Name. So for all who don't know if anyone is new on the line, my name is Jordan Irving, and I'm the Oakland County but it's person for smart. And as always, how we typically go about things is it's typically all about you guys, and you know what's going right? What do we need to improve on and how can we better serve all of you and beyond? But today is very special, because we are going to have a presentation, a brief presentation from one of our consultants and partners, Janae William Smith, who is with Michael Baker, a consultant that we hired to essentially help us do the mission and reason why we're even on the sounding board, which is to hear your concerns, get feedback from you, and come up with a better way to serve all of you. So I'm not going to talk too long. I'm going to go ahead and pass the mic to Janae, and we'll open up the floor for questions after that. All right, thanks, Jordan.
I'll be as quick as possible. Um, as Jordan mentioned, I'm janai Williams Smith. I am with the holdings. We are part of the Michael Baker team working on the Smarter mobility program. Um, so what is the smarter mobility program? Really quickly, smart reached out and was looking for consultants to help evaluate the pilot micro transit program a flex there were five micro transit zones at the time that they were looking for this evaluation. Shortly thereafter, Oakland passed its county millage, increasing the smart service area, pretty much doubling it. And so that changed the scope of the project. So no longer were we just looking at those five micro transit pilot areas, but we were looking at how the entire system together can work, how we can make sure that there's transit opportunities available to those who are new opt in communities, how we can make sure that the service design improvements kind of are efficient and maximize operational effectiveness. What are some alternatives to what exists today? So maybe fixed route exists today, somewhere that shouldn't, and there's an alternative method or mode of transit that smart could offer that would meet riders needs, but also just kind of be more efficient. And so all of that is include, included in all of that is a robust public engagement process with just what I'm here today to talk to you about, but just to give you a bit of background, we've been working on this program for a little over a year, and we've used lots of data sources to get us to where we are today, which are two scenarios for folks to look at and tell us and what they like and dislike about each we're not asking people to compare them, but we are asking for kind of what's great about scenario one, what's great about scenario two, what could present challenges? Likewise, we are now in this kind of red phase of engagement and looking at these scenarios. At the end of this month, we'll conclude our public comment period, and we'll go into taking how we can take the best and the worst of each of these scenarios and come up with a hybrid. So how do we get to where we are now? The scenarios we did look at a lot of data, and we examine people's trips across all modes of traffic, trap, transit, excuse me, and what we know is most transit trips are short. Most people kind of commute on a regular basis within five miles within a five mile radius, so you'll see these kind of short orange lines. What we also know is that, where do people go to work? Kind of where are employment clusters, and where do they exist in making sure that, as you look at planning transit for the future, that we make sure that we're connecting to where the jobs are. The last data source we looked at is who are the folks who are transit dependent? Who are those people who are most likely to use transit? And we want to make sure that there's an opportunity, I can get to your questions just at the end, that there's an opportunity for those folks to be connected to transit. And so looking at where those communities exist, and there are a series of kind of basic transit planning principles in terms of looking at what makes the factors for propensity that are on the right side of the screen, and making sure we evaluate those and that there's connectivity for those communities. We also talked to people. We did rider surveys throughout the month of October, collecting over 1400 surveys. We did pop ups, perhaps in locations that don't have transit today, but could have it in the future. You know, we couldn't rent the bus to talk to those folks, so we had to find other methods and means to get to them, to understand what was important to them, talk to a series of stakeholders, whether that be elected officials, planning department or transportation directors throughout the municipalities, the community service providers, just trying to make the conversation as inclusive as possible, to have a good understanding of how we got to the two scenarios today. And so things that you guys told us that were really important is making sure the service is reliable. That was by far the number one comment. Next is looking at amenities, making sure that when you're at a stop, that you're comfortable, that you have a shelter, and that the information that's available is in real time. How do we look at frequency? So it was very clear to us, it's important for the service to run frequently, 15 to every 30 minutes along some routes. Next is like this idea of customer service, so making sure that's better, easier, more convenient for the customer, not only as they interact with the operator, but just information that's available to them in the app. And last but not least, I mean the service