Robert Cramer, a veteran transit executive credited with modernizing the Detroit People Mover, is set to steer the city’s Department of Transportation (DDOT) into its next chapter, diagnosing reliability and safety as the system’s most urgent concerns. 

Cramer’s Jan. 6 ascension to the city’s top transit job comes at a time of upward momentum. He takes over the department that continues to revamp its bus fleet and facilities, and aims to grow ridership. Still, Cramer must also grapple with challenging terrain: persistent scrutiny over unreliable bus service that mars some residents’ quality of life and aging vehicles burdened by maintenance troubles. 

He’s the fourth DDOT leader since 2018, replacing Michael Staley, the interim director who oversaw improvements to paratransit services. City transit advocates said Cramer comes to DDOT with substantial credentials, but they’ll continue pushing for solutions that will strengthen the system.   

In his first interview with BridgeDetroit, Cramer said he sees the role as an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of Detroiters, building upon the efforts his predecessor already set in motion. 

“I can bring some more energy and experience to help DDOT keep on that trajectory,” Cramer said. 

In a statement, Mayor Mike Duggan credited Cramer with overseeing the most significant People Mover operating improvements in decades and set a goal of returning DDOT ridership numbers to levels sustained before the COVID-19 pandemic—roughly 440,000 passengers a week. Right now, DDOT serves more than 250,000 passengers a week, according to the city. Improving reliability and safety, Cramer said, will be crucial to achieving that aim. Cramer will earn $225,000 per year, according to the city.  

Attracting more riders requires delivering a service worthy of people’s trust and confidence and a closer examination of current bus schedules. 

“It’s really important for the riders to be able to count on the service,” Cramer said.

In November, 62% of mid-afternoon and evening buses left terminals on time during weekdays, compared to 78% of buses scheduled in the morning, according to DDOT’s performance dashboard. Late departures could result in long wait times. 

A bus failing to show up on time as promised, if at all, “can often be worse than just having a lower frequency schedule in the first place,” Cramer said.

“That’s something that can cost somebody a job. They can miss important medical appointments. They can have canceled appointment fees. There’s just so much that can happen from that, so that’s something that will really be the focus of mine – doing everything we can to provide the service as reliably as possible to the schedule.”

Besides improving bus service, concerns over safety loom large. 

In June 2023, a woman was hit and killed downtown by a DDOT bus. The driver had a history of collisions and tragedies. Between 2020 to 2022, legal settlements against the transit department, including injuries from city buses, rose from 224 to 409. Those figures represent a roughly 83% increase per a BridgeDetroit analysis.

Cramer will prioritize the safety of DDOT’s passengers, bus drivers, facility staff, pedestrians, bicyclists, other vehicles on the road. “Obviously, that’s a big deal,” he said. 

Before joining DDOT, Cramer was the general manager at the People Mover—a two and a half year tenure highlighted by a free fare program and $10 million worth of upgrades to improve the rider experience, including station technology and rail replacement, according to a city press release. He’ll continue to serve as a member of the Detroit Transportation Corporation Board, which operates the elevated, light rail system.

From 2014 to 2022, Cramer held high-level positions at the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), where he instituted rapid transit routes along Woodward, Gratiot and Michigan avenues with limited stops and more frequent bus service, and guided the agency through the trials of COVID.

But the scope of his authority at DDOT differs from previous transit systems. DDOT is a city department, not a separate organization, adding complexity to the director’s job. 

For example, DDOT coordinates with the city’s public works, planning and other departments on some infrastructure projects. The law department assists DDOT with legal risks. Last spring, the City Council approved a $189 million budget for DDOT, which included a roughly 13% infusion of extra money for fiscal year 2025. 

Other zones of opportunity on Cramer’s watch: finding more ways to enhance streams of real-time information to riders, including alerts about service disruptions and transporting Detroiters to places they need to go that are beyond the city’s borders and into the suburbs.

New director, old problems 

Long-time transit advocates praised Cramer’s appointment, noting his track record at the People Mover and SMART, local roots and open-minded leadership style. 

