Detroit's Q-Line Gets A Nice State Taxpayer Bailiout

Democrats do love their toy trains.

I've blogged quite a bit on the Q-Line, a private-public partnership with losses socialized and profits (which don't exist) privatized, producing a train in Detroit that moves at the speed of a walk for 3.3 miles and costs millions to operate.

Now the State of Michigan is stepping in to forgive a 3.5 million dollar loan to keep the Q-Line in the black in return for . . . advertising rights on the side of the Q-Line streetcars.  Oh joy. This is on top of another $85 million in taxpayer subsidies given to the Q-Line courtesy of Governor Whitmer.

This is being done as the non-profit operating the Q Line gets folded into the Regional Transit Authority. So, moving forward, the entire region including Macomb and Oakland Counties and not just Detroit can be on the hook to pay for this streetcar to nowhere.

The Detroit News: State forgives $3.5M loan for Detroit's QLine in exchange for ad rights on street car

Just more choo-choo cronyism at work, paid for with your tax dollars. Note that its the taxpayer and not the users that pay for the Q-Line as the rides are free as people won't pay to ride it.

Ride The D-Qline

Detroit's 3.3 mile long rail-transit of wonder, the Q-line, is already deteriorating after 2 years of operation.

The Detroit Free Press: Get serious about fixing the QLINE or admit that it's just for show

Of course, one must be amazed that someone actually gave up their car to rely on this 3.3 mile light rail that moves, if at all, at the speed of a slow walk.

As I've written previously to amusing criticism, my wife and I gave up car ownership in June 2018. Early on, we expected to rely on the train for trips to destinations such as the Detroit Institute of Art, Whole Foods and Midtown restaurants. While we do sometimes take the streetcar to those places, "rely" isn’t quite the right word for using the QLINE. In good weather, scooters or walking often are faster, happier options.

Ah, an SWPL mass transit enthusiast that publicly preached giving up his car, so he can use mass transit to the DIA and of course, Whole Foods. So how's that workin' out for ya there skippy?

M-1 Rail, which runs the QLINE, acknowledges that it is “not where we want with reliability at this moment,” spokesman Dan Lijana told me. Improvements are being made, he said, in arrival estimates and staffing that will improve reliability, though they aren’t visible yet.

This is after two and a half years of operation. This is exasperating. Already, many Detroiters scoff at the streetcar, complain about its unreliability and don’t consider it among transportation options.

So not only is it a slow 3.3 miles, but it's an unreliable erratic 3.3 miles.

Who coulda seen this coming?

Progressives on Mass Transit: Not Working? Do It More And Harder.

Yet again, the advocates while at the same time claiming that the Q-Line would be the future for mass transit are now admitting that its failing, and their solution is to double down and do it again.

The Detroit News: Opinion: Detroit can still make transit succeed

She notes that already predicted reality: Ridership is down to about 2,490 beow what is required to sustain it and its down, especially from when rides were free - who could have guessed? On top of that, the streetcars are delayed and not reliable, and the system isn't exactly up to spec maintenance-wise.

Again, who could have seen that coming?

But reality never dissuaded mass transit enthusiasts.

Her first proposed solution? Free rides during the time it would be in highest demand for people to pay for rides, to show people will ride it . . .so long as its free. Yes, really.

First, its private-sector benefactors should declare a four-month holiday from the fares, just as when the streetcar first launched operations — and just in time for baseball season, and for the streetcar to take travelers from downtown hotels to the ballpark.

If your system depends on it being free in order to work, there's something a tad wrong with your system, especially when you need rider fares to sustain the system.

Then, after bemoaning that the current payment system is difficult and often malfunctioning, for the poor people who can't afford cars, she claims it can be fixed with credit card readers on every streetcar.

Second, the QLine should install credit-card payment infrastructure onboard, with options for people who don’t have credit cards to pre-pay their fares at shops alongside the route.

Using credit card swipes for a $1.50 fare is a bit much, not to mention the time it takes to process each swipe transaction as a passenger boards and pays over the 3.3 miles that Q-Line travels. Of course, she somehow expects the payment system to be better maintained than the operating history of the system with its current broken payment systems that she has indicated it will be so far, right?

Note how these proposals still won't increase the streetcar rate from the current 20 minutes or more to the 8 minutes that was promised. Bit she does recommend losing a lane on Woodward in each direction to jam traffic in favor of a slow moving streetcar, because, mass transit.

