Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Plan Back From the Dead

"A plan to bring regional transportation to southeast Michigan will now go to the voters," reports Eric. D Lawrence.

"After a near-death experience last month for the plan, it got new life this week when the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan at a special board meeting in Detroit [Thursday, August 4] agreed to place the plan on the November ballot," adds Lawrence.

Matt Helms reported on the previous failure of the proposed regional transit plan. The deal that brought the plan back to life involved the creation of a "funding allocation committee to review major decisions affecting revenue allocation and changes to the master plan," according to Lawrence. "The committee will include one member from each county -- Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and Washtenaw -- and the City of Detroit." Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United, is quoted in the article describing the committee as a step backward for the plan, opening the possibility of "every county and the city to look parochially."

As for the plan, it "will include bus rapid transit, expanded standard bus service as well as express routes to Detroit Metro Airport and a commuter rail line connecting Detroit and Ann Arbor.