Megan Owens, the executive director of Transportation Riders United, said she’s pleased with the hiring of Cramer. 

“He’s a solid, no-nonsense person,” she said. “He and I don’t always agree on everything, but he is certainly very willing to talk straight about what issues or needs are.” 

Michael Cunningham, a transit advocate and taxicab driver, said he texted Cramer to congratulate him on the new job. “He’s very down to Earth,” Cunningham said. “I can’t say anything bad about him.” 

Cramer will leverage his insight and knowledge from previous transit systems to bolster DDOT’s operations, said Robert Pawlowski, a transit advocate and vice chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan.

“He was able to bridge the gap between the advocates and staff and really hear our concerns on how SMART should be improved,” Pawlowski said.

Cramer said he’ll keep the lines of communication with advocates open, recognizing community input, good and bad, as an invaluable guide for DDOT. 

“You always want to hear that,” he said. “Our mission is going to be to provide the best transportation we can every day for the future, so that feedback is telling us how we’re doing.”

That willingness to listen echoes the positive relationship forged between some transit advocates and Staley, who left his own mark on the city’s transit department. 

Staley initially came to DDOT in 2022 to overhaul a paratransit service that was mired in crisis and an onslaught of customer complaints. Paratransit service now has an on-time performance rate of 97%, per a city press release.  

While interim director, Staley oversaw increases in ridership, the hiring of more bus drivers and the opening of the Jason Hargrove Transit Center, an old cattle barn turned into a state-of-the-art passenger refuge from the cold or heat and a resting spot for drivers, at the former State Fairgrounds on Eight Mile and Woodward. 

“We are still grateful for his service,” Pawlowski said. 

As Cramer’s DDOT tenure begins, transit advocates say they won’t turn down the heat to hold the transit department accountable. 

Owens hopes the DDOT Reimagined Plan, an ambitious blueprint to enhance mass transit in Detroit which incorporates community input, will move forward. Among the proposals: more frequent bus service and better bus stops. 

Owens said dropping the plan would be a “real shame.” 

“I hope that Robert will embrace that as a mission to work toward, to really focus on implementing DDOT Reimagined, and that he doesn’t need to craft his own vision,” she said. “Sometimes new directors want to do a whole new planning process, and that would not be very useful.” 

Cramer refrained from sharing his thoughts on the fate of DDOT Reimagined but acknowledges the sentiment around the energy invested in the process of its creation. 

“That feels like a heavy enough topic that I don’t want to comment until I really have time to understand what the current plan is, and kind of how it fits into our progress and in our funding,” said Cramer, who spoke with Bridge just ahead of when his appointment went into effect. 

Cunningham will continue to pressure DDOT to improve on-time bus performance, hire more mechanics, acquire more buses, and honor a tradition upheld by Staley. “So every month we have a meeting with the director,” Cunningham said. 

During those sessions, Cunningham said advocates raised key issues with Staley, like a proposed behavior rule banning political organizing and education on city buses which was later dropped. 

Cramer also gave assurance that he’ll serve as DDOT’s leader “for the long haul,” and seemed optimistic about the department’s future. 

“I wouldn’t have taken the position if I didn’t think that there’s really a path for continuing to improve the organization and really making meaningful changes,” he said. 

The transit department will receive 84 new buses, mostly hybrid fuel, over the next two years, representing nearly 30% of DDOT’s fleet, per the city. Four more electric buses will debut in 2025 and four hydrogen fuel cell buses in 2026. 

Construction workers are building DDOT’s new Coolidge Terminal, located at 14044 Schaefer Highway, with a price tag of $160 million. The 200,000-square-foot site, or roughly the size of three and a half football fields, was an old bus garage complex damaged by a fire in 2011. The Coolidge Terminal is expected to be completed in 2026 and will serve as DDOT’s west side base of operations, city officials note. 

Yet major transformations may prove slow and incremental—a facet of the transportation industry. Even the process of procuring a bus can take two years. 

“In transit, nothing moves fast,” Cramer said. “The good news is it’s not like I’m starting from zero.”