Get Involved with TRU Today! - Transportation Riders United

Friendly TRU volunteers Tom, Maria, and Norma welcome guests to TRU's Fall Meeting — Friendly TRU volunteers Tom, Maria, and Norma welcome guests to TRU’s Fall Meeting

As transit needs and opportunities grow, TRU invites more people to get involved with Team Transit as a member, intern, partner, or volunteer!!

There are lots of ways to get involved, with more information about each below:

Join TRU as a member!

Fighting for more and better transit is not possible without financial contributions from transit supporters like you. Please donate today to help make all this great work possible. By donating, you’ll automatically become a member and receive email updates about our events, actions, and more opportunities to get involved.

Become a member of TRU to support transit advocacy!

Have a few minutes?

If you can’t donate, or are unsure if you want to yet, you can sign up for email updates to get our monthly newsletter and other updates, events, and opportunities.

TRU is also on most major social media platforms. We share events, actions, opportunities to get involved, rider stories, and organize virtually for more and better transit. Find us at:

And share why transit matters to you on social media! Whenever you’re talking Detroit or Michigan transit on socials, make sure to tag us!

Take Action Today

And take advantage of online action opportunities TRU creates and shares to speak out to transit decision-makers:

Act for better public transit! Sign up for volunteer updates and find an opportunity that works for you to help us build better public transit.

Have a few hours?

Attend a Volunteer Meeting!

Ready to get involved in the fight for great transit with a few hours a month?

Our TRU Volunteer Team meets virtually every month to discuss top transit news, TRU campaigns, and to plan ways each person can take meaningful action to improve and expand transit.

Involvement opportunities may include contacting legislators, surveying bus stops, sharing social media posts, interviewing bus riders, helping at TRU events and more.

Interested? Sign up for our volunteer updates to get meeting schedules and other ways you can get involved, and check DetroitTransit.org/Events to find the next volunteer meeting.

Find a TRU event to go to, and bring you friends!

We host at least one educational, social, and volunteer event a month, and we’d love to meet you and talk in-person or virtually about how you can get involved with transit advocacy. You can find all of our up-coming events at DetroitTransit.org/Events, or on our TRU Events Google Calendar. And please, bring a friend!

Talk to your public officials: How will they improve transit?

Members of TRU and the ATU meeting with Rep. Myers Phillips head of policy at the Michigan State Capitol

One of the most impactful things you can do is engage with your elected officals. If you have some free time, attend your legislators, city council members, or mayors coffee hours and tell them:

Transit is important to me because…
What are you doing to make transit better in our community?
How can I, and other community members, help improve transit in our community?

When engaging with elected officials, always remember to be kind, respectful, and let them talk as much as you do. You can usually find your elected officials coffee hours or other public events on their social media accounts. And please, if you do, email [email protected] with how it went, what they had to say, and what questions they had!

Transit is important to tens of thousands of people across Metro Detroit and Michigan, and we want to highlight how transit impacts your life. What is your experience? What are your thoughts? Let us know your transit story.

Additionally, we invite anyone to write a guest blog about any transit issue they care about, and we’ll publish it! Email Theresa ([email protected]) to figure out details or talk about ideas.

Can you invest a few hours a month?

Join a TRU Campaign Team!

TRU members canvassing for Wayne countywide transit in Livonia

TRU has various campaigns around pressing transit topics, giving you a more hands on chance to advance transit in our state. Please, join one of our campaign teams!

Wayne Countywide Transit is up for a vote in August, and we’re building as much support as possible! Join our Wayne County Transit Action Team to bring transit to every town in Wayne County.
- Email Joel ([email protected]) to join this team. We usually meets on the third Thursday of the month.
Michigan needs better train and bus connections between our cities, regions, and towns. We’re working with our Cross-State Transit Committee to advance connections within our state and beyond, with our current focus on a Grand Rapids-Lansing-Detroit express bus running 8 times a day! Join us today.
- Email Petra ([email protected]) to join this team. We usually meet on the third Wednesday of the month.
After Wayne County goes countywide, Washtenaw will be the final county in the RTA-4 county area (Macomb, Oakland, Wayne, and Washtenaw) without countywide transit. We’ve begun preparing for this future vote with our Washtenaw Committee. If you want better transit in Washtenaw County, join us!
- Email Joel ([email protected]) to join this team. This team meets every other month.

Ready to be a leader?

Help host a Wayne County Transit Meetup

Ahead of the Wayne Countywide vote in August, we’re holding transit meetups throughout the county to meet riders and advocates and anyone interested! Help us hold one in your community. Email [email protected] with your ideas and to coordinate.

Apply to TRU’s Board of Directors

TRU is looking for dynamic change-makers from across our region to apply to join our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors guides TRU’s work and ensures we have the capacity to succeed. Board members are critical ambassadors to the community, help expand TRU’s network, and ensure we follow the highest ethical standards. While applications are only open during October and November, learn more at DetroitTransit.org/Board-2 and talk to Megan ([email protected]), TRU’s Executive Director, if you’re interested!

What else can I do?

TRU is developing a menu of volunteer opportunities that you can do at any time to advance transit! While we’re working on this full list, here are some things you can talk to us about doing to take action to make transit better in our state:

Talk to your friends, family, and neighbors about the importance of transit to you.
Give comment at public meetings in support of public transit in your community.
Organize people for transit! Contact [email protected] to find these opportunities.
- Spread the word about TRU, and how people can get involved to support transit
- Canvass to bus riders about transit advocacy & TRU
- Table at events to talk to community members about transit
- Help phone bank with TRU
Write a letter to the editor for your local newspaper about the need for transit. Email Theresa ([email protected]) for advice!
Introduce TRU to other organizations, businesses, and leaders in your area. Email [email protected] to setup a meeting.
Join a transit photo shoot! Email Theresa ([email protected]) to find the next one