The 100,000 daily riders who depend on Detroit's bus system have been feeling the effects of public transportation cuts: commute times have doubled, paychecks have suffered. But Quin Klinefelter reports the worst may be yet to come.
Faced with a potential financial crisis, Detroit is looking to make sharp cuts to public transit services. Management of the system has been turned over to a private company and a new CEO, Ronald Freeland, has been appointed to Detroit's Transportation Department. Decisions that may be based in budgetary pragmatics at the state level are taken personally at the rider level:
"They don't care about low-income people or people that do catch the bus, as far as going to school or going back and forth to work," says one rider who's commute time has gone from two hours to four.
Freeland points out that Detroit's population has diminished and the quantity of buses running needs to reflect that. The cost of maintaining, storing and fueling the current fleet of buses will be considered as a state financial review team makes final decisions in the coming month.
Thanks to Jessica Brent
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