In the coming months, Detroiters will choose a new Mayor for the first time in over a decade, as well as electing the nine members of Detroit’s City Council.
As a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, TRU cannot endorse or oppose candidates for office. However, this is an important opportunity to hold candidates to account for their positions on public transit. Being a City department, the DDOT bus system is under the Mayor and Council’s direct control. Detroit’s officials can also play an important role in regional discussions about transit.
Supplementing our mayoral candidate forum on June 4, TRU and our allies just released a policy platform with our Detroit public transit priorities, as well as a questionnaire for candidates for Mayor and Council.
You can read the platform in more detail below, but in brief, we’re calling on candidates to:
- Double DDOT service by 2030.
- Support riders with disabilities.
- Provide competitive, family-supportive wages.
- Support transit funding on the Wayne County ballot.
- Build regional and state support for transit investment.
- Improve bus shelters and accessibility.
- Ensure safe streets for all.
- Advance transit-supportive land-use.
- Ensure consistent, effective DDOT leadership.
Our candidate questionnaire, with candidate responses, will be released in late May. You can read TRU’s platform below.