In a recent article for the Washington Post, Matthew Dolan details the sub-par state of bus service in Detroit—a city where residents live without cars in quickly growing numbers.
“Bus lines, which have a daily ridership of 100,000, have been cut or curtailed in recent years. Aging, poorly maintained buses regularly conk out, leaving remaining ones so overcrowded they often blast through stops without taking on new passengers. Many days, nearly one-third of all buses don't even make it out of their depots because of mechanical or staffing problems, according to transit advocates, union and city officials. The average age of a Detroit bus is 9½ years, the back end of a 12-year life span,” writes Matthew Dolan.
To many in the city of Detroit, transit service is not an alternative form of transportation. “More than one in four households didn't have access to a car in 2012, up five percentage points since 2007,” explains Dolan. And the lack of transit and bus service leaves the labor force with few good options for getting to and from work. “Only 20% of people in the Detroit metropolitan area can reach their job within 90 minutes using public transportation, ranking it 71st among the nation's top 100 metro areas for labor access rate…”
There have been a few signs of improvement for the state of the bus system recently, however, after years of bad news: “In February, the city increased weekend and overnight service on more than a dozen routes. Last week, city officials completed installation of exterior and interior security cameras on 50 buses, with an additional 250 expected by the end of the summer.”
FULL STORY: Detroit's Broken Buses Vex a Broke City
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.