Metro Detroit Rejects Regional Transit Authority Millage That Would Have Brought Mass Transit To The Area

The people of Metro Detroit will have to keep waiting for a regional mass transit system, as the Regional Transit Authority RTA millage was defeated by a hair-thin margin in the Nov. 8 election.

The RTA would have brought mass transit to Metro Detroit for the first time in history, linking Wayne, Macomb, Oakland and Washtenaw counties. The project included plans for regional rail, airport shuttles, bus rapid transit, commuter express and streetcars and came with a $4.7 billion price tag. $1.7 billion would come from state and federal funds, while $3 billion would have been raised by a property owner's tax of 1.2 mills ($1.20 per $1,000 of taxable value) for the next 20 years within the four affected counties.

While critics lambasted the cost, supporters say mass transit opens up a whole new world to Metro Detroiters without cars. For example, "connecting our communities across Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties, increasing independence for seniors and people with disabilities and connecting people to jobs and opportunities throughout Southeast Michigan," said Citizens for Connecting our Communities in a statement.

Poll numbers show that support varied sharply across county lines. Wayne and Washtenaw counties were for the millage, while Oakland county narrowly rejected it by just over a 1,000 votes. However, the people of Macomb were overwhelmingly against mass transit. In fact, there were 222,806 "no" votes and just 148,159 "yes" votes coming out of Macomb.

So, is Metro Detroit literally at a standstill - and doomed to be without mass transit? What happens next? RTA Board Chairperson Paul Hillegonds and RTA CEO Michael Ford say of the no-go vote in a statement, "It leaves southeast Michigan as the only large region in the nation (and one of a few in the world) without a functioning regional rapid transit system. That means residents still will lack a convenient transit connection to jobs, communities will remain unconnected to one another, economic development will be more difficult and seniors and people with disabilities will lack the greater independence a fully functional transit system would provide."

However, the fight for mass transit in Metro Detroit is still on and the RTA is heading back to the drawing board. Hillegonds said, "We will be sitting down with our board in the near future to determine our next steps in fulfilling that task.”

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