Remember, this is all for a 3.3 mile long system that moves at best at about the speed of a normal walk.

Monorail! Now With Proposed New Expensive Connections To Toledo and Monroe!

The fever dreams of urban mass-transit planners and their love of trains is so quaint. At least it is until you realize taxpayers will be on the hook for these vanity choo-choo projects.

The Detroit Free Press: New 110-mph passenger train could connect Detroit, Toledo and Ann Arbor

A new study presented to Toledo officials looked at a rail concept — dubbed the T because of its layout — that would connect Detroit, Toledo and Ann Arbor and cities in between.

If it were built, you could leave Detroit and get to Toledo in about an hour, about the same as if you drove straight down I-75, assuming you didn't run into any construction detours, rush-hour traffic, major accidents — or make any stops to top off your tank with gas.

Toledo City Councilman Chris Delaney, who has championed the study, said Wednesday that the T would not be just for "the luxury of being able to board a train." He viewed passenger rail service as a means to longer-term economic development and prosperity.

Like we've never heard that before.

Note in the article they plan to use existing freight rail tracks, for at least some of the run. This means that their claimed 80-100 mile speed will not be so fast in reality as they're going to have to stop and wait for freight trains and no, you really won't get there as fast as you would in your own motor vehicle. Cost is estimated at $390-$524 million, and given the cost overruns we've seen on similar train projects, you can safely double those estimates to get an idea of the true cost for this project.

Of course, once you get to Toledo or Monroe, you're going to need to call an Uber or rent a car or something to get around, certainly negating the savings of taking a train, the ticket price for which will almost assuredly be higher than the mileage cost for driving that distance or will be heavily subsidized by you up front from your taxes - probably both.

These planners love the idea of train projects - nice, expensive, programs with lots of opportunity for graft, vanity naming rights, and union feather-bedding combined with their disdain of the proles for daring to drive themselves where and how they wish. Reality tends to indicate people don't actually want these trains to nowhere.

And an excellent example of the hand-waving and excuses made when these rail projects don't quite work as expected in reality is displayed in this very article when it looks at the regions latest choo-choo project that cost over $182 million:

In its first year, the QLINE was expected to deliver 3,000 to 5,000 rides a day, and it hit that goal for part of the year. But from November through March, average daily ridership dipped to 2,700, potentially because of colder weather.

Nice slight of hand there "potentially because of colder weather". Yes, because riders don't like to be in enclosed vehicles during colder weather, right? Not so much. Ridership of Qline didn't decline because of the weather, ridership actually dropped when riders had to actually pay for a train that moved as fast as a slow walk for all of 3.3 miles.

Also note that in order for QLine to break even, they need 5,000 rides per day, not 2,700 meaning guess who is going to pay the difference?

$524 million would be far better put to use repairing the multitude of potholes, bridges and infrastructure that already lies along that route. Not nearly as sexy, there's no opportunity to rename the route for favored persons or entities in that, and no guarantee of continued subsidies to operate it. But, people will actually use it to go where they want, how they want. Urban planners hate that.

Not Riding The D-Qline - Detroit's Q-Line Ridership Drops When No Longer Free, Unexpectedly.

Who could have predicted that the Q-Line, a 3.3 mile streetcar line that moves about evenly with the speed of walking feet, would have a decline in ridership of almost half when it is no longer being provided to riders for free?

The Detroit News: QLine has fewer riders than expected, report says

M-1 Rail representatives had expected the line to average about 5,000 daily riders between Sept. 5, 2017 and Sept. 5, 2018 — the first full year of customers paying. But once passengers had to pay for passes to use the route which serves 12 locations on Woodward Avenue, totals dropped as much as 40 percent in the weeks that followed. The report released this week shows the route averaged 4,660 daily rides through October 2017, then 2,700 between November and March 2018.

Of course it's falling short of financial targets too, and even the financial target had it even been met meant a 4.6 million dollar deficit per year:

According to the analysis: “First-year revenue projections come close to the $1.2 million target with just under $1 million in through mid-April, and this number is fully expected to go up with projected increases in ridership.”

From September 2017 through April 2018, revenue at the fare box brought in $417,050, the report found. System expenses totaled $5.8 million for the first year.

Not to worry, the public side of the private-public partnership will no doubt make good on the losses.

If At First You Don't Get Voters To Raise Taxes, Just Try To Get Voters To Raise Taxes Again

The last attempt at a regional transit levy ran out of gas as it was basically a subsidy for Detroit and for the SWPL types in Ann Arbor with Oakland and Macomb counties footing a large portion of the bill for services they would never receive.

