Dwight Ferrell is the new-ish head of SMART, the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation that runs transit services in Detroit's suburbs.
Transit is an issue that's been difficult for southeast Michigan to solve. Between political differences, many cities with sprawled-out low population densities, large distances between job centers and differing priorities of what transit should do where the auto industry has been paramount; it's been hard to make progress.
And the lack of it has been hurting our competitiveness for businesses, keeping talented people, and more.
So what do we do to make change? Try something a bit different. Focus on being a mobility provider. That different solutions are going to be needed in different situations and places.
So tune into this interesting conversation with the new General Manager.
No, we don't get into which routes where (yet); but more of an idea of what turning from being just a bus service to a mobility service could look like.
