Transit12

BusMass TransitSMART

On Aug. 7, Vote ‘Yes’ To Support SMART Bus Service

The Detroit region already squandered the latest, best opportunity to invest in our region and sharpen our economic competitiveness, thanks to the intransigence of Oakland and Macomb Counties in stonewalling the latest Regional Transit Authority plan. The refusal of Oakland and Macomb representatives to simply approve putting the proposal before voters this year means we’ll likely have to wait at least two more years to try and resurrect the issue yet again after voters narrowly rejected a sim...

CarharttRoadsSnyder

News Byte: Macomb County Clerk Is Out, Gov Talks Transit & Roads, Belle Isle Boat Launch? And More

This is your Daily Detroit News Byte Podcast for Tuesday, March 27th, 2018. * Macomb County’s Clerk is out the door, thanks to a judge’s ruling * Governor Rick Snyder talks transit and roads with Sven * Belle Isle might get a public boat launch and is studying it * Wayne State University is expanding the footprint of a theatre and moving a historic building * Carhartt has some new Detroit Tigers swag * Comerica Bank and Hope Closet are looking to help low-income families get prom dres...

Connect Southeast MichiganMass TransitRTA

PODCAST: Will A New Metro Detroit Regional Transit Plan Even Leave The Stop?

On this week’s Daily Detroit Happy Hour with Sven Gustafson, we talk mass transit. A new plan called “Connect Southeast Michigan” has been put forth by Wayne County Executive Warren Evans (more here)… but does it even have a chance? Does any plan have a chance? The Daily Detroit team walked through some of the speech Evans gave to a Regional Transit Authority Board meeting, a couple of comments, what the plan is and what it could mean.. and had straight talk and openly wondered if there is...

DetroitIndianapolisIndyGO

LISTEN: How Indianapolis Funded Mass Transit, Stayed Alive In Amazon HQ2 Sweepstakes

If you listened to our recent episode on Amazon’s snub of Detroit (and you totally should), you’ll recall that the inclusion of Indianapolis among the 20 finalists for its HQ2 project was the topic of some surprise. Well, one of the reasons they made it was their efforts to develop 50 miles of Bus Rapid Transit and other improvements. So we sent our correspondent Shianne Nocerini down to Indiana’s capital city to talk with Brian Luellen, vice president of public relations for IndyGo, the ci...

RTATransit

LISTEN: The State Of Detroit Transit Today With Paul Hillegonds, RTA Chair; Rob Cramer, SMART; Dave Gifford, Advocate

What is the state of Metro Detroit’s transit system? Where do we go from here? Will there be a ballot proposal in 2018? What about universal fare cards? What improvements have been made? That was all covered at the Transit Riders United Annual Meeting which had a program about the State of Transit. There are a lot of questions around something that’s pretty critical topic to address for the future of the City of Detroit and the region. We don’t have all the answers, but Sven’s guests do s...

BusSMARTTransit

SMART Releases Proposed Downtown Stops For New Regional Corridor Routes

Editor’s note: This post has been updated with a new map from SMART as of Nov. 11, 2017. Recently, the suburban bus system (The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation or SMART) unveiled a new set of three routes up Woodward, Gratiot, and Michigan avenues with stops every mile or so, Wi-Fi and service lead times as little as every 15 minutes and service 24 hours. The routes would run from downtown Detroit to Metro Airport via Michigan, to 23 Mile in Chesterfield Township down...

Bike ShareLisa NuszkowskiMoGo

PODCAST: Open Streets Detroit And A MoGo Bike Share Update With Lisa Nuszkowski

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/dailydetroithappyhour/DD-28-Happy_hour_Lisa-Nuskowski_mixdown.mp3″ image=”http://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/3/6/9/b/369bcd2e047848f2/gustafson-nuskowski.jpg” download=”true” social_gplus=”false” social_linkedin=”true” social_email=”true” twitter_username=”TheDailyDetroit” ] More and more in Detroit, bikes and streets for pedestrians are a thing. With Open Streets Detroit coming up on October 1 — a festival where 3.5 miles of Michigan Avenue...

Bike ShareEastern MarketMilwaukee Junction

For Day To Day Usage, MoGo Bike Share Beats The QLINE Hands Down

When it comes to practicality, the QLINE streetcar has been a disappointment. Our team is pretty bike- and walk- friendly, and will take the bus if the timing makes sense. We have contributors who live near the QLINE and the MoGo stations, and others who live near bus lines and use them (in the suburbs, too). When both opened earlier this year, we had multiple debates over which service was going to come out on top. It was evenly split between bike share lovers and believers in the power o...

Downtown DetroitNorth endQLINE

New Report Shows QLINE Service Improvements, Ridership On The Rise

A new report from the parent organization of Detroit’s streetcar says that the new QLINE streetcar service is making improvements following several opening glitches, expected growing pains and complaints from riders. M-1 Rail, the QLINE’s operating organization, has been working with the streetcar’s operator, Transdev North America, on service improvements for about a month now. Those have resulted in more riders, shorter waits and better coordination with traffic signals. Ridership on the Q...

BusDetroitMass Transit

I'm Riding The New RefleX Bus To Work. Here's What It's Like.

I’ve spent the past couple days riding the new RefleX bus, a limited-stop, express bus service between the suburbs and downtown Detroit, and I’m here to tell you: The Duran Duran song by the same name totally keeps popping into my head. Also, the three-year pilot program is a welcome new transportation service. The RefleX (fle-fle-fle-fle-flex) is a new service from the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan that provides service between the suburbs and central business district se...

EditorialFuture of Detroit Mass TransitMass Transit

When It Comes To Transit, Maybe It's Time We Left Brooks Patterson Behind

It’s a common saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. As we told you earlier today, the RTA board — after four years of work, and thanks to some last-minute objections from Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson — defeated a proposal to let voters decide whether they want to fund an improved regional mass transit system. To most modern cities, this is the kind of basic thing you just do. Here...

DDOTDetroit busesTransit

Service Changes Coming To Detroit Buses, And There’s Still Time To Have Your Say

The Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) has a set of upcoming service changes coming April 23, 2016, but before then there will be three workshops and two public hearings to, according to city officials, get more input from residents. “We implemented these new Community Input Workshops during our last schedule change and found it very helpful with service development,” says Dan Dirks, DDOT director in a statement. “Some of the decisions we made in January were heavily based on feedback...