In the old days, if Republicans were firmly in power in Lansing, and business interests wanted something, it got done. Period. Today, powerful figures like Sandy Baruah, CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Gary Anderson, chair and CEO of DTE Energy, recognize the need for some form of regional mass transit to at least get people to potential jobs.
But two powerful politicians said no this year: L. Brooks Patterson, a Republican, and Mark Hackel, a Democrat. So the newest proposal from the RTA, or Regional Transit Authority for bus-based fast transit routes on the most frequently traveled corridors won’t even get on the ballot.
So it’s back to the drawing board. Now, this discussion is also charged with a degree of class prejudice and race. Two years ago, a comprehensive proposal for a network of fast buses that looked something like railroad train cars and would have their own special lanes did get on the ballot. It had a lot of support from both traditional liberal constituencies and the business community, and I thought it would pass. But it lost by a mere one percent of the vote.
When the results from Wayne, Washtenaw and Oakland counties were tallied, the Regional Transit Proposal was leading by 42,000 votes. But it was crushed in Macomb, losing by more than 60,000.
The day after the election, I heard a student at Macomb Community College being interviewed about the transit proposal. He had voted against it, he said, because they would use the new system to come to Macomb to sell meth.
Nobody had to ask who he meant by “they,” though the reality is that any local meth is and was probably more likely to be made in rural Macomb County than in Detroit. But there the racial monster was.
There is, however, some hypocrisy on both sides. It is a fact that there are jobs scattered throughout the area that Detroiters could and would fill, if they could get to them without walking 20 miles one way. More than a third of adults in the city don’t have access to a reliable car. They need a transit system.
For whatever reason, the Detroit and suburban bus systems aren’t in sync to get them there. Either of the Regional Transit Authority proposals I have seen would be good for the economy – but some people just don’t care enough.
On the other hand, I suspect some of the people who are the strongest supports of mass transit would seldom or ever take it, including me.
I might well ride it to see what it was like, or take it to the airport, but I would seldom use it otherwise; my schedule is too complex, and I like the convenience and comfort of my car. But when I’m 80, it may be different.
The bottom line, however, is that we need some version of mass transit if Michigan is ever going to be economically competitive again. That’s a fact.
Millennial entrepreneurs and job creators are going to demand it as part of the price for moving or expanding here. The RTA and its then-CEO, Michael Ford, did an inadequate job of explaining this and selling their plan to the voters two years ago. For the sake of all our futures, I hope they get another chance.
