Fwd: Metro Detroit Transit Update and Petition

[Erica]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: A Jordan <adriann...@gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Subject: Metro Detroit Transit Update and Petition
To: A Jordan <adriann...@gmail.com>

Dear friends, family, and colleagues

I'm sure by now you're all familiar with the tale of James Robertson's epic Metro Detroit commute. Needless to say, it's gone viral, and last I checked there were at least 500 articles on it from sources as diverse as the New York Times, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. If you're not familiar with it, pause here and read this:

http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/stephen-henderson/2015/02/02/henderson-robertson/22721409/

The article above gets the story right, but many other articles miss the core problem which is that Metro Detroit's regional transit system is shamefully inadequate. Further, car insurance companies engage in discriminatory redlining practices that lead to the highest insurance rates in the US - making it prohibitively expensive to own a car in Detroit. Please take a minute to sign a petition created by my colleagues at Detroit's transit advocacy non-profit Transportation Riders United (TRU). The purpose of this petition is to implore regional policy makers to develop a concrete plan of action within 60 days to solve the huge gaps in our transit system. Even if you live in another state or country, your signature matters - we want our leaders to know the rest of the world is watching, and more importantly, force them into action!

Petition link through TRU's website

http://www.detroittransit.org/extraordinary-commute-story-highlights-transit-failures/

Or more directly:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/demand-a-transit-solution-1?source=c.em&r_by=534305

PS - Most folks know that I'm a transit advocate, but if you want me to leave you off my transit initiatives, just drop me an e-mail and say so!

Thank you for listening and caring,

Adrianna

--

Erica Briggs

cell:734.355.3931

[Jeff Gaynor]

Thanks, Erica.  I'm not one to sign internet petitions (for their uselessness) but I signed this one.   -- Jeff

--
Please note that WBWC google groups is an unmoderated forum. It was developed by the Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition as a tool for bikers and walkers to discuss key issues and share information. However, all views expressed in this group are not the views or values of WBWC. For more information about WBWC, meetings, and projects, please visit www.wbwc.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wbwc+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to wb...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wbwc.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Vivienne Armentrout]

If you read the Free Press piece carefully, you'll see that the problem
is the way SMART was set up. Unfortunately, there is not much that
leaders elsewhere can do to force the communities who opted out of SMART
to opt in.

This is an artifact of Michigan's local governance model. It has not
been a successful template for modern regional solutions. But it would
take almost a new state constitutional convention to change it.

Good news is that SMART did succeed in passing its renewal millage. So
the system will slowly improve, though in a patchwork fashion.

Vivienne Armentrout

On 2/4/2015 8:31 AM, Jeff Gaynor wrote:
> Thanks, Erica. I'm not one to sign internet petitions (for their
> uselessness) but I signed this one. -- Jeff
>
> On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 7:59 AM, Erica <briggsw...@gmail.com
> <mailto:briggsw...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *A Jordan* <adriann...@gmail.com
> <mailto:adriann...@gmail.com>>
> Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2015
> Subject: Metro Detroit Transit Update and Petition
> To: A Jordan <adriann...@gmail.com
> <mailto:adriann...@gmail.com>>
>
>
> Dear friends, family, and colleagues
>
> I'm sure by now you're all familiar with the tale of James
> Robertson's epic Metro Detroit commute. Needless to say, it's gone
> viral, and last I checked there were at least 500 articles on it
> from sources as diverse as the New York Times, Le Monde, and Der
> Spiegel. If you're not familiar with it, pause here and read this:
>
> http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/stephen-henderson/2015/02/02/henderson-robertson/22721409/
>
> The article above gets the story right, but many other articles

> miss the core problem which is that *Metro Detroit's regional
> transit system is shamefully inadequate. *Further, car insurance

> companies engage in discriminatory redlining practices that lead
> to the highest insurance rates in the US - making it prohibitively
> expensive to own a car in Detroit. Please take a minute to sign a
> petition created by my colleagues at Detroit's transit advocacy
> non-profit Transportation Riders United (TRU). The purpose of this
> petition is to implore regional policy makers to develop a
> concrete plan of action within 60 days to solve the huge gaps in
> our transit system. Even if you live in another state or country,
> your signature matters - we want our leaders to know the rest of
> the world is watching, and more importantly, force them into action!
>
> Petition link through TRU's website
>

> *http://www.detroittransit.org/extraordinary-commute-story-highlights-transit-failures/*
>
> Or more directly:
>
> *http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/demand-a-transit-solution-1?source=c.em&r_by=534305*
>
> _/PS - Most folks know that I'm a transit advocate, but if you

> want me to leave you off my transit initiatives, just drop me an

> e-mail and say so!/_

>
> Thank you for listening and caring,
> Adrianna
>
>
>
> --
> Erica Briggs

> cell:734.355.3931 <tel:734.355.3931>

>
>
>
> --
> Please note that WBWC google groups is an unmoderated forum. It
> was developed by the Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition as
> a tool for bikers and walkers to discuss key issues and share
> information. However, all views expressed in this group are not
> the views or values of WBWC. For more information about WBWC,
> meetings, and projects, please visit www.wbwc.org

> <http://www.wbwc.org>

> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
> send an email to wbwc+uns...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:wbwc+uns...@googlegroups.com>.

> To post to this group, send email to wb...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:wb...@googlegroups.com>.

> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wbwc.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
>

> --
> Please note that WBWC google groups is an unmoderated forum. It was
> developed by the Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition as a tool
> for bikers and walkers to discuss key issues and share information.
> However, all views expressed in this group are not the views or values
> of WBWC. For more information about WBWC, meetings, and projects,
> please visit www.wbwc.org
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to wbwc+uns...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:wbwc+uns...@googlegroups.com>.

> To post to this group, send email to wb...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:wb...@googlegroups.com>.

[Murph]

As Vivienne notes, SMART (like AAATA and most of Michigan's transit agencies) are organized along municipal boundaries, and it is largely left to the local leadership to determine whether to join or not.

That said:

* TRU (the group sponsoring this petition) typically compiles signatures along municipal lines so that they can deliver signatures appropriately, and you can be sure that the subset of signatures coming from within (for example) Rochester Hills will be emphasized to that city's elected officials.

* Macomb County participates in SMART at the County level, rather than leaving the decision to individual municipalities; Oakland County could (in theory) decide to do the same.

* The Regional Transit Authority--one of the recipients of this survey--is an umbrella layer covering Washtenaw, Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland Counties in their entirety, and tasked with coordinating existing and new services across local agency boundaries.  There are several opportunities for the RTA to improve service within the existing systems (and at existing funding levels) that would certainly improve options for workers like Mr. Robertson.

So--don't worry, Jeff!--this petition is far from useless; the signatures will be delivered to policymakers at various levels who do have real opportunities to effect change.

-murph.

p.s. I am one of Washtenaw County's representatives to the RTA's Citizen's Advisory Committee (there are 7 of us from Washtenaw, I believe, out of 35 total members of that body).  I am happy to carry any specific comments anyone here may have, though I ask you copy my rta.m...@gmail.com address to make sure I see those comments in a timely fashion.

[LuAnne Bullington]

Thanks Vivienne. The SMART system is unbelievably complicated due to Opting In and Opting Out and government regulations.

The RTA's CAC spent a session on trying to explain it with visual and handouts. People who use the system have an extremely difficult time trying to keep track of where someone can get picked up or dropped off using a SMART bus. You can get dropped off in many places but you can't get picked up. It is a very difficult system to learn because it is based on who pays their transit millage.

LuAnne Bullington

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to wbwc+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to wb...@googlegroups.com.

Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wbwc.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com