area doubles to looking at coverage. Where does transit not exist today, that it now can exist in the future. And then, where does transit not exist today, that it that also can exist in the future, even if it was a previously opt in community. So where are travel patterns changing? And last but not least, we kind of asked the question, where do you want to go? So we can look at where people are going today. We also want to ask, Are there places that you would go if public transit could take you there? And just kind of having an understanding of where those opportunities are. With all that information, we were able to develop two scenarios, both of which respected the goals on the screen, so making sure that there was operational efficiency, making sure that we were doing things that would improve customer experience, and last but not least, making sure that the scenarios that were offered, or the routes that were offered any modifications, were consistent with kind of improving people's connections and quality of life scenario, one looks at improving frequency. So a few things to note. You can go to the website, which is the end of this presentation, to kind of dig into the details and see this more. But there are five new routes on this map. They are in orange. One that is not in orange. It's important to notice the 162 so it would be a new fast route that goes down through Trenton. The other orange lines are those that are new connections that would run a pretty good frequency during this scenario. Those fast, five fast routes would run every 20 minutes. And there are 11 routes that are new every 30 minutes, and the balance of the routes, which is 25 will go every 60 minutes. Those that are in blue have modifications. Some of the modifications are significant, but by and large, the intention was to make those routes a little straighter, maybe to extend them if they didn't extend to the next shopping center to next shopping center so we can connect people better to grocery stores and hospitals, and in some instances, we split routes in half to improve operational efficiency. Scenario two looks at, how can we increase coverage? But the basic premise for this being, can we create routes or transit where it doesn't exist today. And so there are obviously more orange lines on this map showing that there are more new routes to be considered in order to do so, there are always trade offs for transit, because we are constrained fiscally on both of these scenarios were designed using smarts, current budget, current operators, and kind of minimal projections for the future, so not to design something that can exist or can't happen. Um, and so we did have to reduce the time on the fast routes from every 20 minutes back to every 30 minutes. There are a few really key routes or have high ridership that were increased from 60 minutes to 30 minute run times, and then the balance will be every 60 minutes micro transit zones, which is what started this conversation initially, are different in the two scenarios. In scenario one, we are looking at their five new micro transit zones. We looked at splitting some of those that exist today in half, or shifting them over based on where demand is. There are some in blue on this map that would be a partnership between smart and existing community partners program to allow maybe those community partners who know their communities best and have those relationships to operate those flex zone, and then the addition of the new purple ones, so ways to give input, obviously participating today. So super thankful for you to be here today and ask questions. And we are going to start a public meeting here in Romulus Public Library at 530 there is another public meeting tomorrow evening, also starting at 6pm all that information is available on the smartmobility.org website. There's also an opportunity for you to dig into each of the route, maybe look at the one that impacts you in your community a little bit more closer, and give us direct input on that. Um, you can always email us at Smart mobility@smartbus.org, and then, last but not least, we are having kind of a more full length presentation during two online public meetings, one on September 18 at 10am and then the other on September 24 at 6pm all of the information for how to register for those meetings, again, is on the sport and website. And so with that being said, we are at the end of the presentation, and we have a few moments for questions. I'll turn it back over to Jordan.
Okay, everyone. We have about 20 minutes left, and with that, we can proceed with how we normally move forward with our forum is just opening up for questions, concerns and Thomas, I actually did. I see your hand and I see your your chat. Funny thing is, in the middle of, I've seen Janae presentation before, so in the middle of I was reading your email. It's quite lengthy, but I have full intention on getting back with you. Funny thing is, we were actually in Oakland University, I want to say, a couple of days ago, doing some marketing and letting people know about smarter mobility and about the different routes that are going to Oakland University. So Thomas, I'm going to allow you to speak, but I'm on it so you can, you can say your question. Thank you, Jordan,
yeah, I appreciate you following up with me on that. I just had a question about the getting in touch with the smarter mobility team. So, you know, I have a lot of ideas, which there's many things, and I it's going to be hard for me to make it to some of the meetings. So would email be the best way to present those ideas.
