Bing to cut bus services

stinkbug · August-09-09, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Could anyone answer me on why Detroit had never gotten mass transit? .

Yep. Because we live in a region of fucking gearhead idiots who think transit riders are somehow on the take and should pay their own way. That's the kind of vision we have around here. That's why we're in the mess we're in today.

Retroit · August-09-09, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by stinkbug

Yep. Because we live in a region of fucking gearhead idiots who think transit riders are somehow on the take and should pay their own way. That's the kind of vision we have around here. That's why we're in the mess we're in today.

Yes, heaven forbid people pay their own way. Why do that when you can make others pay? Even better, just borrow and make future generations pay for it.

**iheartthed** · August-09-09, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by Bearinabox

I think the failure of our transit system has more to do with our misplaced priorities and fucked-up regional political climate than with our income distribution. There is plenty of money in metro Detroit, and as I said before, transit is a regional issue.

Also, FYI, the MTA, which runs the NYC subway and bus system, is owned by the state, not the city. I believe the CTA is also run by Illinois as well. So as you said, this should be a regional issue, not a city of Detroit issue.

Stosh · August-09-09, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Also, FYI, the MTA, which runs the NYC subway and bus system, is owned by the state, not the city. I believe the CTA is also run by Illinois as well. So as you said, this should be a regional issue, not a city of Detroit issue.

Well there you go. Make the DOT and SMART combine into a state agency by law. Sounds kind of familiar, perhaps DARTA comes to mind? I think that if the legislature puts this through, that would effectively end the discussion about DARTA kind of like the Cobo deal suddenly went away.

**Funaho** · August-09-09, 11:39 PM

Originally Posted by Retroit

Eastpointe. $197.79 for 6 months for a '91 Grand Prix. Progressive Insurance. No collision coverage. Clean driving record. I drive 6000 miles/year.

If you are making monthly insurance payments, pay for 6 months. You will save a lot. Some companies will even allow you to pay for a year at a time.

Shop around for a lower policy; this can be done quite easily on the internet.

Drop all coverages you don't need. I only carry what is required by law. Take the highest deductible available. Put the money you save from lower premiums into your own emergency fund to cover any unforeseen expenses.

Only buy used cars. New cars depreciate rapidly in their first few years. Most people spend way too high a percentage of their income on their car. Buy instead of financing or leasing.

Paying $2400 a year for insurance is INSANE! I would move before I spent that much. I couldn't love living anyplace enough to waste that much of my hard earned income on transportation. Think about it: you spend enough in 10 years to buy a new car.

I drive way too much to trust a used car, honestly...75 miles a day to and from work in Ypsilanti. I'm insanely paranoid about car trouble.

Sadly, this just about the cheapest insurance i could find. It's State Farm. Before that I had GEICO which was at least $100/mo more.

Would love to move, but I currently owe approximately 3x the market price on my house. I'm kinda stuck.

**iheartthed** · August-10-09, 06:42 AM

Originally Posted by Stosh

Well there you go. Make the DOT and SMART combine into a state agency by law. Sounds kind of familiar, perhaps DARTA comes to mind? I think that if the legislature puts this through, that would effectively end the discussion about DARTA kind of like the Cobo deal suddenly went away.

Well didn't it go through the legislature before only to be vetoed by the former governor?

Stosh · August-10-09, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Well didn't it go through the legislature before only to be vetoed by the former governor?

Yes, but I'd think that would not happen this time.

**detroitmale** · August-10-09, 09:09 AM

If Mayor Bing needs to cut any department, the Lighting Department and DPW can be out sourced because they don't do anything anyway. I've been here in Detroit for 17 years now and the same street lights that were out then are still out, light poles are lying on the ground all around the city, get rid of them because they're useless anyway. DPW don't do anything either but collect good overtime for doing nothing. The city council ramps and raves about giving Detroit citizens jobs but the fact is 75% don't want to work, they want to play and of that 75 %, 40% of them can't work because they can't even pass a drug test or don't even have a GED! That's why the city services are the way they are again because of incompetent personnel working for the city. The Police Department needs to be out sourced to Wayne County because they're filled with nothing but crooks. More crooks in the police department than on the streets that's why you can't beat the crime on the streets because they have direct links to the police department.

