Let's Save Michigan

January 22, 2010

It’s Vital to Our Future . . . Even Though You May Not Use It

While you might not see yourself in this picture, this scene is important to Michigan's future. 

Bullet trains, light rail, and street cars in your city are right around the corner. Well not quite, but in the past month some interesting and encouraging developments have transpired in the ongoing saga that is mass transit in Michigan. Why should you care? Well the fact is, whether you use transit or not, it matters to all of us in Michigan. Mass transit is an essential component to creating desirable cities, and maybe most importantly is the greatest economic development tool Michigan has never tried.

The following transit developments have occurred over the past six weeks:

1. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that Michigan is certain to get a portion of the $8 Billion appropriated to develop High-Speed Rail in the US.
2. A group of State Representatives introduced a package of bills that would create a regional transit authority in Southeast Michigan.
3. Congress has taken unique steps to bring the Woodward light rail project closer to reality.
4. The Feds are adjusting the process for the allocation of public transit funds to make evaluations based on livability and economic development as well as cost and time saved. 

Each of these stories is developing, and while representing significant movement in the right direction, they also highlight the greater obstacles ahead of us.

Developing high-speed rail would modernize our existing rail services as well as further tie Michigan to Chicago and the rest of the Great Lakes, while helping spark walkable communities around stops in Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and Jackson. High-speed rail would also serve as the backbone of an Ann Arbor to Detroit commuter service. But high-speed rail works at its best as the top of a pyramid of a greater rail and transit system. Due to declining gas tax revenue, the state has had to cut funding for the existing rail lines that service Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, and Port Huron, as well as traditional transit services despite increasing ridership. [An interesting fact, the stretch of Amtrak rail between Kalamazoo and the Indiana border is currently the only stretch of high speed rail outside of the East Coast.]

A regional transit authority in Metro Detroit may be the most encouraging development, but it's not a new idea. In fact, it almost came to fruition in the dying moments of the 2002 Legislature, but was ultimately vetoed by then-Governor John Engler as his last act as governor due to a broken deal over charter schools. Other attempts were made at the beginning of the Granholm administration, but ultimately failed due to various legal challenges and a lack of will.

Well the time has come for the state's largest region to get serious about transit and that's what this package of bills has the potential to represent. In this legislation a new authority would be created in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties (with a possibility to include neighbor counties), which would be responsible for the coordination of existing services and have the ability to create and operate new services, including but not limited to commuter rail lines connecting Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Pontiac, as well as light rail and enhanced busses along the region's major thoroughfares.

While the legislation is clearly a work in progress it contains essential components to finally creating a mass transit system in metro Detroit. Under the new authority all of the communities in the region would be included without an opportunity to opt-out. This is crucial to avoiding the dysfunctional transit patchwork of participating and non-participating communities that prevents people from being able to get from point A to point B in metro Detroit without a car. 

So by this point you are asking, "Why should I care? I don't use transit and never plan to." Well here are just a few quick reasons:

• We are losing OUR money by not having effective mass transit in Michigan: People often lament that Michigan is a "donor state" when it comes to federal transportation funding. A major reason we do not get our fair share of federal funds is because we do not have a transit network (especially one that includes light-rail or subways) to spend those funds on. Michigan is 10th in the nation in terms of population but 23rd when it comes to transit funding, meaning we are letting DC give our money to the rest of the nation. Light rail is especially important because it is a major focus of transit funding. In 2007, Congress appropriated $1.5b for major transit projects, none of that money went to Michigan.

• We can't afford to make the mistakes of the past: In the 1970s President Ford helped secure $600 million of federal money to develop a transit system in metro Detroit, but local leaders couldn't get their act together on creating the system. Thirty years later Metro Detroit is arguably the largest region in America without a comprehensive mass transit system. This fall Secretary LaHood, representing a pro-transit administration, gave regional leaders a "road to Damascus" sit-down that they had to come together as a region or projects like Woodward Light Rail will never happen. We can't continue to pass up federal money we've already sent to DC.

• Transit is a driver of economic development: In the last decade, communities like Portland, Denver, Salt Lake City, Dallas, and Charlotte have made significant investments in their transit systems, including the development of light rail that complement already existing bus services. Each of these communities have benefited both in terms of greater mobility for their residents, but also enjoyed substantial economic impacts. In Dallas, residential properties near light rail stations on average increased in value 39% and office buildings by 53%, compared to similar properties not near rail. The increase in taxable value of properties located near Dallas' DART light rail stations was 25% higher than elsewhere in the metro area. Within five years after the construction of Portland's light rail line, over 7 million square feet of new development valued at over $900 million occurred adjacent to the light rail.

• Transit helps us meet our economic potential: In a state where a growing portion of the population does not have access to a vehicle due to economic or age factors, transit plays a crucial role in ensuring mobility and that we maximize our human capital. 

• Attracts that 21st century workforce: An increasing number of people, especially members of the highly mobile skilled work force that are shaping the 21st century economy, are seeking cities that afford them a lifestyle independent of cars. At the very least, there has been a greater premium placed on living in dense, walkable communities, which is not possible without transit.

Transit's time has come. The move to establish a bus rapid transit line down Division in Grand Rapids or light rail on Woodward in metro Detroit represents a greater appreciation for transit, but they won't come to fruition without some work and advocacy.

The Let's Save Michigan campaign is committed to creating the vibrant and desirable cities in Michigan that are going to turn around our economic fortunes. Transit by no means is a panacea to all of what ails Michigan, but it is an essential tool to creating the strong urban cores that Michigan lacks. Join us as we work to influence the policymakers that are crucial to reshaping Michigan.

Program note: On February 11, we're teaming up with Transportation Riders United on a special screening of the new PBS documentary "Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City" for a night of advocacy. Details to follow shortly.