Detroit Bus Riders should expect fewer routes, longer waits

A Change Gonna Come. That seems to be the theme of Detroit these days and why not, we should have expected change was coming to Detroit since change has come to our nation to some degree or another. Therefore when news broke a month ago that Detroit’s bus routes and services would be cut, many in the city including myself fought against such drastic cuts but in the end, it is as if changes to the Detroit Department of Transportation will hurt bus riders with fewer routes and longer waits.

Detroit bus riders who work a night shift could have more difficulty traveling to and from their jobs with late-night and early morning service soon to be cut on about 40 routes under changes to the city’s bus service unveiled Thursday. Two routes on weekdays, three on Saturdays and five on Sundays are to be eliminated. In addition, thousands of riders along 35 routes can expect to wait an average of 10 more minutes for buses to arrive. The reductions are part of budgetary cuts Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he needs to make in the Detroit Department of Transportation. The route changes — plus the layoffs of 113 drivers — are to go into effect Sept. 26.

• PDF: Download a brochure of the changes

DDOT officials said the least-traveled routes were targeted. For eight busy routes, the city decreased wait times between buses. William Guyton, 26, who was boarding the No. 36 Oakland bus at the Rosa Parks Transit Center on Thursday afternoon, said he was surprised service on the route will be eliminated on weekends and run only once an hour on weekdays. He rides at least two buses daily to attend nursing school in Southfield and to get to his job as a clinician at the Detroit Medical Center. “I don’t think it will be possible,” he said of juggling school and work with the decreased service.

Therefore these bus routes and wait times could make it harder for many people in Detroit to get to school, work and other destinations in the city on time. Detroiter George Jenkins has worked as a weekend maintenance man at Bert's Marketplace in Eastern Market for two years. He relies on the No. 40 Russell bus to get to his job. After Sept. 26, he'll no longer have a way there.

Jenkins, 54, said he is an example of a commuter who will be adversely affected by the city's cuts to bus service. The No. 40 Russell -- which travels right into Eastern Market -- has been eliminated on weekends as part of a larger restructuring of city routes. The city also eliminated the No. 20 Grand Belt service, which travels from Michigan and Wyoming on the city's west side, to Jefferson and Helen on the city's east side; on weekdays, the No. 24 Holbrook, which travels from the Woodward and John R area to east 8 Mile and Mound roads, will no longer run.

Jenkins figured he'd just have to walk farther to catch another bus but realized that wouldn't work, either: The alternate No. 7 Cadillac-Harper bus will not be available after 11 p.m., and he works until at least 1 a.m. "That's going to be an issue Saturday evening," he said. The city averages 37 passengers per hour on Detroit Department of Transportation buses, said Lovevette Williams, interim director of DDOT. She said new fare boxes were purchased in 2006 and allow the city to monitor data by the hour.

If data showed that routes functioned at 50% or less than the average, those routes were altered or eliminated. DDOT officials said the Grand Belt buses averaged seven to 13 riders per hour in the past six months, while the Holbrook buses averaged eight to 11 riders per hour. Bing said the city cannot continue to roll out buses with one or two customers on them, especially when Detroit is facing a $300-million accumulated budget deficit and up to an $80-million cash shortfall for this year.

The city subsidizes DDOT $80 million annually for operations. "We looked at the routes that would have least impact," Williams said Thursday of the changes. "We're looking at how we can restructure a lot of things -- everything is up for grabs." Henry Gaffney, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26 which represents city bus drivers, said the cuts will affect schoolchildren and seniors the most. Several of the routes with cuts or increased wait times service areas lined with high schools, hospitals and health centers or clinics. "They're really not looking at how this is going to hurt the citizens of Detroit," Gaffney said, referring to the Bing administration. "They've cut off all service for the senior citizens who use the bus to go to Eastern Market on Saturdays."

Gaffney said 381 DDOT workers, including mechanics and those who answer residents' questions in a call center, could be laid off by Oct. 2. This is in addition to the 113 drivers to be laid off Sept. 26 because of the cutbacks. "It's ridiculous," said Tony Harring, an 11-year DDOT driver. "Some people just don't understand."

Charles Beckham, Bing's chief administrative officer, told riders who attended a meeting at the Considine Center on Woodward, where the changes were revealed, that the cuts were made to address efficiency and budgetary issues. "There was no intent to inconvenience you, the citizens of Detroit, who rely on this service," Beckham said. "We're just trying to make it as efficient as it can be." Such explanations don't placate some residents.

Al Smith, 57, rides the No. 20 Grand Belt bus every day from his home on McDougall to a medical treatment facility on East Grand Boulevard. "I'll be in trouble, big trouble," he said on the looming elimination. "What is the mayor doing?" Smith asked, shaking his head as he waited for the bus in front of Swanson's Funeral Home on East Grand Boulevard. "That man is crazy." Teresa Hicks, 42, doesn't have a car and rides the No. 31 Mack bus a few times a week to see friends and attend adult education classes where she is studying for her GED. "I think everybody riding the bus needs the bus," Hicks said.

