Local leaders expect to move regional transit authority forward next year

Creating a regional transit system in Metro Detroit is a bit of joke in Washington, D.C., according to John Hertel, Metro Detroit's transit czar.

What does one expect when none of the 30 attempts in recent memory to create a regional transit authority have succeeded? But Hertel, who calls mass transit a "win, win, win," and a couple of other big wigs in southeast Michigan are optimistic that will change. He is hopeful leaders from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties and the city of Detroit will approve a detailed plan for regional mass transit next fall.

"We are spoiled," Hertel said at the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum in Troy last week. "We have lived in a very different way here than people in the rest of the world. That needs to change."

Having those four movers and shakers sign off on the plan would be a big step forward for reinvigorating the Detroit Area Regional Transit Authority. In August all four governments agreed to a preliminary plan for regional transit, which has been sent to Washington to help make Metro Detroit eligible for federal funding. That is giving Hertel "some hope now."

Once the big four sign off on a detailed regional transit plan, local leaders will go public with options and probable costs for the proposed system. Hertel added that local leaders working on mass transit projects, like the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line and Detroit Department of Transportation's plans for mass transit line, are on the same page.

President and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, Richard Blouse, echoed Hertel's optimism, saying local leaders at the local and county levels acknowledge "believe we need a regional transit system."

"It's really all of you that need to speak out," Blouse says. "Only when the people speak out do we actually get there."

Source: John Hertel and Richard Blouse, speakers at the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Real Estate Forum
Writer: Jon Zemke