Metro Detroit doesn't have a regional transit plan

Metro Detroit's transit troubles were front and center at the annual Big Four meeting Tuesday at Cobo Center.

"Right now we don’t have a plan," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, referring to ongoing discussions on regional transit.

Other topics, including how to maintain momentum from the effort leaders put into the region's failed Amazon bid, were on tap for the Detroit Economic Club discussion, but a regional transit plan — or lack of one — dominated talk among the executives of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties and the City of Detroit.

Regional officials have been meeting for months behind closed doors, but apparently remain far apart on how a regional transit plan should look.

Patterson said his administration will be surveying Oakland County residents about what they want. "I'm going to make sure I'm on the right track."

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, along with Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, are, among the four, thought to be most in favor of solidifying a plan. On Tuesday, Duggan sought to convey the stakes for the region.

"I just think we as a region (are) taking a much too casual attitude" about something that's crucial to metro Detroit's future, Duggan said. "If we don’t address (transit) we'll keep falling further and further behind."

Despite the obvious differences of perspective, Duggan said he is optimistic a new regional transit millage request can be on the ballot in 2018.

Interest in the topic has grown recently as the Detroit area's transit deficiencies were seen as one of the factors harming the region's bid to be Amazon's second headquarters. But the regional talks predate the bid, prompted in part by the inability of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan to foster agreement on how to move forward after its failed millage attempt in 2016.

That plan, which lost by about 18,000 votes out of more 1.8 million cast, would have placed bus rapid transit lines on several corridors, added commuter rail between Detroit and Ann Arbor and improved and expanded bus service around the region. The 1.2-mill, 20-year property tax measure was also designed to overcome one of the major perceived failings of the current SMART bus system, which serves Detroit's suburbs. It would not allow communities to opt out.

Duggan's reference to getting a ballot measure in place for 2018 is significant because of requirements in the legislation that created the RTA in 2012. The entity, which acts as an umbrella organization for the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, Detroit Department of Transportation, Detroit People Mover and Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority, can seek a millage only in November of even-numbered years.

If, as the Free Press previously reported, the chief executive-directed group opts to create a new plan that shrinks the RTA region for service and taxing purposes to a more urbanized core, legislative action would be required, meaning timing would be limited.

Some critics of the $4.7 billion RTA plan have pointed to changes in technology that they believe could make a system focused on buses outdated in years to come. Duggan said there is no scenario where it would be more cost-effective to rely on ride-hailing services such as Uber or Lyft as a substitute for transit. Those services could be used to transport riders from a bus stop to their final destination, the so-called last-mile transit dilemma, but they are only a partial solution, he said.

"At the core, we've got to have a first-class transit system as its base," Duggan said.

Evans noted that buses are how people who use transit now actually get around, suggesting that waiting for technology that might be seen in "The Jetsons" might not be a reasonable approach. Evans said he just wants to see a transit plan come together, whether it's through the RTA or another option.

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel sought to focus on what he says is much more important to his residents than transit: the poor condition of roads in the region. He said trying to sell voters on something they do not want, presumably a regional transit plan, is problematic.

Hackel has long promoted as a solution to the region's transit issues more coordination through SMART and DDOT. In comments after the meeting, he also suggested there was no reason SMART and DDOT cannot be merged.

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As the Big Four prepared to meet, about a dozen protesters affiliated with the transit advocacy group Motor City Freedom Riders gathered outside in a biting wind, holding signs promoting regional transit.

Joel Batterman, a coordinator with the group, said the protesters are "hoping Brooks and Hackel get the message."

One of the protesters, Ellen Lyle of St. Clair Shores, said regional transit is important to the whole metro area.

"Even if it doesn't affect you directly, you need to care about it," she said, noting the prohibitive cost for some of car ownership and insurance and the challenges of getting around for people with disabilities.

Regarding the survey of residents, Patterson's comments — he said his office would "take the pulse, go almost door to door" — seemed to suggest that would happen in each county. However, it was not clear after the meeting if any other executives planned to do so.

John Roach, a spokesman for Duggan, said in an e-mail that "the last RTA vote showed clearly that Detroiters overwhelmingly support improved transit. Also, the staff at DDOT hear from transit riders every day, who see the improvements that have been made to Detroit's system, but still have challenges connected to their jobs and other destinations in the suburbs."

Jim Martinez, a spokesman for Evans, said in an e-mail that Wayne County will not conduct a survey.

"We learned a lot from before and after the 2016 millage, which provided insight into views on transit and is informing this process now. It passed in Wayne County, and while we don't plan an individual survey, we will keep our local municipalities engaged and get input throughout," Martinez said.

The advocacy group Transportation Riders United called on Patterson, in a tweet, to stop stalling.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.