Regionalism yet again - Oakland and Macomb counties picking up the tab for Wayne County's desires, now with a new serving of Washtenaw county to boot.

So not dissuaded by failing the first time, they're at it again:

The Detroit News: Regional transit tax pushed for November ballot

Since at first they did not succeed, they'll keep pushing a vote until they get the result they want.

Metro Detroit leaders are working to put a regional transportation millage on November’s ballot just two years after voters narrowly rejected a tax hike to expand mass transit in southeastern Michigan.

Regional leaders say they have been meeting to come up with a new plan and hope to make an announcement as early as this month. The group includes the “Big 4” — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel. Washtenaw County also has had a representative at the meetings, according to Jim Martinez, a spokesman for Evans.

Assuming it will seek the same amount of tax as before -- if not more -- its going to be a hard sell:

The millage would have cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $120 annually, RTA officials estimated.

That's before you pay the fare for the ride, assuming the ride is even close to the home from which you're paying the tax.

Ride The D-QLine

Well Detroit now has it's shiny new streetcar.

The Detroit News: Amid Detroit area transit debate, cue the QLine

3.3 miles of streetcar to nowhere, with 12 stations in that 3.3 miles, or almost a station every quarter mile.

And the cost, well that's the fun part:

With additional money from private, local, state and federal sources, the QLine has received more than $182.2 million, enough funding to last through 2022, according to M-1 Rail. It will take about $6 million a year to sustain it.

If you beleiveit will only be $6 million you're optimistic.

The construction cost overran its 100 million estimate apparently hitting 140 million, and considering it's Detroit the operating cost will likely similarly exceed the estimate by a comfortable grafting margin.

So what do we get for this quarter-billion wonder?

Well in the Detroit News' helpful A QLine how-to navigate guide we learn the streetcars may reach breathtaking speeds of 35mph and you better hold on as there's not a lot of seats but lost of hanging straps to grab and you can pack 150 people in a car. There's a few fold down seats but they seem rather few and far between. But, it looks like they're saying (its kind of hard to figure out see the article and you'll see why) it will take 30 minutes to go the entire 3.3 miles in that guide, which means a blistering speed of 6.6 miles per hour.

So yes, Detroit will now have a shiny new streetcar to go nowhere alongside the mugger-mover, oh, sorry the People Mover.

Not sure how 3.3 of very expensive streetcar will be Detroit's salvation, but they sure are optimistic about it, just sub QLine for monorail in the song below and you'll get an idea of the fervor of the Detroit SWPL intelligentsia for the project:

Why Detroit Can't Have Nice Things

Not even in operation yet, and already the QLine streetcars, have been vandalized.

Set to travel all of 3.3 miles of Woodward Avenue, they were apparently not stored in a secure location, which certainly has some interesting implications even as its a commentary on the incapability of some Detroiters to avoid befouling their own nest.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit QLINE streetcars vandalized with graffiti

Update: I've been informed that the vandalism "ACAB" written on the streetcar isn't due to the vandals receipt of a Detroit Public school system education and thus an inability to tell a taxicab from a streetcar, but apparently it's the urban-dweller acronym for "All Cops Are Bad". Take from that what you will.

Who Knew DDOT Stood For Drunken Drivers Offer Transport?

Tam has a continuing series detailing the follies of the Indianapolis Police Department and its officers issues with drunken driving and subsequent crashes.

Police, in sedans, driving drunk.

Detroit decided to top that in a big way with drunken bus drivers: DDOT bus driver accused of drunken driving in hit-and-run crash

Police say they arrested a Detroit Department of Transportation bus driver who had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit after he sideswiped a car and then fled the scene with passengers on board.

M1 Rail To Nowhere Looking For More Of Other People's Money

Light Rail is nirvana for the SWPL folks.

It's apparently such a draw that you can cancel it, but it keeps coming back again.

Even at 3 miles it's supposedly the little engine that could bring economic development to Detroit, just by existing and going up and down the three mile strip.

Even this crazy expensive light rail to nowhere is considered awesome. It's backers were all ready to go until they re crunched the numbers and realized they didn't get all the federal money up front they thought they would receive and were short $12 million out of the $173 million:

The Detroit News: Detroit's M-1 rail project in jeopardy without millions in new fed funding

The $173 million dollar, three mile light rail project on Woodward, down from the originally planned 8 miles of rail at $371 million just realized that they're short about $12 million in initial start costs and need it from the Feds to get the project started.

