Semta: Lurching Toward Mass Transit

SEMTA

Lurching Toward Mass Transit

By Dennis Rosenblum

Mass transportation plans for the Detroit area have always moved slower than even the city buses themselves, but a scheme to regionalize transit for the Detroit area came a step closer to reality in September when city, state and regional government officials reached a shaky agreement.

The deal is that the three-county Detroit region will get some form of improved mass transit if sale of the DOT (Department of Transportation) bus system to the Southwest Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA) is approved by Detroit voters (as required by the new city charter) and if the Michigan Legislature approves a plan to raise seed money needed f'or federal grants.

Planners are now giving priority to the Three Year Transit Action program, the initial stage of a comprehensive 1990 plan consisting of federally-funded express bus and rapid transit systems and state-funded commuter railroad improvements. Many who have heard similar talk in the past say that seeing is believing. And at this point the plan, like its predecessors, is about as certain as a quick exit from the Lodge to the Ford at rush hour.

Detroit Mayor Coleman Young has insisted that a portion of the system consist of subways and above-ground rapid rail systems, and has fought against any further expressway construction - which would encourage suburbanites to zip in and out of the city, while further eroding the city's declining tax base and dividing communities with concrete barriers.

"All plans on the books right now have the downtown portion and a substantial portion of the system in Detroit below grade [underground] ," according to SEMTA project planner Jerome Rock. "The first three-year program doesn't even consider going to the city limits. It's a question of what we can start and fund in three years."

The first stage of the area comprehensive plan now includes subway stations downtown, above-ground transit along Woodward, Gratiot and Michigan, a downtown shuttle service and expanded railroad and bus service.

The plans, however, are still dependent on federal funds from an agency called the Urban Mass Transportation Authority (UMTA), which is waiting for the Legislature to approve a local funding plan. Governor Milliken has proposed a $10 tax on each car sold within the three-county area, although there is already some opposition to this idea. And UMTA officials have already expressed doubts about extensive transit plans for Detroit.

The city administration, meanwhile, has been hesitant about giving up its bus system until there is evidence that something better will take its place. SEMTA, however, has contended that it is empowered to operate all mass transit systems within its service region.

A regionalized bus system run by SEMTA would consolidate the current jumbled suburban bus routes and eliminate the need to transfer from one bus system to another. And any new "radial" (emanating from downtown) rapid transit lines, those most likely to have subways due to their higher "trip density," are sure to help commuters, mainly suburbanites, get to work in the city.

The issue confronting city residents at this point is how any transportation lines will serve Detroit residents traveling within the city -  how they will improve on DOT service.

Spokespersons for the auto industry lobby, most recently American Motors Chairman Roy Chapín, have generally opposed transportation systems that don't require spark plugs. Chapín spoke out against a proposal by President Ford to allow use for rapid transit of some federal highway trust money. which is collected from gasoline taxes and traditionally earmarked for highway construction and maintenance. He also denounced plans for Detroit subways, prompting Mayor Young to suggest that Roy "has a nickel under his shoe."

Some suburbanites even charge that an underground subway would provide the perfect place for young blacks to rob them.

If SEMTA does eventually take over the city bus system, its governing board, according to the three-way deal, will be expanded to have five of 13 members appointed by Young, five by the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) and three by the governor. The city currently has no direct representatives on the SEMTA board; Young has argued that the vast majority of buses run in the city and that the board should be structured accordingly.

But there's still no assurance that rapid transit will markedly improve inner-city travel, except, of course, that a Woodward subway would be faster than a Woodward bus for those who happen to have quick access to a station.