Wow! What an afternoon?! There is so much to share!
1) As mentioned in an earlier blog, we gave public comment today at the SMART Board of Directors meeting and challenged the Board of Directors and General Manager John Hertel to ride the SMART bus during “off-peak” hours. (NOTE: We were the only ones to give comment. Please join us next time!) We also extended an invitation to them to ride the bus with us, so we could document the experience on this blog. Unfortunately – as of now – we have not received any responses from them. (NOTE: If you are reading this blog and you just so happen to be Mr. Hertel or a SMART Board member, please take us up on our offer! We don’t bite. Heck, we might even ask you to join us during our happy hour adventures in the city.)
2) While giving public comment, we also addressed the following:
- Increased public transparency – we mentioned putting their agendas and minutes on their website
- Inconsistent bus schedule (Insert teaser – there may be a communication system on the way to help with this concern – we’ll discuss more in a future blog)
- Need for additional bike spaces on the bus racks (insert teaser – stay tuned for a really exciting blog about this!)
- Efforts to increase ridership to create demand for a third transportation system
3) After the meeting, we had the opportunity to meet with Deputy General Manager Jim Fetzer and Manager of Marketing & Communications Beth Gibbons. They met with us for over an hour to answer our questions and explain transit concerns in southeast Michigan. (We would like to give a special shout out to Mr. Fetzer and Ms. Gibbons for spending so much time with us after the meeting and for being regular blog readers! )
Since we learned so much new information today, we need a couple happy hours to organize our thoughts and create some sassy presentations that explain all of it and how you can help to strengthen our transit system. Stay tuned for those exciting blogs! :)
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