Why doesn't Detroit invest in good public transit?

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Mopar Muscle Gal

the city is too busy wasting its $ elsewhere

PENDRAGON

Because Michigan has incompetent politicians.

My Tractor Is Green

Your question appears to be serious, which means you don't understand Detroit and have never lived here or been here. Detroit is the Motor City, the home of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and the assembly line. Detroit has never had public transportation because its economy is dependent on the auto industry, and fewer cars on the road hurts our economy. Things are different now, but it used to be that if you drove a foreign car in Detroit and left it in a public parking lot, when you came back out it would be scratched up and dented. Detroit makes cars, loves cars and lives for cars. Do you know that Detroit is the only major city in the United States where you cannot hail a cab? This is true. If you want to take a cab in Detroit, you have to call for one on the telephone.

Like I said, times are changing, and the mayor says he is working on getting a public transportation system for Detroit. A lot of people would love to see this happen, but at this point Detroit can't afford it and probably won't be able to for a long time.

Roaddogg

Transit is quite good in Detroit! The investment has grown over the years. Both the DDOT green bus & people mover serve Detroit and SMART red buses serve many suburbs. One just has to take the time to study the system. I have personally used the buses extensively around Detroit and have always found the service convenient and cost effective. You can even make transit connections to other nearby cities like Flint through new connections in Pontiac etc. Lastly, Megabus now also serves Detroit for longer trips to places such as Chicago for little cost.

Stuey

The biggest issue is people are moving AWAY from the city and not closer. Unlike Chicago in which the majority still live in or very close by.

It is kind of a risk-reward situation. To spend all that money on something like a subway (NY) or the El (Chi) and have no guarantee that it will help improve the city would not be worth the risk. The businesses are not down in the city. They are in the burbs and you do not want or can afford a major public trans from suburb to suburb. What needs to happen is, white collar jobs like, finance,marketing firms, etc. need to be lured to the city. This would give people a reason to use public trans and or move into the city.

Matt s

I think its because most of the good things to do are so close.

G Detroit

Who is going to fund the $50 million it is going to cost to build public transportation?

handsome_bigfella

Good point Emiller. I think Detroit has a decent system. Everyone drives. It may not have a large public transit system aside from the buses, but that's Detroit. "Good" is what you perceive as good. What works elsewhere may not work here, or maybe we just haven't got to that point yet as a metro area.

emiller1998

Its the Motor City. All we do is build cars so obviously selling them is important.

heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

my mom takes the bus to work, even though she has a car. just because if she drove she would have to pay for parking which is a lot where she works. so we have buses, and in the downtownish area we have a people mover, and almost everybody has a car. also detroit is not a very rich city its nice in the downtown area but we dont have a lot of money to get things like a subway.

jilliebean

with all the recent budget cuts of civil servants, public transportation is last on their minds right now. kwame is too busy spending it elsewhere.

iammegawatt4202

Hello!! Detroit makes cars (or at least they used to). Why would the city and metro area, who thrive on the car business, want to provide mass transportation system? Then people wouldn't need their cars. Think about it, cities like Chicago and New York have thriving mass transit systems; so much so that a lot of the general population don't even have cars. Just like everything in Detroit...it's about the cars.

Jay Dub

The Big 3 constantly lobby against it. Detroit makes money from selling cars and repairing them. The more they are used, the more new cars are needed and more repairs are needed. Plus, new cars on the road are awesome advertising for the auto makers . . . especially in Detroit.

LadyCatherine

Most people like having there own car and being able to drive when and where they want.

there is no such things as 'good public transit. .

It takes people on the average 45 minutes to an hour to get to work. How longer would it take if they had to ride a bus.?

gvosch

Detroit has 1 of the most advanced systems,As far as
every one useing there cars etc,Well to each his own..
when i was there about 3 days ago i had no prob,And i still had a rental car.....

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