On Nov. 8, voters in Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties will be asked to vote on a ballot initiative to provide funding for the implementation of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan's master plan. The plan includes measures to create a variety of new transit services connecting the four counties and improve existing ones.
Wayne State University is one of nearly 200 individuals and organizations that are part of A Coalition for Transit (ACT), a broad-based coalition that recognizes the importance of regional transit and the problems that the current system poses in Southeast Michigan. ACT recognizes that a modern, reliable regional public transit system that connects Southeast Michigan’s four counties is vital and is committed to helping solve the problem of unreliable regional transit.
The new millage would cost homeowners $120 for every $100,000 dollars of taxable value on their property for 20 years. In other words, the average homeowner in the Detroit area would pay about $95 per year. In total, the millage is expected to raise $4.6 billion dollars.
Most of the money raised will go toward the development of a local rail line between Ann Arbor and Detroit’s New Center area; a bus rapid transit system with dedicated lanes and priority traffic signalization along Woodward, Michigan, Gratiot and Washtenaw avenues; bus routes between Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the four counties; and commuter express lines that cross county boundaries.
Additional features include paratransit services for the elderly and disabled, security cameras on buses, new local service in unserved areas and the development of a regional fare card. More details can be found in a recent Detroit Free Press article.
More than 300 companies and organizations representing more than 1.5 million people across the region comprise the nonprofit Citizens for Connecting our Communities, which supports the millage. Members include Quicken Loans, the Detroit Regional Chamber, the Detroit Medical Center, Ford, General Motors and multiple news outlets, including The Detroit News, Crain's Detroit Business, Michigan Chronicle and Detroit Free Press.
Six members of the Wayne State University Board of Governors have also endorsed the ballot measure: Gary S. Pollard, Marilyn Kelly, Dana Thompson, Paul Massaron, Sandra O’Brien and Kim Trent. In a letter of support, they noted: “Southeast Michigan is the only major metropolitan area in the country without a regional transit system … Seventy-three percent of Detroit millennials want better access to regional public transit. Ninety-two percent of jobs in this region are not accessible by a 60 minute or less trip on existing public transit.
"Moreover, 62 percent of people who live in the city of Detroit work outside the city; 72 percent of the people who work in the city of Detroit live outside the city. The proposed regional transit system is estimated to support 67,800 regional jobs, add $6 billion to gross regional product and add $4.4 billion in increased personal income to residents of the region.”