September 16, 2003

Honorable James Rashid
3rd Circuit Court
Wayne County, CAYMC
2 Woodward Ave, Room 1111
Detroit, MI 48226


Re: Michigan AFSCME Council 25, et al vs. Regional Transit Coordinating Council, et al.

Dear Honorable Rashid:

Transportation Riders United, Inc. (TRU) is a Detroit non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of its members for improved transportation access and mobility in southeast Michigan. Most of our 227 members are individuals and families who live, work and travel in metro Detroit, representing a diverse cultural and economic mix of people with a common desire for improvement of the region's public transportation system.

TRU members overwhelmingly support the Detroit Area Regional Transportation Authority (DARTA) and its mission to create a long-overdue public transportation plan for the region. We have hopes that DARTA will eventually address the kinds of transit expansions that major cities need to produce a strong urban community and sustain economic health for our urban centers. Transit expansions bring expansions in transit jobs. Across the US, transit jobs are considered high-quality jobs.

The condition of bus transit is so poor today that only immediate, coordinated effort by DARTA can save it. Any setback in the time table would be devastating to the region. TRU requests that the needs of transit users be considered in your decision on this case.

Last night, our Riders' Voice campaign team held its regular monthly meeting. This is an advisory group of mostly Wayne County residents who are dependent on bus transportation. They represent the needs of the nearly 100,000 metro Detroit individuals who ride the buses every day. Riders' Voice has been fighting very hard for incremental improvements in existing bus service at DDOT, at SMART, at City Council and elsewhere. Small battles are being won, such as getting the filth washed from inside the buses and finally getting a map published of the city transit system.

Many of the socials ills that perpetuate the inequities between rich and poor, urban and suburban, and divisions among racial, ethnic and religious groups in our society can be traced to a lack of access to transportation. Unemployed or underemployed individuals are often denied the dignity and feelings of self worth that come from work because they lack access to jobs appropriate to their skills and talents and the possibility to earn a living wage. The pregnant welfare mother with several small children, when faced with a mandated welfare-to-work three-hour bus commute to a fast food job thirty miles away, has an all-too-common personal crisis.

Clean, safe, frequent and reliable public transportation is essential for the 42% of the population that is too young, too old, too poor or too sick or disabled to drive. Because our region lacks decent public transportation alternatives, many struggle daily with lack of access to health care, food, worship, educational and recreational opportunities: the basics essential to human decency.

Bus riders see DARTA as their last, best hope in addressing the big issues that are beyond the capability of Riders' Voice or other grass-roots group. The major issues are, and have been, unreliable bus service on antiquated routes which conspire to make it nearly impossible to get to work or school on time regularly. Bus riders need DARTA, and they need it now. Their futures depend on reliable mobility, which will only be addressed in a coordinated way by DARTA. If the DARTA program is destroyed, this would just perpetuate the myth that transit users should be treated as less than equal citizens. The issue that you have in front of you presents the opportunity to shift the paradigm. If we are to move forward as a region, it is imperative that we move in the right direction.

Sincerely,
Transportation Riders United, Inc.



Karen D. Kendrick-Hands
President