It was a clean sweep: In five local elections across Michigan, millage requests for bus systems won big, even crushing victories. The dramatic electoral sweep will keep popular transit agencies rolling and, advocates say, send strong signals to Lansing lawmakers trying to cut state funding for public transportation.
Four of the millage requests won by landslides. Three—in Benzie County, Kalkaska County, and the Holland area—won by 3-to-1 margins; the fourth, in Grand Haven Township, won by a 2-to-1 margin. The fifth, in the Grand Rapids area, which will fund what likely will be the state’s first-ever “rapid bus” line, was extraordinarily close: “Yes” won by 126 votes.