Another stab at regional transit has crashed, and the fingers are out pointing blame in all directions.

Is it the Republican-controlled Legislature’s fault for killing a bill to make it easier to impose a new transit tax in Metro Detroit? Is it Macomb Executive Mark Hackel’s fault for opting his county out of the revised plan? Does responsibility lie with the small communities on the region’s fringes who don’t want to pay for buses they won't use?

Take your pick. But in my view, the blame rests with an approach that attempts to walk around the political and structural obstacles to regional transit rather than knock them down.

Metro Detroit shouldn’t need a new taxpayer-funded transit authority. It already has two of them in SMART and the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT). And it doesn’t need the Legislature to enact a solution it could pass itself.

The smart answer is SMART. The suburban bus service was supposed to be the regional transit system.

But from the beginning Detroit refused to join, as did many of the outlying townships and villages that are too small to justify bus routes. Then some major communities opted out, including Livonia, Bloomfield, Plymouth, Canton, Waterford Township — 53 in total. That left a disconnected system that falls well short of meeting the needs of commuters.

The Regional Transit Authority was passed to force the counties to work together. This latest attempt in the Legislature would have navigated around many of challenges, including allowing an opt-out for Macomb and shrinking the footprint to exclude the rural communities.

It went kaput. The best path now is to make SMART work as it was intended.

Say what you will about Hackel blocking transit, but Macomb is the only county with 100% SMART opt-in. When Macomb passed its SMART millage, it didn't allow for local opt-outs.

Wayne and Oakland should follow that lead. Wayne Executive Warren Evans and Oakland Executive David Coulter are big backers of transit, and both have Democratic-controlled county commissions.

They could ask their commissioners to put an issue on the fall ballot requiring all of their communities to opt-in. Before they scapegoat Macomb, they should work to get 100% participation in their own counties.

That would allow for a cohesive bus system that, if it works, might attract better support from taxpayers.

Detroit, too, should be a part of SMART. Federal labor laws complicate the full merger of SMART and DDOT. But there are things the city could do, including repealing the ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor for a SMART bus driver to pick up passengers in Detroit, outside of designated areas. It could contract service from SMART and begin paying the regional tax.

Once SMART became fully connected and supported, nothing would stop it from doing the things the RTA would have done, including partnering with Washtenaw County, adding service to Metro Airport, and even exploring some limited light rail.

One system that serves the entire region, supported by one tax that residents can understand. SMART makes that possible, if we’re smart enough to do it.

nfinley@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @NolanFinleyDN

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