Op/Ed: We Need More From Mass Transit

The citizens of Farmington are disadvantaged by a suboptimal mass transit solution. Let there be no doubt, our citizens support mass transit, our council supports mass transit. But none of us should support a poor solution at a full share of the cost. While the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is doing the best they can in a difficult situation, it is not enough.

The existing system does not provide satisfactory destinations or transportation efficiency for Farmington residents. The buses are empty for much of each day because the service is bounded. Based on my personal estimates of ridership, in the absence of official data from SMART, Farmington taxpayers are are paying just under $200,000 this year to transport less than one hundred residents to and from destinations southeast of the city; it might be less than fifty residents.

Our citizens deserve better. They deserve to be able to ride efficiently to a job or a school or to a shopping area at any point of the compass. Our businesses and schools deserve a solution that brings shoppers, employees and students into the Farmington area without having to ride for hours.

Novi and Livonia are not participants in the SMART system. That makes Farmington and Farmington Hills the end of the road, islands with incomplete service. Particularly with SMART's elimination of routes last month, riders can now only ride from Farmington to southeast destinations. What about the other points of the compass: west, south, north and east? A working solution would transport employees to areas near the larger employment centers in the region. A working solution would get students to local schools and colleges, including Oakland Community College, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Oakland University and Walsh. A working solution would bring shoppers to our downtown and take them to the regional malls.

We need to work together now, with our municipal neighbors and Oakland County, on a better solution. In this time of incredible pressure on our budgets, we can't afford to put dollars into marginal solutions. Our residents, our businesses, our taxpayers deserve more.

In 2006, in 2010 and now in 2012, council member Joanne McShane and I have asked SMART's management for specific Farmington ridership numbers. They are unable or unwilling to provide those numbers. We have identified specific destination and structural needs for our residents over the last six years, which have gone unmet. Our new council members have asked similar questions, and the answers provided are unsatisfactory.

I admit to great disappointment in SMART for failing to provide all the information needed to help us with this decision; great disappointment in our county government for leaving cities on the edge of the service with 1/4 or 1/3 of a solution at full cost; great disappointment in regional and state leaders for not working together to bring our citizens a better mass transit solution. And to make this troubling situation worse, Farmington's council is asked to commit funds on taxpayers' behalf to SMART for an unknown contract period: SMART and the county can't/won't tell us if this is for one year or four years of service.   It is time to opt out and insist on a better solution. Our residents, our businesses, our taxpayers deserve it.

While studying this, I am confident we will find a way to protect the transportation needs within the community of our senior and disabled community members

If Novi and Livonia were in the system, if the destinations were more relevant, if our costs were commensurate with a 1/3 solution, if we had accurate data, if we knew the duration of the agreement, if we had a system that worked, my opinion would be different.

Tom Buck
Mayor
City of Farmington