Transit plans roll ahead
Buses on order, contracts and other foundation work underway
The county commission unanimously approved a series of transit-related resolutions at Thursday’s meeting.
It is the largest investment in transportation in county history. One element of the new plan is a $500,000 local transit reimbursement program. This allows communities with current transit programs to submit requests for reimbursements for costs between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31. Reimbursement requests will include performance reports on ridership, services provided, and expenditures.
In December, property owners started paying for the new countywide transit millage approved in November. The millage is expected to generate an estimated $69.2 million this year.
Transitioning to an integrated system requires a series of steps, starting with contracts for current and future services, as well as setting up the process for paying the existing transit systems: SMART, North Oakland Transit Authority (NOTA), West Oakland Transit Authority (WOTA) and the Older Persons’ Commission (OPC). Contracts approved by the commission Thursday — all of which must be approved by the respective transit agencies — will provide $41.7 million to SMART, just over $3.4 million to WOTA, $28 million to NOTA, and $1.9 million to OPC.
Three-year contracts with each agency will include first-year transitional financial support. Each document includes a scope of work and budget as well as insurance requirements and payment and reporting schedules. The county’s plans include working with Downtown Development Authorities in individual communities to coordinate how they use the transit taxes they collect, and funding for individual communities that operate limited transit services, such as Independence Township.
Among the priorities is keeping existing services, especially for SMART, as plans are created showing how each system will expand routes and support services.
Smart has a $10 million proposed expansion. Bloomfield Hills would get Woodward bus stops. The Grand River Avenue route would be expanded to Novi, Farmington Hills and Wixom. Routes for Rochester and Walton roads would extend into Troy, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills and Rochester. The current Orchard Lake Road route would extend into Bloomfield Hills, Orchard Lake, Keego Harbor and Sylvan Lake. Route 790, which serves Pontiac and Auburn Hills would be expanded. All routes would get paratransit service required under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Some routes would operate for longer hours.
Equipment and technology will be upgraded for NOTA, WOTA and the OPC so they’re ready to expand service when new vehicles arrive later this year. They’ll also standardize fares at $2 per ride.
The county’s chief deputy executive, Hilarie Chambers, who oversees Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Public Services is coordinating the transit changes.
She told members of the commission’s finance committee a transit fund account now exists to accept the millage money. Commissioners already approved a three-person transit division within the economic development office and interviews are underway.
Among the challenges to expansion: Vehicles on back order and the need for drivers.
Other changes involve evaluations that will lead to pay raises for drivers, to keep the systems competitive with other markets and SMART’s current negotiations with drivers for a new contract. SMART’s general manager, Dwight Ferrell said SMART currently pays drivers more than Detroit’s transportation department does.
The big challenge, he said, is attracting drivers — one example he cited is Boston’s transit system, which currently has 2,000 openings. In Oakland County, Ferrell said, plans are underway for a recruitment event that would give job seekers a chance to test drive a bus. Details will be released in the near future.
“It’s not just a pay issue. It’s a work-rules issue,” he said, adding that quality of life has shifted from conditions where hours rates determine quality of life to a worklife balance that gives people more time with their families for bus operators, mechanics and cleaners. SMART will be making a greater effort to diversify SMART workforce, by increasing the number of Arab and Hispanics at every level of the organization.
“Anyone hired for a public transit job would have to pass a background check, Farrell said.
Other changes that need to be made to accommodate new bus routes, Ferrell said, involve installing new bus stops, sidewalks, curb cuts and coordinating traffic signal timing.
“We want to make sure the county isn’t paying for everything,” Chambers said, saying state and federal grants will help the county stretch millage dollars.
Kyle Jen, the county’s chief financial officer, told the committee money from the old millage was passed through to the county’s public transit authority. Last year, SMART received $31 million from that fund for a six-month period. Jen said the current plan is to provide $31 million from the new fund for SMART for a sixmonth period for a consistent cash flow to support the current baseline service.