Detroiters share public transit frustrations, potential solutions

BridgeDetroit’s final Community Conversation of the year gathered residents to talk transit in Detroit, air frustrations with unreliability of the city’s bus system, share ideas for potential solutions and get some answers to pressing transportation-related questions. 

The newsroom convened residents, transit experts and advocates Tuesday evening at Chroma in the North End. Speakers included Ben Stupka, executive director of the Regional Transit Authority (RTA); Michael Cunningham II, a transit activist and a taxicab driver, and Christina Debose, known as “@sociallychrissy” on social media, a bus rider documenting her public transportation journey online. 

“People rely on the bus service,” Cunningham told the full room of attendees. “I give out bus tickets and hand warmers (to riders) at the stops. It warms their heart that someone even cares about them, because they don’t feel like people care. We’ve got to learn to care for each other.” 

Since summer, BridgeDetroit held three other community talks on neighborhood beautification, housing and water affordability.  

Here’s a recap of the transit conversation: 

Stupka said a lack of funding is a major issue for the bus system, citing a failed 2016 ballot initiative for a millage to create public transit connecting Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties. 

“A lot of other cities have more mechanisms to provide funding for transit,” he said, and that comes from taxpayers. 

Transit funding comes from federal, state, and local sources, according to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. The organization, in a 2016 report, said to improve regional transportation, local governments and transportation authorities need funding beyond property taxes. That includes, the group said, property, income or sales taxes and any new local taxes would need to be levied regionally, not just locally. 

Local transit supporters honed in on how scarce funding impacts everyday Detroiters. 

Cunningham said there is a shortage of bus drivers and that there needs to be a sense of urgency to meet the need. He also said bus drivers need higher wages, which starts at about $15 an hour — far below the national hourly wage average of $22.98 that bus drivers make in urban transit systems. 

In October, DDOT reported serving just over 1 million monthly riders and an on-time rate of 63%, according to the city’s performance dashboard. 

“(The Department of Transportation) is in a real crisis,” said Schetrone Collier, president of the ATU Local 26, which represents city bus drivers. DDOT is short about 150 bus drivers, said Collier, adding the city is doing “mass hiring,” but it’s a challenge to retain drivers. 

Under a directive from Mayor Mike Duggan, and through a collaboration of the city’s Human Resources Department and DDOT’s Safety & Training Department, the number of bus drivers has “steadily increased” since September, according to the city’s administration. The overall number of drivers now sits just below 400 and DDOT expects to have 400 drivers in January and a total of 600 drivers by September. 

Cunningham on Tuesday encouraged more people to use the city’s buses to get an idea of what riders are experiencing. Even people who don’t ride the bus should contact the mayor’s office and Detroit City Council members, Cunningham added. 

As a taxi driver, Cunningham sees problems riders face and is a watchdog for riders, lobbying city officials to make improvements, and advocates for better working conditions and pay for bus drivers. 

To contact Cunningham’s taxi cab service for a ride, call (313) 334-9669.

“They’re not just numbers, these are people relying on the system,” he said. 

Debose highlighted the importance of quality bus service. 

She started using public transit after she lost her car during the 2021 flood. Since then, she has been documenting her journey – the good and the bad. She said her experience on the bus as someone in Corktown is not the same as other neighborhoods because it is more reliable for her, but she recalled being passed by a bus driver twice. 

“People deserve respect on buses,” she said. “People deserve to be able to get to where they need to.” 

DDOT is planning a bus service expansion early next year. Duggan recently said the department hopes to have the number of daily buses back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.

There were 210 buses in service each day before the coronavirus hit in 2020, the mayor said. DDOT plans to have 150 buses active daily by the third week of January and 190 buses by September.

DDOT also plans to test a long-awaited “bus rapid transit” plan on the 9-Jefferson route.

Daytime frequency would increase to every 10 minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes on weekends. The city would also build new shelters and bus stop islands that allow for faster pickup and drop off.

Other service changes will include increased frequency on the 16-Dexter, 18-Fenkell routes and adding trips during peak hours to routes 3, 7, 13, 15, 19, 27, 60 and 67.

DDOT expects to intensify efforts and refine processes throughout the upcoming year to improve its on time performance, and will report key performance measures to the City Council every quarter. The next report will be presented to the council’s Public Health and Safety committee in January. 

Stupka added during Tuesday’s conversation that the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is conducting two corridor studies, one focused on Gratiot – which is regarded as a deadly thoroughfare – and another on Woodward, from downtown Detroit to Pontiac.

The two separate state-led studies are designed to evaluate safety, mobility, transit, and multimodal transportation. They will be used to generate recommendations to make the corridors safer. 

The RTA — a 10-member board covering Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties which is tasked with securing and managing funding and resources for transit — is expected to launch service from Detroit to the airport in early 2024, Stupka said. 

The grant-funded pilot service, operated by Indian Trails/Michigan Flyer, will provide regular express bus service between downtown Detroit and the airport. Specific routes, costs and locations are being finalized. A public meeting will be held in January to share updates and gather feedback. 

The RTA, he said, also applied for a $130 million federal grant, through the Reconnecting Communities program, to make corridor investments on Gratiot, Michigan, Woodward and Washtenaw and expects to hear back about that application early next year. The money would go towards bus stop and shelter improvements and is expected to cover more than 100 stops, Stupka said. 

To connect with the RTA, visit the Contact Us section of its website. Another way for residents to have their voices heard is via the RTA’s Citizens Advisory Committee.