I attended the Mass Transit Summit today hosted by Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick.

During the first part of the summit, we heard from representatives from Charlotte, Denver, and Houston about how transit has benefited their communities. All of these cities are roughly the same size as Detroit.

It was amazing to see what these cities have done in terms of public transportation systems.

Some highlights from the presentations:

• All of the cities had a wonderful connection between different transit modes. They all had express buses, some sort of rail system, and some even had streetcars.
• Each emphasized how building the transit infrastructure directly resulted in an increase in economic development. One presenter stated that every $1 in transit development results in $8.5 dollars in investment.
• The main funding source for each system was a sales tax. Of course, we can’t do that in Michigan because of some sort of constitutional issue.
• Many of the presenters emphasized that a good transit system must serve all segments of the population, from seniors to white collar workers to youth. And in order to do this, they had to create many different types of services.
• It was clear from all of the presenters that a variety of transit options is especially important to a vibrant community. This means both having good roads and good alternatives. And since roads can only be stretched so far, it makes sense to have transit alternatives that can meet demand at peak hours when congestion is the worst.
• In addition to having a variety of transit options (from express buses, to light rail, to commuter rail, etc), the presenters also emphasized the need to have transit go where people want to go. This includes vibrant downtowns, work sites, special event locations and stores. When someone is easily able to hop on a bus or rail and get to a grocery store or a baseball game then transit it really doing it’s job.
• Many of the presenters are noted how important it is to get businesspeople to help advocate and support a transit plan. Since transit inevitably brings more economic development it is in many business people’s best interest to support increasing public transportation.
• Finally,a presenter from Charlotte noted that there will always been some anti-transit people out there saying that it will never work. But time and time again those naysayers have been proven wrong.

Although the presentations focused on cities comparable to Detroit, each of those major cities created a transit system that linked the major city to outlying hubs. This is the idea behind the Ann Arbor to Detroit Rail. Since large numbers of people move from Ann Arbor to Detroit and Detroit to Ann Arbor every day this is a clear place where we need something more than just a highway system.

The next half of the summit brought together officials and decision makers from Metro Detroit to offer insight and direction into what all of this means for Detroit.

Some of the highlights from these panelists:

• A whole lot is happening in Metro Detroit to try to get a rail system as well as an expanded transit system created. Seems to be that the largest hold up is money. One panelist said that the Ann Arbor-Detroit Rail could be up and running by 2010. And a reason this is going to take so long is that there is more planning that needs to be put in place first.
• Everyone understood the need to have a more regional transit system. Right now, there is no transit authority that links Washtenaw to Wayne County. This can be an issue when trying to fund something on a more regional level.
• Obviously finding the funding for all of these transit projects is a concern. But Congresswoman Kilpatrick is working hard to get some Federal money to help Detroit expand its transit system.
• Moving forward with a more comprehensive transit system will involve making transit a priority for Metro Detroit. It will also involve continuing to engage the business community in the process.

All and all it was an interesting Summit with lots of good thoughts presented. It will be interesting to see what will come out of it.