This is an in person only meeting, check out the flier for more information on how to attend: rtamichigan.org/wp-content/upl…

Here is an article about the proposed Downtown Detroit to DTW Airport Express Service pilot. thenewsherald.com/2024/01/08/hea…

These are some of the main points of the proposal:

What is the RTA? RTA stands for Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan. Learn more about this organization here: rtamichigan.org

What is SEMCOG? SEMCOG stands for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.

Can't make it to tonight's meeting? There is a virtual option tomorrow 1/10/24 at 10am. See this flier for more information on how to join, registration is required. rtamichigan.org/wp-content/upl…

Okay! Finally made it and connected to the wifi. I got really lost (which was totally my fault lol) and went to 1 Woodward instead of 1001 Woodward.

View from the 14th floor of 1001 Woodward, about 20 people here. Meeting will begin in a couple mins.

Meeting is called to order! Agenda: Presentation, Public Comment, Formal hearing with time for questions and discussion.

A court reporter is present to take clear notes (likely much clearer than mine!) Public comment is available after signing up with a card at the front desk.

Our speaker is Julia Roberts from RTA. This proposal is coming out of a regional transit master plan.

“Now what you’ve all been waiting for..”

Fares would be up to $15 with discounts available, possibly as low as $2 (similar to purchasing D2A2 tickets, Detroit to Ann Arbor)

Advanced reservations would be appreciated, as little as 20 minutes before a ride. Frequency would be roughly an hour.

$2.5 mil grant would allow them to operate for at least a year, there may be more grants available to continue the pilot for up to possibly 3 years.

Potential stops at DTW and downtown: - McNamara and Evans Terminals -Washington Blvd and State St Detroit

The dropoff in Detroit would be near the Rosa Parks Transit Center - an alternative would be the D2A2 dropoff, near Grand Circus Park. Soft launch in March. Full launch planned in April for the NFL draft.

If you're unfamiliar with D2A2, check out this site for more info: d2a2.com

One question they receive a lot is, "Why not rail?" Proposed plans for Amtrack are several years away. One of the ways to best test demand is with coach buses. This is a way to do it sooner and more cost effective.

The pilot will allow them to collect data to justify longterm plans. Working with the airport to understand potential employment needs to run the pilot.

Proposed schedule for the airport transit service.

The presentation has concluded, moving on to public comment. Those who have filled out a card can give a comment, and those who didn't can fill out a card now.

Each person will have 3 minutes max. They have color coded cards to hold up and let the commenters know how much time is left in their comment.

1. Likes the project. Every major city he's been here has something like this. Can people book tickets before the launch in the spring?

2. Long time transit advocate. Is concerned with accessibility. A lot of students from Ohio, MA, NY, they want to get home or campus during the holidays. Will there be discounted rates for students or airport employees?

2. cont. - opposed to having a stop at the McNamara departure deck where they are proposing. It is not ADA compliant. Sometimes has to walk in three lanes of traffic from that stop. Suggests moving it down (didn't catch where though).

3. SMART Rider for 13 years. Route 261 FAST Michigan exists. What's so much better about the express service that justifies six times the fare, on top of taking a bus to get to the express bus? What if there were throughline trips to make it easier to get to Brighton or Lansing

3. cont. There are already enough stops in Downtown Detroit, why does there have to be a new stop?

4. Director of sales for Port Pontchartrain Hotel, part of founding for Downtown Detroit Hotel Association. Hopes that we can gain more conventions, it would make an enormous difference. Detroit has about 5 five big conventions a year, Chicago has over 20.

4. cont. - Transit is a stumbling block for competing with other cities in the midwest, we are making more hotels for conventions, transit needs to match that demand.

4. "This will not solve what we need, but what we need is solvable."

5. This will solve a lot of people's problems. Will there be some integration with the existing Flyer route between Ann Arbor and East Lansing? What about interline trips or discounts on transfers? What about wayfinding and signage for people to get around at the airport?

6. Hollywood Casino at Greektown representative. Would like to offer the casino as a stop, open 24 hours, central location.

7. Detroit fintech mobility startup co-founder. This is a much needed service. How do you plan to collect data between locals and visitors? How will it benefit the 1 year trial? She is concerned that it needs to reflect the demographics of the city.