At $8,000 a foot, 57.6 Million per mile, it's costing about ten million more per mile to build the smaller system than the original 8 mile system. Expect the inevitable cost overruns to jack it up even more.

The Woodward Light rail project is looking like a case of the politician's syllogism:

We must do something mass transity to show what a cool place we are.
The M-1 Rail project is something mass transity (for all of 3 miles and an unknown amount of riders with millions of annual subsidies to be determined).
Therefore We must build it.

Another Detroit project that goes nowhere yet will be subsidized forever.

Meanwhile In Detroit - Got Change For The Bus?

How Bad is it in Detroit?

It's so bad, it costs them $1 million to count $14 million in fares a year - and they count the fares by hand, in a room with money cast about willy-nilly.

The Detroit News: Detroit to hire help to get disorganized bus fare counting on track

The city is hiring an armored car company to handle the daily collection of bus-fare revenue after officials discovered a disorganized cash-counting operation within the Department of Transportation, The Detroit News has learned.

. . .

The plan is to scrap the current cash system that involves employees counting bus-fare revenue each day at the DDOT central office on Warren Avenue.

“There literally is a room where employees sit around a table and just count money. It wasn’t well organized,” said Gary Brown, the city’s chief restructuring officer. “There was money on the floor, and in bags, and the money’s been there a couple weeks.”

Read that last paragraph again. A city with a longstanding history of corruption and incompetence that's been on the verge of bankruptcy and now finally is in bankruptcy has, as a matter of ongoing practice, having cash money just lying around for weeks in a disorganized mess.

Anyone want to take a bet that some of that money has been sticking to various fingers and going elsewhere then back into the transportation department's coffers?

Tell me again how its such a great idea to get into a regional transportation agreement with an agency like that?

Even Shinier Than Light Rail - Its Bus Rapid Transit!

In the continuing effort to regionalize Detroit's expenses and wastage on the suburbs, there's a new push for a new tax on the region to support a rapid bus transit system. SWPL types love the idea of regional rapid transit, even when it costs a ton and goes nowhere either useful nor fast.

Note that rapid in this case means an estimate of 35 mph on these large buses to nowhere. Estimates of course tend to be optimistic at best compared to reality.

The Detroit News: Metro Detroit tax touted to fuel rapid bus system

Cleveland's experience shows it took 10 years to develop and $200 million to build a 6.8 mile system. At around 28.5 million per mile, its rather spendy, especially for the planned route in Detroit. Also Cleveland, as much as it pains me to say it, is a tad more vibrant and functional than the dysfunctional D.

At the cost of $200 million the system could buy and give away 7,300 Chevy Volts (likely 1 per rider of this boondoggle), and cause the SWPL types to swoon in happiness at the thought of electric car sharing, not to mention offering a lot more flexibility, but less opportunity for graft and corruption.

Of course Detroit's BRT backers, not ones to think small, want to spend $500 million on a system. The money they expect to raise will be from a handy regional tax of course.

At some point the suburbs will have enough of this regional tax approach to pay for Detroit projects and the results of Detroit squandering its resources. The suburbs are already bailing out the Detroit Zoo and DIA, and asking them to pay for Detroit's latest expensive vapid yet rapid transit dreams may prove to be a bit too much.

How About A Little Free Market In Your Michigan Transportation Network?

Faced with boondoggles of expensive high-speed rail to nowhere, bus drivers that go on strike, and a public transportation deep in debt and disorder living on unending tax subsidies, at least one Michigan legislator has an amazing idea:

Let's give the free market a try!

The Detroit News: Bill encourages return of jitneys

On Tuesday, state Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, introduced a measure (HB 5724) that would prohibit cities from banning the establishment or use of jitneys as a means of public transportation.

It would also prohibit cities from imposing regulations on jitneys that aren't imposed on privately owned vehicles, forcing operators to buy a franchise or slapping them with a surety bond.

You'll note that Jitneys, private transportation vehicles were originally banned because they were too competitive with established interests:

Jitneys have been illegal in Detroit since back in the 1920s when they were considered competition for taxis, buses and the street car system.

Certainly a step in the right direction, and I hope Rep McMillin's bill passes so the free market can try to fix where the government-imposed solution has failed. Instead of throwing yet more taxpayer dollars at a failed public system, might as well try letting entrepreneurs give it a go.