**JVLIVS** · August-10-09, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by 48202

My rough calculation is that it would be a $4.25 fare per ride. That would really go over well.

That might as well be a gallon of gas-which could go a heck of a lot longer than a mere bus ride.....

Just one man's opinion!

**48202** · August-10-09, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by JVLIVS

That might as well be a gallon of gas-which could go a heck of a lot longer than a mere bus ride.....

Just one man's opinion!

Jvlis,
Are you advocating $4.25 per gallon for gasoline as a way to encourage use of mass transportation? Raise taxes on gas and use the proceeds to subsidize the busses?

**Rocko** · August-10-09, 10:52 PM

Detroitmale - you got it! Outsource DPL and DPW to get the work done and the utility systems up to a state of moderate good repair... indeed lights out for years, poles lying and fouling sidewalks, repairs not being made, potholes not being repaired....

**Danny** · August-11-09, 10:38 AM

Some folks just want to create DOOM for Detroit, the suburbs and its citizens. That's the cost of capitalism. When GREED gets into the hearts of men, corporations die and so regionalization.

Now for cutting D-Dot bus service, its a terrible ideal. Detroiters will put up a recall notice for Bing and others. However Mayor Bing is just a former old 60 year old Detroit Piston Basketball Player with economic skills and NO political priciples. You Detroiters pick him so deal with it. It's better to have a guy who do can risky business than to have a guy who can throw Manoogian parties. Most Detroiters and suburbanites are still living in darkness and isolationism rather than going for the light and progress. Detroit is what it is today because we the people have created this xenophobic and corrupted mess.

Detroit will NEVER going to be like New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Atlanta, Washington D.C. Portland, Buffalo, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Franicisco, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, Philadephia, St Paul. Half my family left Detroit to Seattle because they like the way the city is handling them. But I'm staying until the opportunity comes. Even I have to suffer through the Ghettos of Detroit dodging spookies, DEAD [[C)KRAK HEADS and po'folks and schizoblacks and mutants. Everyone get use to it. Detroit is one Great Depression city. We're stuck in the year 1929 while the U.S. is in its 21st century [[2009). The ONLY way to fix this city is the people with clean hearts. The people must change for themselves first, then they can change their neighborhood and take action.

**stasu1213** · August-12-09, 10:48 PM

Why don't the mayor call for a forensic audit? I think he will find out that some of his buddies would be found out. He is a bought and paid for Mayor. His role is to privatize the services

**EastsideAl** · August-13-09, 12:38 AM

Originally Posted by mwilbert

There are no public transit systems in the US that cover their costs via fares.

This is an important point that cannot be emphasized enough. I swear if I hear another fool talk about how Detroit's system can somehow be made self-supporting through fares I think I'll scream.

The problem here, as so many have pointed out, is that Detroit's transit system suffers terribly from a lack of funding that comes from anyplace other than the City itself. This makes it different from almost all other cities of its size, almost all of which have a regionalized transportation authority, often run under the state with significant state funding.

MIRepublic · August-13-09, 12:58 AM

Al, do you have any examples of regional transit authorities that fall under state control? I honestly can't think of any. Almost all are ran by the regional authority, themselves. Just want to get that cleared up.

**EastsideAl** · August-13-09, 01:34 AM

Certainly both the MTA and NJ Transit in the NYC area do.

**stasu1213** · August-13-09, 07:33 PM

DDOT had made significant amount of money in the past decades. I know that it is a non-profit entity but why couldn't the monies be pumped back into the system? If some of the money come from washington why isn't Conyers and Kilpatrick doing anything about this situtation. I believe that detroit should been had a transit authority many years ago. Instead detroit had chosen to run the system itself. Letting the Big 3 dictate to them over the years how to do it.