Absolutely, we'd love an email from you that presents your ideas, if they're, like, location specific, and it's easier for you to give us your ideas, like, on a route by route basis. During the website, you can kind of pick the routes that are most important to you, and there's an open ended survey at the end that'll allow you to kind of share any thoughts that you have on those routes. So it's your preference.
Thank you.
I want to say and Thomas, I know you have even more, so I'm going to address you a little more personally via email as well. I'll reach back out. I think Robert had his hand up next.
Yes, thank you, Jordan. And I just want to give a thank you to Mike Baker associates and our presenter for her presentation tonight. Just really excited to see some of the Smart Mobility plans, you know, being expanded on. I'm actually here at the library, so I will keep my comments to a brief since I'll talk more about it in our public hearing tonight, two questions so he has had constant conversations about a county wide village. They're working with the state elected officials and legislation to try to get more power for transit here in Wayne County, potentially a countywide millage within the next year or so. With this plan currently being proposed, it is more surrounded with the opt in communities. Is this plan subject to change? If Wayne County decides to put a ballot measure on the millage and it does get approved,
say, the great thing about planning is it evolves over time, right as circumstances change, as conditions change, so should the plan. So I'm sure that smart will constantly reevaluate how they can provide service to those communities who've opted in for that service. Thank
you. I just wanted some clarification there on that, because you know, with some of these routes that I'm looking at, the 162 Ford Street, it's been a dream of mind to see a fast route on Ford Street for many years riding the bus, but the way it goes and the location it's going to I mean, yes, it's a hospital, but it it needs to serve more than just a hospital. You need to consider the factor of how much business districts and retail there are in the down river communities, and we how much ridership is going to get on that. I'm not sure how many people are going to use the bus to go down to a hospital, unless the morning shift or the night shift for the hospitals. But you also got to remember they might not be able to use that if they're coming from Detroit, so just wanted to point that out there. So maybe evaluating the plan and potentially having conversations with Wayne County and what their envisions look like while drafting this plan would really be helpful. The second question the flex zones, I know that's one of the biggest things that we're seeing here on the plan, and how to implement those across Southgate, Wyandotte with the mobility plan. What are the plans to look at flex zones that don't have any fixed route service in those communities, whether that's Oakland, Macomb or Wayne, and have them serve flex and connector service if there's not accessibility, to put a full fixed route bus on that road.
I will say in the short term, our criteria for determining a flex zone is that that zone would connect someone to a fixed route service, right? So if, if where they're looking to go is beyond the service area or the flex zone area, we need to be able to connect them to a fixed route that can then get them there. So I would say for this initial round, that's the primary focus. I'm sure as the program continues to evolve, criteria may change based on needs, and if
I may, what about connecting the person that booked the ride from their house in that zone that's not close to a fixed route to another location in that zone. That's the factor, because we're kind of seeing it right now where it's a 20 to 30 minute wait if you're going from one place to another place within the zone without connecting to another fixed route. And it's the same case right now. So
also part of the criteria in evaluating the flex zones is to look at how they can be more efficient in their operation, so that we can reduce that wait time and commute time. And so that's part of the reason why you see the changes to the existing zones
Perfect. Thank you so much, and I appreciate the hosting this meeting, having this presentation. It's very insightful, and I know us transit advocates will be here, helping you and providing you the details that you need along the way. So thank you so much for your time.
Thank you. I'll see you soon.
Brother Cunningham. Cunningham is next.
Brother coming. Okay, so we're gonna, we're gonna move on, just because we're limited on time. You guys. Renard,
Hi, my name is Renard monczunski, he, him. I use he, him pronouns. I'm I mostly use DDOT. But I've been noticing with the fast bus service, it's been extremely infrequent, and given the recent contract agreements with smart and their drivers, what is going on with the fast service? Why is it been going on for like, why is the frequency been as slow to like, once an hour or once every other hour? So I'm really concerned about Detroiters that have to use the fast bus to get to areas in Oakland County or Macomb County, and the service isn't as reliable as it used to and smart still has a restored limited pickup service within Detroit during peak hours as it used to have. So is there a solution to increasing frequency and operations along the fast routes, or is there some sort of obstacle that we don't know? Thank you.
