Outraged about the SMART Bus cuts?? It's time to get serious.

The back story (if you haven't already heard):

http://www.freep.com/article/20111212/NEWS05/111212002/Metro-Detroit-SMART-bus-system-cuts-take-effect?odyssey=tab

The cuts (if you haven't already seen this):

http://www.smartbus.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Service%20Changes%2012-11/SMART%20Service%20Changes%20Effective%2012-12-11.pdf

The commentary (ours, feel free to add your own):

As many of you know, Two Women Four Wheels has been rolling for about a year and half now. That's a lot of bus rides, and a lot of those bus rides happen on 'non-peak' times in Detroit on SMART buses (peak times = 6am - 9am and 3pm - 6pm M-F - is it us, or are these some serious early-bird 'peak times'? We'd like to see the empirical evidence on this one - but we digress). This SERIOUSLY interferes with happy hour times! Cliff Bells' Happy Hour goes until 7pm, helllllooo.

And what is the main theme that we blog/tweet about (well, besides getting hit on)? How full the buses are. How we get stuck places because the bike racks on the buses are FULL.

This is a MAJOR step back as it relates to transit in metro Detroit. Yeah, we said it. METRO Detroit. Not Detroit vs. the suburbs vs. the out-burbs or whatever. We are a region. A vibrant region full of great people that need (or prefer) to get around via public transit. And one that frankly is going fast nowhere without a solid way for people to get around.

The Plan (we know you've been waiting):

So, what speaks more than 1,000 words (or Two Women Four Wheels fabulous blog/Twitter posts)?

That's right.

We are kicking off our picture campaign and ask followers of our blogs (and friends of followers and of course, their friends) to post the following:

1. Pictures of crowded buses

2. Pictures of crowded bus stops

3. Pictures of full buses driving away, leaving you to await the next one

Along with your pictures, please also post the date/time and route (whether SMART or DDOT).

And also feel free to document any issues you may have.

SMART and DDOT need to hear from US. The local transit riding community. And how these cuts aren't going to cut it with us.

Feel free to send photos to:

2women4wheels@gmail.com

tag us on Twitter at:

@2women4wheels

or post to Facebook tagging:

2 Women 4 Wheels

We can't wait to see your photos and hear your stories - and we'll be sharing our own. We will be amassing this information for potential future actions (insert evil laugh muhahahaha). :)