Do you like having talent in your state? Then get #transit!

The Future of Transportation in Michigan: "When Andy Crosby travels around Michigan, he rarely drives a car. Instead, the graduate student, a longtime resident of Grand Rapids, uses trains or buses when he visits his friends or works on academic projects around Michigan.
...
“When I ride the train, I can get a lot of work done,” he says. “It just makes sense.” But Crosby admits that getting around the state using bus and rail can be quite a challenge."

Grand Haven's Harbor Transit reports bus ridership up | MLive.com

Grand Haven's Harbor Transit reports bus ridership up | MLive.com: "More people are taking the bus to get around north Ottawa County, Harbor Transit reports.
Harbor Transit Transportation Director Tom Manderscheid said buses gave 7,360 rides in the first two weeks of February, a 30 percent increase from the same period last year.
“We’re delighted with the reception that we’ve gotten,” Manderscheid said. “We think it will only grow.”"

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The Ann Arbor Chronicle | Ann Arbor Council OKs Transit Agreement

The Ann Arbor Chronicle | Ann Arbor Council OKs Transit Agreement: "After more than three and a half hours of deliberation ending after midnight at its March 5, 2012 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council gave approval to a four-party transit agreement – with the city of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. The agreement would provide a framework and chronological sequence for the transition of the AATA to a new governance and funding structure. The Ann Arbor approval leaves several steps that would still need to be completed, before such a transition would be possible."

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Outraged Detroit bus riders to seek federal help on bus cuts | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Outraged Detroit bus riders to seek federal help on bus cuts | Detroit Free Press | freep.com: "Detroit transit riders outraged over huge bus cuts and Mayor Dave Bing's hiring of a private contractor to manage the city's troubled transportation department said Tuesday that they are fed up and will seek federal help in reversing the mayor's decisions."

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Public #transit is key to southeast Michigan economy

MANDI WRIGHT/Detroit Free Press

Editorial: Move forward on transit with authority | Detroit Free Press | freep.com: "Nearly everyone agrees that functional transit -- in Detroit, in the suburbs, and between the two -- is key to building the local economy.

But politics -- and, specifically, the politics of race and poverty -- threaten to once again throw the plan into limbo."

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Bills creating regional transit authority introduced in Legislature | Crain's Detroit Business

Bills creating regional transit authority introduced in Legislature | Crain's Detroit Business: "The long-awaited bills that create a regional transit authority have been introduced in Lansing."

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Grand Rapids-people vote in tiny millage, save thousands by going #carfree

Students board The Rapid's DASH to the Hill bus. The free route serves Grand Rapids' growing 'Medical Mile' and several colleges nearby.

Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio

Grand Rapids-area bus system improvements begin today | Michigan Radio: "The Rapid busses start a new schedule Monday that will better serve riders late at night, on the weekends, and more frequently during the workday. The bus service is improving thanks to a millage voters passed back in May.

Grand Rapids resident Mike Ewer and his wife don’t have a car anymore. He says about a year and a half ago both of their cars broke down within a span of two months. “We just said ‘well, we get about okay on the bus so why are we spending money on cars, on maintenance, taxes, gas, insurance and all that stuff?’ So we said ‘let’s just ride the bus.”"