In a matter of weeks, voters in Detroit and its suburbs will be asked to consider a public-transportation master plan that, if approved, would be the first enacted in the region?s history. Although the proposal lays the groundwork for connecting the city with its surrounding areas for the next 20 years, it relies heavily on a vestige of the past.
Buses lie at the heart of the $4.7 billion plan. City leaders outlined the benefits of five separate types of bus operations that will spread like a spiderweb across the region. Some, known as Bus Rapid Transit, will connect the city to suburbs along major thoroughfares that radiate from the city’s center. Some will serve as cross-county connectors that run along east-west corridors. Local buses, running on less frequent schedules, will stop every block or two to round up riders who will later be deposited at stops at which they?ll connect to longer routes. Commuter buses will whisk riders to major employment hubs, and other buses will carry riders willing to pay a premium to reach Detroit Metro Airport. This plan would commit Southeast Michigan to a sprawling, bus-centered public-transit plan at the precise moment when a growing number of transportation experts and policy makers believe traditional buses are becoming obsolete.
Technology soon will upend public transportation. With a matter of years, the same ride-sharing and autonomous-vehicle companies now transforming the auto industry will encroach on public transportat...