Bills creating regional transit authority introduced in legislature | Crain's Detroit Business
The authority will oversee a proposed 110-mile, 23-stop rapid-transit regional bus system that would operate much like a rail line — with specialized trainlike wheeled vehicles with dedicated lanes. They would run along Gratiot, Woodward and Michigan avenues and M-59 and would connect to Ann Arbor and Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus.
That plan, proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder with backing from Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and the federal government, replaced a 9.3-mile light rail project on Woodward Avenue in Detroit.
A consortium of private investors and nonprofits, previously part of the rail plan, intends to build a 3.4-mile streetcar-style rail line downtown, with the intention of turning it over one day to the RTA. It would be privately funded and is not specifically addressed in the new legislation.
The new bills give the RTA the power to borrow money and issues bonds and notes to finance projects. The authority is authorized to design and build the bus system as it sees fit.
The board’s appointment breakdown is:
• One by the governor.
• One by the mayor of Detroit.
• Two each by the county executives in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
• Two by the county board of commissioners in Washtenaw County
The governor’s appointment serves as chairman of the board but does not have a vote.
The initial board members will have staggered terms, but eventually all board members will have three-year terms.
No appointee can be a city or county employee or work for the transit unions, and he or she must have “substantial business, financial or professional experience relevant to the operation of a corporation or public transit system.”
The board must comply with the state’s open-meetings laws.
Read the article for more details.