Moving People To Distraction and Deficit - Detroit's Blue Model Transit In Action

Michigan Capitol Confidential in Detroit: The Triumph of Progressive Public Policy helps explain how we got into this mess - decades of liberal mismanagement and a blue model that sucked the air out of the system.

The Detroit Free Press also recently looked at the economics of the People Mover:
People Mover ridership down, but revenue up after fare hike

The ticket to ride The People Mover, know colloquially and colorfully around here as The Mugger Mover, increased from 50 cents to 75 cents. This was the first increase since it began operation in 1987.

Fares did not go up for 25 years! No increases for 25 years and they wonder why it costs far more to operate than the revenues it receives and needs a massive ongoing subsidy?

The People Mover as it moves in circles and guzzles subsidies.

Even with the increase, the fare still only covers 10% of the cost of operating the People Mover, leaving the few remaining taxpayers in Detroit and environs to cover the difference.

The People Mover has a 2.9 mile long single track costing over $12 million to operate annually, with a constant budget deficit, and costs $3.00 per every passenger trip of which the passenger now pays a princely sum of 75 cents.

That's your blue state model in action right there.

But not to worry, the same people that brought you The People Mover boondoggle now promise to do it more and harder and more enthusiastically.

Detroit's Light Rail Redux - If At First You Don't Suceed, Get Subsidised Again!

The previous plan, now rejected as too expensive was allegedly going to cost around $300 million to build and require subsidies in the amount of $6 million per year if not more.

Now they're planning a shorter stretch of light rail:

Operating the 3.4-mile line would require $4 million to $10 million a year, depending on whose estimates you believe.

So a shorter rail line will cost $125 million to build and more per year to operate. Either that or they're being more honest about the costs now.

This is after Detroit Mayor Bing at the cancellation of the original rail project stated:

No public transit project will be successful if it requires operational subsidies from local or state government.

Well, it looks like Mayor Bing just changed his mind in less than a month, perhaps LaHood made him an offer he couldn't refuse:

"We see light rail as a part of regional transportation, so light rail is not dead," Bing said at a news conference with Snyder and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "It's back on the table" but as part of a plan for a wider bus rapid transit system.

I believe the definition of insanity was doing something over again and expecting a different result? In this case the insanity is due to the city's and indeed the federal government's obsession with rail-based transit.

Light rail in Detroit is going to be another subsidized, inefficient, and expensive failure, with the added fun of really messing up Woodward Ave to regular car traffic to boot. 3.4 miles of light rail is not enough to be a usable system, and the capital and operating costs are going to require yet another suburban bailout if this goes forward.

Freep And Progressives VERY Upset Detroit Light Rail Boondoggle is Cancelled

While this day is full of Christmas cheer for many, The Detroit Free Press is all upset that Detroit's most prominent SWPL project, a light rail line up and down Woodward Avenue has been cancelled. After all, for a modest line running 3.4 miles and costing 300 million to build and to be subsidized for eternity, for such a bargain to be cancelled is a blow to the progressive SWPL ego.

The pain of the cancellation to the progressive psyche is readily apparent in a guest editorial where the writer expresses outrage at the cancellation and insists that both light rail and a bus rapid transit system should be built and paid for by all of Michigan's taxpayers.

Instead, Mayor Bing is announcing a regional Bus Rapid Transit system, to cover 110 miles for the same cost while claiming it won't need an ongoing subsidy. Of course that claim that there will be no need for a subsidy is laughable but you have to admire him for at least trying to save some taxpayer money.

The Freep meanwhile asks readers to Name that transit (not bus) system.

I'd suggest Detroit Rapid Transit (or Detroit Regional Transit, in the spirit of recognizing that it will be the suburbs that will be subsidizing the heck out of it), to be pronounced "Dirt".

With such a name there could be truth in advertising about the service for visitors:

"Welcome to Detroit, now hit the DiRT!"

Anyone else have some fun name suggestions?

Detroit Transit Follies Continue

So yesterday, the Detroit Bus Drivers decided walk out and not work due to one of their members being attacked on a route, leaving Detroiters reliant on transit stranded.

Bus drivers are demanding a police presence on the buses. The mayor is now acceding to that demand with the occasional plain clothes officer on buses and the police will now pull over buses randomly to inspect them.

This is a city that can't even keep the required number of buses on the roads due to a mechanics union and massive incompetence, nor keep the buses' drivers safely driving them.