8. Daily rider of SMART. This is really exciting. Having an option that is faster than the 261, which is an hour each way. State and Washington stop is a great idea, a lot of activity but not too much of a detriment on traffic. McNamara terminal stop is not good, not ADA comp

8. cont. WCAA needs to have better signage, it's almost non-existent in the terminals now.

9. (last commenter that we know of) New Center resident, wants good connections to get to the Express Service, so that he doesn't have to walk blocks between buses.

A previous commenter is back, ammending his comment: would like to see if there are any options for putting this grant money to improving the service that exists already.

Another previous commenter, last several years since D2A2, buy a ticket, give driver QR code or printed ticket - you should be able to buy with contactless payments.

Have a public comment that you’d like to submit? Here are some options, as long as it’s before Jan 17

Reminder of the virtual public hearing tomorrow:

The formal session is now over - moving into the informal discussion part of the meeting. Reminder that this is a pilot service, constantly open to feedback and input.

Q: What is the current status of the WCAA and how are htey working with you on this process? A: They are trying to accommodate us as much as possible. ADA compliance doesn't mean that there can't be improvements to accessibility.

Following up on student discounts, his other questions A: needs to look into, it may be better to take D2A2 for some cases. Q: Even if there is redundancy, it could increase ridership if people have more options.

Q: Thinks we should charge more to people using the service going into the city for conventions, for local people it should be reduced or free. A: Thinks there could be scaling/discounts to look into.

Q: Is wondering if this will be integrated with the transit app. A: Doing research on this. Looking to integrate real time information with booking and schedules, looking for grants for this. For the pilot there will not be real time tracking (there isn't for D2A2 either).

Q: Some people want to book months aead of time, for a pilot program if you want to be reflective of average riders, would this option be available? A: We want to do this, not sure how much in advance we can realistically do. Aiming for booking a month in advance.

Q: What about carpooling? (I didn't hear this very well) A: We encourage that, it's a form of public transit.

Q: Thinks the Washington and State St is a congested area. A: Buses don't stop there, they go through the light and stop further down. It would not block buses from making a right hand turn. Looked into many locations. Also looked into area around Hart Plaza, Larned.

They don't want to take up space used by local services and do want to connect to local services.

Plug for the CAC from a public commenter. Encourages people to check it out if they want to keep the discussion going. Chair and Vice Chair are here at the meeting tonight. rtamichigan.org/about/committe…

They want more people to know about these hearings and to participate, please spread the word. Wants people who work at the airport and live in Detroit know about and can use this service.

D2A2 is a different audience from the airport express, primarily commuters coming to work to and from Detroit and Ann Arbor. The Airport express's audience is connecting visitors and residents of Detroit.

Suggestion from public commenter, go to where people are. Go to the airports, go to where people are instead of/ in addition to asking them to come to you.

Another question about real time tracking? This was answered already but recap: schedules are close to what the real times are, so that's often what is in 'real time tracking' for these types of services. They are working on grants to do actual real time tracking.

"Having fewer stops increases demand" - interesting

Q: Will there be a designated cut out space for the bus? A: There already is where they have in mind.

Q: Likes the idea of using a business as a stop (such as the casino as an example), but also a hotel or Huntington Center. Could we partner with a business for a stop? A: They looked at the Marriot at the Ren Cen, not very accessible though.

A: cont. - they don't want to recreate the People Mover and have 8 stops for each place, but we are still looking into the potential options.

Reminder: this is a pilot, we will adjust based on the data, it will take 1-3 years to understand the patterns in the data, and we can make changes based on those insights.

The speaker concludes the meeting but encourages anyone who has more questions to approach them 1 on 1.

About 20 people attended this meeting and there was a lot of commentary and discussion. Most people are sticking around after in small groups to continue their conversations.

If you find anything inaccurate in my tweets, please email documenters@outliermedia.org with the subject “Correction Request.”

Meeting adjourned at 6:22pm. This concludes the RTA, Detroit to Airport Express Service Public Hearing. The next meeting is scheduled for 1/10/24 at 10am (link below). For more meeting coverage, check out documenters.org rtamichigan.org/wp-content/upl…