Last week, the
story of James Robertson went viral, filling up Detroiters' Facebook news feeds and making headlines on national news programs. The story, which originated in the Detroit Free Press, highlighted the unfathomable 21-mile walk Detroiter James Robertson makes each day in order to get to and from his job in Rochester Hills, a suburb that has opted out of participating in the region's SMART bus system.
The Detroit Free Press's Dan Austin followed up Robertson's story with an account of how Detroit's transit system arrived at its deplorable current condition. According to Austin, "At the turn of the 20th Century, southeast Michigan had the largest and one of the best mass transit systems in the country. Today, we have one of the worst."
Austin lays out Detroit's transit history in three stages of its development: subways, streetcars, and buses.
At the turn of the 20
th century, proposals existed to build a subway system to serve Detroit. These, unfortunately, were never realized. Detroit would, however, develop one of the most extensive regional streetcar and rail networks in the world during the first half of the century. But with the rise of the highway system, the increased affordability of cars, and racial tensions fueling decisions about regionalism, the streetcar system was scrapped, the last line ceasing regular service in 1958.
In the postwar era, Detroit's rails were replaced with buses. According to Austin, "After the streetcars, buses were hailed as the future of public transit in metro Detroit. They were said to be cheaper to maintain and could go anywhere streetcars could — plus they weren't bound by tracks."
He goes on to explain in detail how separate suburban and city authorities developed and the dysfunction of the region's bus network deepened over time due to racial and political tensions. He also discusses the recently created Regional Transit Authority, which has the potential of reunifying the fractured system.
Read more in the Detroit Free Press.