Well a glimmer of hope after my last rant. Seems DDOT is getting a new head, one that actually has years of experience in managing substantial transit systems. I fear that he won't be allowed to do much given the state of the system, but perhaps better decisions will be made when it comes to restructing service:
Quote:
Troubled Detroit bus system getting new CEO, vehicles
By Matt Helms | Detroit Free Press
February 22, 2012
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing will announce a new CEO for the city's troubled bus system today and show off new buses that will replace vehicles in the city's aging fleet.
Bing planned to announce this morning the appointment of Ronald Freeland, a senior executive and chairman of bus systems, ports and rail lines in Maryland and Virginia who also has worked in New York and California.
His recent positions have included being executive secretary of the Maryland Transportation Authority and a senior associate at the Booz Allen Hamilton consulting firm in Baltimore. Freeland also was administrator of the Maryland Transit Administration in 1997-2001, according to that state's transportation department.
Word of the appointment comes days before the city holds public hearings on another round of major cuts at the Detroit Department of Transportation, including ending service 1-4 a.m. citywide as of March 3, reducing some routes and lengthening times between buses on dozens of lines.
Detroit has been struggling to maintain its annual subsidy for bus service -- last pegged at about $53 million a year, down from more than $80 million in recent years -- as it battles a budget crisis that could lead to a state-appointed emergency manager.
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