But don't worry, the billions they're about to spend on light rail route will work out just fine.

Trust 'em.

A Trouble with Transit

Progressive types love mass transit. Whether it be the current siren song of high speed rails to nowhere or busses to shlep the hoi polloi to the progressives' neighborhoods for work and back to their humble abodes, they likes it muchly.

There is of course a problem with mass transit. The drivers, being unionized liberals themselves tend to go on strike or out sick as they fancy.

In this case Detroit bus drivers called in sick so they could attend a union National Day of Protest in lansing.

The Detroit Free Press: 82 Detroit bus drivers call in sick, causing delays amid Lansing protest

Extra delays of 30 minutes or more for city bus riders will be the norm today after more than 80 Detroit Department of Transportation drivers called in sick to join protests in Lansing against Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed budget cuts, officials said this morning.

By late morning, 82 drivers had called in sick, reducing capacity for the city’s buses to 80%, DDOT Director Lovevett Williams said at the city’s Rosa Parks Transit Center

Now if I called in sick under false pretenses, that would be grounds for termination. For the 82 Detroit Amalgamated Transit Union member bus drivers, not so much.

Mayor Dave Bing’s spokeswoman, Karen Dumas, said the drivers would not be paid for the day off.

“They have a right to call in sick and to protest – people call in sick for reasons other than illness,” Dumas said. “Our regret is it’s being done at the expense of people who depend on DDOT for their livelihoods, for their jobs.”

Well ok then.

At least some Detroiters get it:

Troy McPherson, 19, a fast-food worker from Detroit, said he believes in the right to protest but didn’t think it was proper for drivers to disrupt the city’s already slow, unreliable bus service.

“Do that on your own time,” he said. “Other people have business and family things going on. We’ve still got to do our jobs.”

Exactly.

A comprehensive and reliable mass transit system can be useful. one that is unreliable to begin with and one that can be disrupted at the will of a union, leaving its riders in limbo, not so much.

More Examples of Mass Transit Excellence - Seattle Edition

Security Guards Watch as Girl, 15, Beaten in Seattle Metro Bus Tunnel

hree security guards watched a group of teens punch, kick and rob a 15-year-old girl in the downtown Seattle Metro bus tunnel without intervening.

Security video shows the guards call for help on their radios, but they don't go to the aid of the girl even as she is being kicked in the head.

A dispute involving a group of 10 teens apparently started inside a department store the evening of Jan. 28 and moved to the bus tunnel at Westlake Station, where the girl was attacked....Metro Transit General Manager says it's revising its policy that guards only "observe and report" problems.

That would certainly help, now wouldn't it?

Of course, the quality of 3 security guards that stand idly by and watch a teenage girl get kicked in the head and do nothing, policy of non-intervention or not, is hardly confidence inspiring.

Detroit's Mass Transit Hell

The Progressives wet dream of mass transit for Detroit continues to unfold as a nightmare: Assaults, robberies plague new transit center

With great fanfare, the $22.5-million Rosa Parks Transit Center opened in July, promising Detroit bus riders a 24-hour shelter that included rest rooms, a bus fare cashier station, information and security booths, a coffee shop and other retail outlets.

Yet, on any given day or night, riders from around the region are met with "Temporarily Closed" signs posted on the center's doors.

That's because they don't have enough money for security to keep it safe. Really.

In a memo obtained by the Free Press, Detroit Department of Transportation officials admit that the transit center closes at various times during the week and weekends because of the city's current fiscal constraints -- its inability to maintain appropriate staffing levels because of the layoffs of security personnel.

A transit center closed at odd times due to lack of funds for security, leaving people stuck outside of it waiting for the base in likely even more unsafe conditions.

Though there's a need for more security -- not less -- at the transit center at the corner of Michigan and Cass, six of the 16 security guards hired to protect Detroit Department of Transportation properties have been laid off in recent months.

When it becomes evident to DDOT officials that they do not have enough personnel to keep the center open, they close it. The practice has been happening since November, just as temperatures started to drop.

"It seems like it closes when it's at zero or below zero," said Clifford Grose, 59, who rides the bus daily.

The Detroit Police Department has increased patrols of the transit center, which also serves as a hub for SMART, Transit Windsor, Megabus and the People Mover. Still, city officials say drug trafficking, loitering and even assaults are a daily occurrence.

Now that sounds like an attractive alternative to the personal motor vehicle or carpooling with trusted friends now doesn't it?