Yes the Detroit Public transportation system was far poorer than San Antonio's. In fact, factually, imagine waiting for a City Bus which never came one day and simply never, ever came again.People were even run over by city buses because the driver had been convicted of a DWI and so poor driving habits caused the driver to run over a woman passenger with the back wheels of the bus. Literally "thrown under the bus". Yes.
Yes. Then Vice-President Joe Biden helped Detroit Mayor Dugan obtain a Federal Grant for eighty (80) brand New City Buses. For free. This was how bad it was. There are many,many near subsistence residences in the City of Detroit. Due mainly to "White Flight". This the City that put America on wheels. Ironically. Robberies. Assaults. These crimes happened on Buses. The City of Detroit soon famously filed for Bankruptcy.
The Mayor, Kwame Kilpatric, was also soon serving a twenty eight year sentence for Blackmail, strong arm etc. in a Federal Penitentiary here in north Texas. Trumpus gave him a Pardon after a few years.
The mistress was mysteriously murdered under questionable circumstances, also.
The Entire City Council of Detroit was under indictment at that time. Various offenses. The wife of the History's longest serving U.S. Congressman- Rep. John Conyers, who, she, His wife, Mrs. John Conyers, serving as a Detroit Councilperson, was sentenced to wear a tether on her ankle after being convicted of corruption.
The Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools was caught stealing school funds from the Free Lunch Program for children.
The firemen's boots had holes in them, Really. Firetrucks were the victims of armed holdups for the brass parts which could be sold for their scrap value. EMS Ambulances were also held up and the Technicians were robbed of valuables and money. Cops shot.
The City buses were at the bottom of the list. Yes, it was pretty bad. Worse than San Antonio. A Detroiter could not leave the city to the suburbs, there was no public transport available. Irony of Ironies, the actual city bus where
the inimitable Rosa Parks famously would not give up her seat to a White Man sits in an Exhibit in the Henry Ford Museum a few miles outside the Detroit City limit in Dearborn,mi. Just outside of "Mexican Town". Yes, there is such a place.
San Antonio Transit System seemed a paradise in comparison. By any objective measure. One could walk out of a bakery in Mexicantown having purchased Pan Dulce , and see Canada. This, Mexicantown, is the only part of Detroit which does not operate at a deficit. Hard workers.
Multiple Pounds of Cocaine mysteriously disappeared from the Detroit Police evidence room. One Detroit officer was convicted of transporting multiple pounds of cocaine from Toledo, just to the south, in his squad car.
Corruption was discovered in sewer sludge hauling contracts, City Towing Contracts and other city services. The city is riddled with corruption. The famous ex-mayor of Detroit was discovered to have an unregistered handgun after his death. Coleman Young.There were not even identification numbers by the manufacturer on the handgun.
Detroit has two rails and a bus system. One rail is a monorail elevated type of transport which is around 35 feet in the air and that rail strictly runs between the taller buildings downtown. G.M. World headquarters etc.
The other rail runs across the ground from the center of the City away from the Detroit Riverwalk, out Woodward Ave, (the first mile of concrete paved road on earth -entitled the M-1 and the site of many an automobile muscle car manufacturer drag race).
Rosa Parks had eventually relocated to Detroit and had even, a city thoroughfare named after her. Ms. Parks was the victim of a home invasion by two thugs who did not know her identity. These two were run down on foot and beaten by her rescuers.
Yes I would indeed say the Detroit Public transit System , by any objective measure was far, far worse than San Antonio's public transit ever was.
All of the things above contributed to the questionable awarding of the Detroit Public Transit System as being at the bottom of the worst of the 200 largest transit systems in the country.
Yes, it was truly, truly, awful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wwmiv
VIA is awful. It is one of the worst public transit agencies in the entire country by any objective measure (ridership, funding, coverage, frequency, and anything with “per capita” before it). But part of the reason WHY is because San Antonio, both the city (including BOTH the “urban core” and the periphery) and its suburbs, are built or have been retrofitted to require a personal automobile for transportation.
This is akin to a poor and working class Roman city having been built with the stupid notion that everyone can afford to own, house, feed, use, and maintain a horse-drawn chariot.
The right fiscally conservative approach here is to first change land use ordinances and THEN to add transit later once new movement patterns emerge out of the new land use. Until that happens, piecemeal transit approaches are more viable.
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