June 3 – Detroit to Port Huron
We started our journey bright and early from Detroit! We all converged on the FAST Gratiot, riding it all the way from downtown Detroit to 23 Mile and Gratiot in Chesterfield. There, we had a 40 minute wait before we rode the Blue Water regional I-94 express route, which runs during the am / pm shift changes between Port Huron and Chesterfield. Our bus driver was kind enough to drop us off at our hotel as well!
Then, we began our festivities in Port Huron. We joined up with Tyler Moldovan, a Blue Water Area Transit bus driver, union rep, and head of Port Huron Urbanists. We attended a lecture by Jim Soto, Professor of Philosophy at St. Clair County Community College, on the history of urban renewal in Port Huron. Afterwards, we took the Blue Water Trolley route. For only 10 cents, this bus route takes you around Port Huron and is narrated by the driver to reveal some of the cities history to you!
Next up was a meeting and tour of the Blue Water Transit Authority facilities. Port Huron has 80 cent bus fares, and has had a completely diesel free fleet since the 90s! All of their buses run on Compressed Natural Gas which they produce at their bus garage. This has insulated BWATA from rising fuel prices, and even lets them sell some CNG to make some money. Finally, we ended the event with our first community conversation at the St. Clair County Library. This conversation was wonderful, with about 15 community members turning up to talk about getting around Port Huron!
June 4 – Port Huron to Flint and Saginaw
Today started bright and early, as we had to get up at 4:30am for our 6:20am train from Port Huron to Flint. We ordered a dial-a-ride the day before to pick us up, with their window between 5:05am and 5:35am. While normally, we would love for them to arrive at the start of that time slot, we were not so thrilled for their prompt 5:03am arrival. After (barely) making it on, we made it to the Port Huron station! This small station was home to many Amish and Mennonite families traveling on the train. If you’ve regularly rode Amtrak out of Chicago, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Central Michigan stations, this maybe a common site to you. But many people forget how providing a true range of multimodal transportation options bars so many people from getting around, as while the Amish can drive bungees, they still rely on public transit.
Flint really rolled out the red carpet for us! We met with the head of their transit agency and most department leaders at the MTA HQ. We spent a long time understanding how the MTA works, discussing their system, and viewing their facilities. While we haven’t finished our tour, MTA may be at the forefront of transit innovation in our state! The MTA has no outsourced employees, meanining everyone is a unionized MTA employee. They have relodable, tap to pay fare cards much like in Chicago; regional routes to Great Lakes Crossing, Brighton, and Howell, all funded by employers, but open to the public; all of their normal buses are diesel free, with a mix of Hydrogen, CNG, and electric; and a beautiful downtown transfer hub! We even got on the news in Flint for our visit.
At lunch, we met with the head of Strong Town Flints transit committee, Andrew Watchorn. We discussed the need for extended regional service between Flint and Detroit, such as a D2A2 style bus. Additionally, we talked about adding Genesse County to the RTA, so Flint and the MTA could receive additional support like Ann Arbor and The Ride, and to help connect Flint, Pontiac, and Detroit (much like Detroit and Ann Arbor). While not brought up as much in Port Huron, much like Flint and Ann Arbor, there was a desire for further connections between Port Huron and Detroit as well. Maybe St. Clair County should be in the RTA, or at least should have a D2A2 style bus with stops in Mount Clemens and Detroit
After Flint, some of us continued onto Saginaw via Indian Trails. If you’re taking an MTA bus to the Amtrak/Indian Trails station, you need to request the route stops at the Amtrak station (just by asking the driver). And the bus we took was very nice, and very fast! While this connection is only once a day, it only took 50 minutes to get to Saginaw, and the bus was very new.
In Saginaw, we met the head of STARS transit agency and went to a beautiful historic library for our next community meeting. We met with STARS, Jamie of Disability Network of Mid-Michigan, a rider, and board members of STARS. In this meeting, we learned a lot about the challenges STARS has been facing. Like Detroit, Saginaw has had a 50% drop in population over the past 50 years, and Saginaw has struggled to maintain transit service amidst a shrinking population. STARS is also not a countywide authority, and only receives funding from Saginaw City (whereas agencies like SMART or BWATA, while not being completely countywide, receive funding from numerous cities in their regions). However, STARS is working on modernizing their system to allow for debit card payments, working on a regional connection with Flint, and to do a transit master plan. STARS also has some bright spots, including a regional connection to Bay City via SVSU, and an innovative icon symbol for each route found on their buses and maps.
After our meeting, we visited the old train station in Saginaw on Potter St. STARS, the City, and local advocates are working on preserving the station and redeveloping the Potter St neighborhood into a mixed-use district, which will host expanded STARS facilities, a daycare, apartments, and more, all right next to a new transfer hub for STARS and a short walk to downtown. Saginaw is even hoping that with the Corridor ID study for the Wolverine, the train could be extended North to Flint and Saginaw, which would be a huge connection in our state!
June 5 – Saginaw to Bay City and Alpena
After enjoying a nice night of sleep, we received a call from our friends at 98.1 FM KCQ radio in Saginaw, and we were interviewed for the Morning Show with the Bear! Search up “KCQ Special Guest” and find our interview on the 98.1 FM KCQ website. We then took a STARS bus out to SVSU, and transfered to a Bay Metro bus to take us to Bay City. We spent most of our time in Bay City resting before our event, where we had a stakeholder roundtable hosted with Disability Network of Mid-Michigan. Afterwards, it was onto the bus towards Alpena, a three hour Indian Trails ride. In Alpena, an off-hours Thunder Bay Transit dial-a-ride picked us up and took us to our hotel in downtown Alpena!