While I understand that the city has budgetary problems and needs to fix it, it seems as if Mayor Bing and DDOT didn’t look at the most logical alternative of perhaps merging with SMART. Also it seems as if Mr. Beckham, Bing’s chief administrative officer, doesn’t understand that although they didn’t mean to inconvenience anyone, it is clear that this will bother many Detroiters and might cause some Detroiters to lose their jobs or some school children particularly high school students to get up even earlier than usual to just catch the bus in the morning.

What could be the good of this situation is that many Detroiters will have to become more lean and fit as a result of walking more miles to just catch a bus to get somewhere close to many of their homes. It is clear that in a city as large as Detroit and in a region that doesn’t have a mass transit system that public transportation in Southeast Michigan as well as perhaps the state of Michigan takes a major blow due to these bus routes and services being cut. While many in political officials and city workers in Detroit get to ride around in city vehicles on the taxpayers’ dime, those same taxpayers’ are now being put in a dangerous position of finding alternatives on how to get to work. This is the issue that is surfacing as a result of the fewer routes and wait times being offered by Mayor Dave Bing and DDOT.

It is clear that the lines in the sand have been drawn and if no one stands up to Dave Bing and his administration than Detroit could be in for many dark days not just financially but criminally as well. Many Detroiters who work nights have to be careful now more than ever especially since they have to walk a longer distance to perhaps catch a bus to get home. Also many of the early morning riders will have to be even more careful when they get up to walk to bus stops miles away since many routes don’t start until 7a.m. that used to start at 5 or 6a.m. in the past. Tough times are ahead for Detroit and if I had a vehicle to give everyone I know at a bus stop a ride I would.

However when there are tough times, it is time for us as Detroiters to show up guts and might be uniting behind each other to uplift and encourage one another to not lose hope. Detroit has seen tough times before but not as tough as this but this is not the time for us to lose hope that greater times can emerge again. However it will take some innovation and some even more budget tightening to get there that means lowering non-union city employees’ salaries more than the 10% cuts that they took. As I have stated before, no one in the City of Detroit who works in city government should be making 6 figures in these tough times when so many of the residents they are suppose to serve are one paycheck away from being in poverty. No one in city government should be making 6 figures in a city that doesn’t have a real mass transit system and its only form of public transportation is being uprooted and the riders are the ones who will suffer. On one in city government should be make 6 figures in a city where unemployment is nearly 30% and it might get even higher before the year is out.

This is why with fewer routes and longer waits coming on September 26 than many Detroiter riders will be hurt not only monetarily but mentally as well as perhaps physically because of this. Therefore Detroit, don’t lose hope because all could change if we get out and vote on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 to put people in office especially the mayoral seat that want to see the residents of Detroit get its full benefits of service rather than the quality of life getting farther away than it has ever been. We must vote Detroit and we must really bring about change that improves our quality of life in city as well as improves city services while not hindering so many Detroiters from getting to and from work. So write-in Jerroll Sanders for mayor or vote for Tom Barrow but Detroit, we can’t put Bing back in office when he doesn’t understand the significance of getting a watermelon from a white person and he doesn’t have the guts to meet with Detroiters to tell them himself that he is making these cuts.

I know some people might say that Bing was at a candidate forum hosted by Detroit’s City Clerk but, let’s be real, what’s more important scoring some political points or sitting down with the very people who lives will be affected by the budget cuts. Think about Detroit, everyone in city government knew that on Thursday that the city would roll out its finalization of budget cuts and it just so happened to occur on the same day the City Clerk hosted one of two candidate forums. It don’t surprise me that both events were on the same day especially considering that many city workers probably didn’t attend any of the public forums held August 24-27th regarding bus services and routes being cut. Therefore how would Janice Winfrey or anyone in the clerk’s office understand that on September 10th that the city would roll out its final decisions regarding bus routes and services.

So Detroit Bing chose politics over people and while some people might say that it was more important for Bing to attend the candidate forum since voters were there to listen to him, I beg to differ when the candidate forum was only from 6-8p.m. with members of city council, the mayor and city clerk all speaking. Let’s be real, 15 minutes or less of show time is not enough and if you have been to previous candidate forums, they are not as intriguing as debates especially considering that all candidates answer the same questions and no new solutions are usually offered from by the time you get to the third or fourth candidate forum. Nonetheless, many Detroiters had to sit and listen to Charlie Beckham offer Bing’s sorrow as Bing campaigned to stay as Detroit’s mayor.

Now Detroit the question is what will we do come November 3rd? We will keep the status quo or will we look for change that delivers better quality of service for Detroiters rather than keeping money flowing into the hands of people who have been around for 3 other mayoral administrations or mayoral administrations that bleed the books of Detroit thus resulting in the budget to be $300 million plus. The answer lies with us and I hope many political critiques are wrong in what they think will happen on November 3rd. I hope we prove them wrong Detroit. I pray we do.