AAATA_bus_102414_RJS_03.jpg

An AAATA bus picks up passengers in downtown Ann Arbor at the end of the work day before heading to Ypsilanti via Washtenaw Avenue.

(File photo | The Ann Arbor News)

ANN ARBOR, MI - It's not entirely clear yet what will happen next after voters rejected a regional transit tax proposal.

But leaders of the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority will have time to process the results of the Nov. 8 election and think about their next steps. By law, they can't put the question to voters again until November 2018.

"Obviously we're just trying to absorb what happened," said Michael Ford, the former CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority who was chosen two years ago to lead the RTA as CEO after leading a successful effort to win voter approval to expand transit services in the Ann Arbor area.

Ford didn't get the win he wanted Tuesday night as a slim majority of voters across four metro Detroit counties defeated the RTA's 20-year, 1.2-mill tax proposal, but he felt good that it at least had support in Wayne and Washtenaw counties.

Voters in Oakland County were fairly evenly divided on the proposal, and voters in Macomb County soundly rejected it, enough to ensure its defeat.

A not-yet-final vote count shows the proposal had about 49.5 percent support overall across the four-county area, which wasn't quite enough.

"We're going to have to reassess, understand why," Ford said of why people voted against it, adding he plans to convene with the RTA board, which includes representatives from the different communities, to discuss possible next steps, including whether to plan to put a proposal before voters again in two years.

"That's would be the next opportunity. That will be something we'll have to discuss with the board, take a look at what makes sense," he said.

"We remain optimistic about the need to try to get something done and we'll continue to assess options and opportunities."

Members of Citizens for Connecting our Communities, a group that supported the RTA proposal on Tuesday's ballot, said the election didn't deliver the outcome they wanted, but they argue the need for reliable regional transit is still great.

Ford agrees.

"It's a problem, so I think the objective is still important and it needs to get accomplished some way, somehow," he said.

Ford said he thinks the plan the RTA put before voters, including commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Detroit and a host of regional bus services, is still a solid plan that offers needed services to get people where they need to go.

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said he's disappointed in the RTA proposal's defeat. He and a majority of City Council members supported it.

"We are a region that requires regional transit and the RTA millage was a careful, well-thought-out mechanism to achieve that needed goal," he said.

"There's no question that passage of the RTA millage would have given Detroit-to-Ann Arbor commuter rail service some momentum," he said, adding he hopes the RTA plan achieves support in the future so that can move forward.

"Commuter rail is a necessity for Ann Arbor to improve our local economy and to improve our local quality of life."

Matt Carpenter, Ann Arbor's transit authority CEO, was similarly disappointed in Tuesday's outcome.

"I think for everyone who supports the mobility and the freedom of movement and regional integration that that millage represented, certainly it's a disappointment," he said. "I believe a majority of Washtenaw County supported it, and there certainly was a lot of support throughout the other three counties as well, which I think is a strong foundation that could be built on in the future."

He thinks the proposal will have a better chance of passing if it goes on the ballot again after more people have had a chance to get comfortable with it.

One of the services proposed under the RTA plan was bus rapid transit service along the Washtenaw Avenue corridor between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

In many ways, Carpenter said, the RTA's proposal was a way to sort of accelerate what the AAATA already is working on in that regard. He said the concept envisioned under the local ReImagine Washtenaw initiative is what he calls "BRT light" with a series of bus super stops slowly being rolled out.

Carpenter said the RTA plan, if funded, would provide more resources to get that concept to full buildout sooner.