So for the Smart Mobility Program, I can't actually answer current operations on the fast routes. I'm gonna have to pitch that question to Bernard or Jordan
Bernard, and thank you, and thank you for this forum, too.
Thanks, Bernard. There is a Bernard on the line. I was trying to give her the question. Oh, my God. Okay, sorry about that.
So in some in depth, certain in depth questions, you guys. I'll be honest with you, I am an ombuds person, and I do the fun community relations piece. I open the floor for you guys, other people who have more expertise to answer a lot of these questions. So what we will do is drop our information in the chat so that you can send emails, so that we can forward that to the correct person who will have a proper answer for that. And that does sound like an operations question, so that maybe for deshalon, who is the VP of bus operations. So we don't have much brother, Cunningham
Jordan, I was sitting in for deshawan so he can upload his email, and we can give him a for sure response in regards to the fast that he's experienced the delay in service. So now, if you don't mind, you can email me. I'll drop my email in the chat. Will that be okay?
Yes, sorry, I had trouble with the microphone. Yes, please place that in the chat and I'll reach out. I appreciate that will do
Thank you. Robin brother Cunningham,
greetings, everybody, the same four things, the fast bus schedules. They should be placed at every library or wherever DDOT schedules are. The fast bus schedules can be put in the libraries and other places where DDOT schedules are put and I'm on the impression you guys know, not even printing out schedules right now. Also, I agree with Brainard, my boy, Renard, the fast bus is inconsistent. I'm a Texas cab driver, and I do outreach. I give out hand warmers and gloves and things in the winter times at the bus stops. But I do reach a lot of people, and there's a complaint with the fast bus over the last three years, the fast is sometimes ghost and it doesn't show up. Also, I with Miss Delon and I um, Mr. Bernard, um, I had asked that there be a six mile stop for the Woodward fast bus. I mean, nickel stop. Um, I hear that a lot from people. They have to walk down to Manchester or to, uh, Seven Mile, um, if there could be a stop at McNichols, and do I hear clearly that they're going to be a fast bus on Fourth Street? I know that a fast needed on on Van Dyke, Grand River. And again, I was just curious if there will be a fast bus on Fourth Street, if that's if I was not hearing things clearly, please. You know, clarify. I thank you for this forum. Bad bus service is good for my side hustle, taxi cab, but it's not good for those who ride the busses. They rely on it, hopefully someone can respond back. Thank you so much.
As Bernard put into the chat, yes, we will take that into consideration. I appreciate that Pete about about Fourth Avenue. I also like to mention you guys that this is being recorded, so we're actually going to extract the information from this forum to give it to Michael Baker. So we are getting the information from guys
the thoughts about the McNichols stop for the Uber fast bus and putting fast schedules wherever DDoS schedules are, and, of course, the fast bus on Van Dyke and on Grand River.