Trainman · August-15-09, 06:47 PM

The solution is for Lansing to raise the gas tax and give DDOT more. This would get people back to work who ride DDOT and then would raise more taxes to help our state recover from the recession.

Currently, our fuel tax is low enough to raise a few cent to do this. If this means putting people back to work then why not?

**stasu1213** · August-16-09, 08:17 PM

The oil company probably would not want the gas tax risen for transit[[their' competition). They would not be profiting that way for people would catch the transit more and not driving; using up gas which is from oil. The oil company lobby the legislature to benifit the oil company and not the people who would rather ride transit. The lawmakers in Lansing including the governor would have their' strings pulled by the oil company and not raise taxes to benifit transit.The main question to ask is if some of the money that goes into DDOT comes from the federal government then WHERE IS CONGRESSMAN CONYERS AND CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN CHEEKS KILPATRICK ON THIS. THEY ARE VERY SILENT.

Trainman · August-16-09, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

The oil company probably would not want the gas tax risen for transit[[their' competition). They would not be profiting that way for people would catch the transit more and not driving; using up gas which is from oil. The oil company lobby the legislature to benifit the oil company and not the people who would rather ride transit. The lawmakers in Lansing including the governor would have their' strings pulled by the oil company and not raise taxes to benifit transit.The main question to ask is if some of the money that goes into DDOT comes from the federal government then WHERE IS CONGRESSMAN CONYERS AND CONGRESSWOMAN CAROLYN CHEEKS KILPATRICK ON THIS. THEY ARE VERY SILENT.

Currently DDOT gets $70 Million per year from state fuel taxes. But the transit lobbyists want this money for trollys and the road lobbyists want this for large freeway. Thats why they are working together to milk the taxpayers out of the fuel tax to fully replace with a tax on fast food.

Thus, it's time to vote NO next August 2010 to defeat the SMART property tax renewal.

The Livonia opt. out is proof that SMART officials do not care about protecting the state fuel tax for public bus service or working to get industry support. If they did care then they would go to Lansing and fight the elimination of the fuel tax for public bus and community transit for seniors and the handicapped. They won't fight unless the public protests the massive cuts from Lansing.

**Tig3rzhark** · August-16-09, 09:59 PM

Well the bus service here in Detroit is already piss poor. Just when I thought things would get better.

This is exactly why there should be just one transit system that is ran by the entire region. At least we know that the city government can't provide for those in need of transit.

Some things just never change...

I just hope that those that are dependent on the bus system and are able to ride a bike to their location, would start doing so. After all, riding a bike is better than waiting forever for a bus to show.

Buy American · August-17-09, 08:04 AM

Bing is just another thug in a different suit.

**Danny** · August-17-09, 01:07 PM

Here's a ideal, PRIVATIZE D-DOT! That way the city busses will be running 24 hours a day 7 daus a week.

**Tig3rzhark** · August-17-09, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

Here's a ideal, PRIVATIZE D-DOT! That way the city busses will be running 24 hours a day 7 daus a week.

There's no guarantee under either systems that the buses would run 24/7.

A better solution would be to merge the transit systems into one.

**Danny** · August-17-09, 02:27 PM

Here's another ideal!

Let D-DOT busses run 15 to 30 minute peak hours from 6:00am. to 10:00am. and from 3:00pm. to 6:00pm. and run for every hour after peak hours. Let D-DOT busses run every hour on Saturday from 4:00am. to 11:00pm. and Sunday from 8:00am. to 8:00pm.

If that don't work, let's tell Bing and Detroit City Council to have SMART take over some of D-DOT after 6:00pm. and Sunday Service Or have D-DOT cut both Satuday and Sunday service and have SMART take over those services every hour from 4:00am. to 12:01am. on Saturdays and from 8:00am. to 8:00pm. every hour on Sundays.