Detroit Visions 4: The Decision on Transit (and the Failures of the Past)
This year, voters in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties have the chance to support regional transit for the first time in a generation. The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) is asking voters to approve a 1.2 mill property tax to fund the new transit services of the RTA Master Plan. Regional leaders (see below) are lining up to support the plan, seeing it as crucial to provide the platform for our future economic growth.
We need to remember that the Detroit region has failed over and over to provide a coherent rapid transit network that would provide a plausible alternative to the car. It is a small miracle that this RTA vote is even happening, having nearly been scuttled at the last moment.
The reasons for the history of mistakes are more complex than you might think — it is not all a conspiracy by the car companies. (For a more complete description, you can refer to this excellent article in the Metro Times.) But for this chapter of Detroit Visions, it is sufficient to cover only the 2 most significant failures in regional decision-making, about 50 years apart. They have some commonalities, and some differences.
Then, we can discuss why this election’s RTA vote is so crucial — we cannot make this mistake again.
1919: Mayor James Couzins, the DUR, and the Subway that Never Was
During the rapid growth phase of Detroit, congestion downtown was a major issue, as well as along the corridors leading to the major factories in the city. The extensive Detroit streetcar system was under enormous pressure given population growth and huge volumes of commuters at factory shift changes.
In December 1917, an engineering study for Detroit Rapid Transit was completed, and it recommended that the city finance the building of an underground rapid transit network that would be operated by the private Detroit United Railway (DUR). However, at the same time, the DUR was not very popular among Detroiters, given that it had just raised fares to 6 cents (96 cents in 2016 money). James Couzens won the mayorship in 1918 on a pledge to takeover the DUR and run the streetcar service at cost for the benefit of the citizens.
From DetroitTransitHistory.info:
“The consultants recommended that the city should finance and build the system, and regulate the fares, while the privately-owned DUR Company would operate it. The money generated by the system would be equally divided between the city and the DUR, with the city’s share being used to pay off the debt. Eventually, the city could use its share to later acquire the
DUR. The study concluded that any outright purchase of the DUR at that time would make it impossible for the city to also be able to finance the building of a rapid transit system.
The plan met the approval of the DSR Commission, and in October 1919 was finally submitted to the Detroit Common Council. Although the Council was divided on the issue, they decided to pass a resolution to begin negotiations with the DUR to put this city-company arrangement plan into operation. Of course, Mayor Couzens, who had campaigned on a platform calling for the elimination of the DUR, vetoed it. The Council attempted to override the Mayor’s veto, but failed by one vote. That single vote may have prevented Detroit from having a subway built as early as the 1920's.”
What followed was the gradual elimination of the streetcar services through the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, to be replaced with buses.
1976: BART, MARTA… and DART?
However, the region had another chance to build a metro rail system.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the federal government was involved in a major way with funding urban rail transit infrastructure, under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, and its reauthorization with additional funding in 1970. While Washington’s Metrorail system was the pinnacle of that era of active investment, the San Francisco Bay Area built BART and Atlanta built MARTA also using large amounts of federal funding.
In the mid 1970s, with Michigander Gerald Ford as President, $600 million was apportioned by the federal government to the Detroit region to build a modern mass transit system. Drawing on the 1970 Transportation and Land Use Study (TALUS), plans were developed for rapid transit in a few corridors. A subway running under Woodward, from downtown to McNichols, was a key portion of the plan.
But unfortunately, like so many things in Metro Detroit, the city and suburbs started arguing. Mayor Coleman Young demanded the rapid transit subway for Detroit, but suburbanites preferred a less expensive light rail alternative. Rapid transit plans also got entangled with negotiations to merge DDOT with the suburban SEMTA buses. Negotiations dragged on until, finally, in the mid-1980s, the president revoked the federal funding commitment.
According to Jan Nelles, when writing about this history in Urban Affairs Review: “Almost all of the challenges to the creation of a single regional transit system in metropolitan Detroit can be traced to power asymmetries that manifested in disagreements between the city and its suburbs over money, power and routes.”
The only component of the plan that was built was the Detroit People Mover.
2016: The Region Moves Forward (Finally)
Now, we come to the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) ballot measure this November 8th. After many years of work by professionals and committed members of the public, a well-considered plan for bus rapid transit, commuter rail, and new local bus service has been crafted. As the RTA states, the intent is that it will be rapid, reliable, and regional transit.
The key features of the plan are:
- New rapid transit services (Bus Rapid Transit) along radial routes from downtown Detroit: Woodward, Gratiot, and Michigan Avenue.
- New rapid bus service connecting Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti along Washtenaw
- New regional rail service, connecting Ann Arbor to Detroit New Center, via Ypsilanti, Wayne, and Dearborn
- New cross-county connectors, providing new direct connections along major corridors like Grand River, Eureka/Fort Roads, 12 Mile, and 15 Mile
- New commuter express services to Detroit and Ann Arbor, along I-75, M-59, and M-14
- New airport express services to go directly to Detroit Metro Airport from Novi, Troy, Macomb County, Ann Arbor, and Downtown Detroit
- New local bus services to fill in gaps that exist in the current network
This is the best chance that we have had for regional transit since the 1970s.
It is a chance to rectify the mistakes of the past, and finally join other major cities that provide a wide variety of transportation services to their citizens.
It is a chance to rebuild connections between communities, and provide opportunities for gainful employment and pathways out of poverty for our region’s most vulnerable citizens. (discussed in Part 3)
It is a chance to permanently bind together the innovation engine of Ann Arbor to the large-scale corporate/industrial platform of Metro Detroit (to be discussed in Part 5).
It is a chance to build the backbone for our future mobility economy, to ensure that our major companies and employers stay relevant in the changing marketplace (to be discussed in Part 6).
And it is a chance to reinvigorate and revitalize our communities, by encouraging new investment in our historic downtowns and along our core corridors (to be discussed in Part 7).
The RTA vote is not merely a vote for improved transportation options — although it certainly is that — it is a vote for a stronger and healthier region. A region that does not waste our existing assets and waste people who have something to contribute. A region that is investing again in forward-looking infrastructure.
The RTA Master Plan is our chance to build on the positive gains of the past few years, to take advantage of the new freedom after bankruptcy, and look forward to the future with confidence.
Vote yes on November 8th.
