Detroit’s been waiting a long time for a cohesive plan for mass transit, and it looks like we’ll have to wait another week to get a final plan.
A vote of the board of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan had been scheduled for their meeting today at 2 p.m. to approve the proposal that will go before voters this November, but in a statement, board chairman Paul Hillegonds said they needed more time to study the feedback they’ve gotten from the community – especially around the financial pieces.
Instead of paraphrasing, here’s the statement in its entirety.
Since May 31, when the draft regional transit plan was unveiled, there has been considerable feedback on a variety of issues.
Because of a significant amount of recent feedback on revenue and other projections in the plan that require a deeper level of analysis, the Regional Transit Authority is requesting an additional week to evaluate and address those concerns. We are requesting that a special board meeting be scheduled for one week from today to take up the RTA Master Plan.
The Board is committed to collaboration and to creating the best possible plan for effective regional transit in Southeast Michigan. This additional week for evaluation and addressing concerns is an important step toward realizing the best possible plan for the region.
Transit plans in metro Detroit are no stranger to delays. It took many attempts to even get a legislative framework for an RTA with a board made up of members from all of the constituent counties – and that victory for mass transit was now four years ago.