Thank you. Did anyone before Robert, I'll let you speak again. What did anybody else? Okay? Mary, Jo,
yeah, I am going to call down to talk to someone with a smart flex. But last week, I, you know, went on my app and asked for a ride to the I'm in Dearborn, to the the Civic Center, and, you know, I'm waiting. And it says I'm a minute there, and then I get this call saying, Well, I'm at the train station. Where are you? And I said, What are you talking about? I'm home. I'm waiting, you know, for a ride to the community center. So he comes and picks me up, and there's another woman in the car, and he takes her to Michigan, Michigan and Mason. And he, he's saying to me, I can't, I can't keep you in the car. I can't take you there, because there's something wrong with your reservation. You're going to have to make another reservation. But I cannot take you. You have to get out of the car. And I don't know what happened. I know that I had to, you know, try and get it like, 15 times. And finally I got, you know, said, I we found you somebody. It did keep showing me some of the public transit stuff, and one of the fast busses does stop at Mason in Michigan, so I wondered if that was related at all. But, like I said, I'm going to call downtown. I mean, I've never had that happen before, and then at some point, and I even got a thank you note, thanks for using our service. And also it said something about $5 and I didn't understand that, because I pay $1 Well, it's $2 but it's subsidized in Dearborn. Anyway, I'm just sharing that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mary, Jo, we'll definitely follow up with you on that. Thank you for letting us know we will be in contact with you. Anybody else, Robert? Let you have Gloria, but anybody else before I let Robert speak again,
Robert, you go ahead. Thanks, Jordan. This actually just popped in my head while I was hearing some of the comments. So I really wanted to share this with some of the forum here tonight, ticket kiosk. I know that's something that's rare here in Detroit. You have a couple here and there, one at Rosa Parks, and they're all dived at kiosks with this plan Incorporated, what is the accessibility going to be to have ticket kiosks at some of the major transfer stops? I mean, for a South Gate resident like myself, you know, with some good service coverage, you could say, I mean, I have two hourly routes in 30 minutes. But areas like Southland mall, Metro, airport, Oakland University, Great Lakes, crossing, all of the major transfer steps that have heavy ridership should have a ticket kiosk and maybe integrating something where we look at other agencies like Cleveland, where you have you can buy your fair rated kiosk before you board your bus, like the Health Line, something similar to where we can implement that and make it easier, so we're not having delayed pull out rates because of people getting on the busses and constantly having to put money in the slot At the fare box, you know, reducing that boarding time so everything's efficient and the busses are still on time.
That's good feedback.
Thank you for that. Thanks. Jordan.
Rochelle Stewart, Stewart,
good evening, everyone. My name is rochella Stewart. I'm with Detroit people's platform transit justice team, and I agree with what Bernard and what Cunningham is saying. They got to be a little bit more on time the past, but they badly need it for people getting back and forth in a rush to get to work or wherever they go on, but try to make it a little bit more dependent, a little bit more faster.
Thank you. Miss rochella, we appreciate your comment. I want to make sure brother Cunningham, you were, Oh, yep, I think that was you. Again,
we'll go to Thomas and come back to brother Cunningham,
Hi, sorry. Just have another question. A lot of stops I noticed are missing info cards or didn't even have don't have info cards for every route that uses the stop. Who should I reach out to to inform about missing info cards? And also, is there a possibility that the full system map will be updated soon? The one on the website is outdated, I believe.
Well, now that we have that information, thank you for that, we're going to be addressing that internally. So thank you for that information this. This is why this forum exists, you guys, so you can tell us what's going on so we can address it. So thank you for that. We will be addressing that brother. Cunningham, you again.
Can y'all hear me? Thank you, Ken um, so we do bus ride alongs with elected officials and the mayor of Dearborn, elected official, city council persons and stuff like. We really didn't have much problem with the Dearborn mayor. No one really came to him with a lot of complaints or anything. And while I'm on board, since I give away the bus tickets and the housing low income housing list, not many were taken during the Dearborn ride along. So I appreciate everybody that's on this call. I like like minded people who love transit, who love transit and echo?
Yes, he is. But brother Cunningham, if you could, we only have probably about one minute left. So, okay, okay,
so if anybody who wants to reach out 313-444-9114, is the number 313-444-9114, the number was made simple so you can remember it and on Facebook, just type in expensive vehicle repairs, and you will see my page with those ride along videos with Rashida tly Councilwoman Gabriella, Santa, Romero and more. Thank you so much, everybody.
Thank you for that. Okay, well, in closing, everyone, thank you once again for all of your comments. It's almost 530 I want to reassure you that although we are in the last, final phase of our smarter mobility public engagement, we hope that you can make it out to a meeting. We were wrapping that up the in person meetings, but I want to say September 18 and September 24 there are virtual meetings. And I believe most of you, we have your contact information. We dropped our contact contact information in there, so please send us an email so we can at least shoot that the virtual stuff out to you, so you can attend, engage on the website, and thank you for joining us for the sounding board, and we look forward to seeing you soon, whether virtually or in person. Have a good one.
Thanks for responding, Mr. Parker, to my text messages and things. Thank you, sir.
Thanks everyone. Have a good day. Thanks, everybody.