
Malcovemagnesia Member Username: Malcovemagnesia Post Number: 118 Registered: 12-2005 |
Hey mikeg, where online did you find that Trainman-style random paragraph generator? I have a six page creative writing essay due tomorrow. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 1230 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote:DDOT did this for a while. Then they abolished it last November to try to force more people to buy passes instead of paying cash. The result is that people just put in their two bucks and waste the fifty cents, and then complain to the bus driver that they can't get change cards anymore. | ||
Ladia Member Username: Ladia Post Number: 216 Registered: 05-2008 |
I think DDOT needs to speed up,if they merge, ddot needs to be more like smart and go more places and be more on time.lol | ||
Luckycar Member Username: Luckycar Post Number: 147 Registered: 02-2007 |
Youngdetroiter,I belive that both Great Lakes and Indian Trails bus co. have a metro airport to K-zoo,Lansing and Ann Arbor run.They also go up to the UP. So it looks like we have put behind "us" the idea of a regional transit authority being a plot to steal one of Detroits gems?Only took 30 years. | ||
Trainman Member Username: Trainman Post Number: 738 Registered: 04-2006 |
Suburbanites, be prepared to pay big money if SMART and DDOT merge. This will cost many hundreds of oollars more per year just to keep what we have. | ||
Russix Member Username: Russix Post Number: 183 Registered: 11-2006 |
^"I think DDOT needs to speed up,if they merge, ddot needs to be more like smart and go more places and be more on time.lol" They have recently started enforcing GPS tracking on DDOT, drivers who used to go with the flow of traffic now purposely hit every red light not to get ahead. I rather show up 5 min early then watch a bus driver brake at every green light for an hour. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1787 Registered: 12-2006 |
Russix, that's because many of the DDOT schedules call for unnecessarily long trips, which I suppose is because there used to be more traffic on City streets to slow the buses down, plus more bus passengers (so the stops take longer). DDOT really ought to time-study the routes and allow the trips to be sped up where feasible. In the meantime, though, I want the buses to keep to their time points; I hate to show up at 10:55 for the 11:00 bus and it's already gone by. Predictability is absolutely the key to running a system people can use. | ||
Bshea Member Username: Bshea Post Number: 5 Registered: 01-2009 |
The latest from Crain's on the DDOT-SMART merger: Transit unions to sue: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/S hea Merger catches transit advocates by surprise: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a rticle/20090215/SUB01/30215995 9/1069 Second link might be premium, but the first one isn't. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 492 Registered: 02-2008 |
The one time I may ever say that unions are getting in the way of progress. I understand why they want to be part of the talks and would love for them to be a part of it, but why a lawsuit? I don't think bus drivers need worry about the merger and the light rail. If anything, there would be no job cuts because some routes would be running every 10-20 minutes and therefore need more buses, and some bus drivers would have priority over being hired as a train driver. (Message edited by dtowncitylover on February 16, 2009) | ||
Rugbyman Member Username: Rugbyman Post Number: 351 Registered: 06-2005 |
Treehouse wars, Dtown. | ||
Bshea Member Username: Bshea Post Number: 20 Registered: 01-2009 |
The latest on the DDOT-SMART saga: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/s hea (Some Ambassador Bridge-DRIC stuff on there, too) | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 1169 Registered: 07-2007 |
Check this out. This is in the Grand Rapids area. Can you even imagine this happening in SE Michigan? http://gaineschartertwp.blogsp ot.com/2008/09/fishers-station -charrette.html |
