Candidate for US Congress MI-12 supports #freepublictransit

@VoteForSolomon

One third of society does not drive

Cars are expensive. Wheelchair accessible vehicles cost upwards of $50,000, so many wheelchair-users can’t afford their own vehicle. Add to that people who can’t drive because of vision impairments or physical injuries, because they are too young, or because they’ve aged out of driving (an ever-increasing population). So how can public transportation provide no benefit when one third of society doesn’t drive?

https://www.detroittransit.org/tru-leader-responds-to-north-oakland-transit-opposition/ 

Fare-free buses a success at Traverse City Cherry festival

BATA says their buses provided more than 29,000 rides at the event.
That’s a 60-percent jump compared to last year.
BATA says all those rides helped cut down on car trips by almost 19,000.

https://www.9and10news.com/2019/07/09/bata-buses-provide-29000-rides-during-national-cherry-festival/ 

Grand Rapids providing fare-free public transit along Medical Mile

grbj.com A three-way pact providing fare-free public transit along Medical Mile now has city approval.The Grand Rapids City Commission recently approved a three-year pilot partnership between the city, Spectrum Health and the Interurban Transit Partnership (The Rapid) aiming to provide fare-free busing with improved service times along Route 19. The new plan will take effect Aug. 27.

Free transport arranged for public to attend Battle Creek Transit meetings

battlecreekenquirer : "Battle Creek Transit has arranged a series of public meetings to present possible future service scenarios.

The meetings will be held at the Department of Public Works, at 150 S. Kendall St.

There will be two meetings, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 12, and 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, March 13. The time for the Tuesday meeting has been changed from some previous promotions and flyers because of an overlapping meeting.

There will be a shuttle from the downtown bus transfer center to Public Works and back. The shuttle will leave the transfer center at 5:20 p.m. on Monday and at 9:50 a.m. on Tuesday. The shuttle will return meeting attendees to the transfer center, and they will be provided with a trip ticket for the ride home."

Want jobs? Get #transit.

Detroit must expand public transportation, Dan Gilbert tells Washington audience: "“A lot of people were blaming it on talent and transportation. I definitely believe the transportation thing,” said Gilbert, who worked on Detroit’s Amazon bid. “But talent, there’s all sorts of talent. We’re Detroit ... people come... This generation in particular, when I talk to them, they want to impact the outcome of the world. We’re a big sort of magnet.”"

Macomb, Oakland, Washtenow, Wayne counties: Contact your county executive. Hopefully there will be another opportunity to put mass transit funding on the ballot.

Action Network is facilitating contacting L. Brooks Patterson and Mark Hackel, the executives of Oakland and Macomb counties, respectively, concerning their non-support of the ballot proposal back in 2016 for funding the RTA. A handy email form is supplied here. Here's the message I sent to Mark Hackel:

I'm quite disappointed that you lobbied against the RTA ballot proposal in the 2016 election.  You have done our county inestimable harm by doing so.  This is one of the most car-dependent counties in America and it may surprise you that that is a bug rather than a feature, unless your goals actually include social filtering.  If you think that means higher property values, you are a fool.  If you took the side you did as a way to pandering to the up-county McMansions 'n' SUVs set, you're really a fool, because the northern Macomb County vote will go Republican no matter what you do.  Your career is best served by following your conscience (which I hope is the conscience of the Democrat you run as), not pandering to the media stereotypes concerning Macomb County public opinion.  Please do better if similar measures appear in the future.  It is an investment we can't afford not to make.  It is not in our best interest to be the county standing in the way of progress on mass transit.