Detroit Talk City | Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, Tiffany Gunter

Thanks for joining us on this Monday, November the 2nd. I'm your host, Charlie White. And welcome to Detroit Talk City. All right, let's get right into today's topics. Ditching the car in the Motor City. Smart CEO Tiffany Gunter is here to talk about whether regional transit can actually survive in a town that's kind of addicted to driving. Or if Detroiters will always be kind of stuck in traffic. Plus, the pulpits or politics or both. Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony is here to talk about candidates flooding black churches for last-minute votes ahead of tomorrow's big election. Places of worship or just an outreach for exploitation. All right. Haley Stevens should have been here today. We were trying to get her. I talked to her earlier, but she could not make it. Maybe we'll get her sometime in the future. All right. That brings us to our poll question. Could your vote change? Between now and tomorrow, just scan the QR code right down there, and we will show you the results later on in the show. This show is all about hearing from you, the viewer. We're just having a conversation, so text us. Call us, 313-765-8844. You can jump in the Zoom room. Our meeting ID is 892-4909-0290. And, of course, on social media, just hashtag us at DetroitTalk. All right, let's get right into Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony. Of course we wanted you over, Haley Stevens. Of course that's what we did. Oh, did you, did you, Charlie? Okay, well, I'm glad to be with you. Absolutely. I'm glad to have you here. You've been doing this for a long time. Yes, sir. Have you ever seen a, by the way, you endorsed, or you're not, well, yes, I guess it's you, your Fannie Lou Hammer, your PAC. You endorsed Haley Stevens in the primary. Yes, sir. So you're a fan of Haley Stevens, I'm assuming. Well, Fannie Lou Hamer did endorse her, among other candidates, in the primary and was very pleased to do that. And when the primary was over and she was not successful, then things changed. They made another endorsement. Why did she switch parties? I have no idea. You'd have to ask her that. What do you think? I don't know. I mean, we've not had a conversation about that. People have a right to make their decisions right, wrong, or indifferent. This was a total shock from what I understand to everybody that's concerned. It seems to be rehashing what happened in the primary. That's over and done. We now are in another position where we're facing uh... tomorrow the final deal. Are we really done the primaries? I understand the primary. You were at the convention. Democrats are split ideology anyway. We have a progressive group, we have a I guess traditional group. Why is that? Well, there's nothing monolithic about any group. That's why the NAACP does not endorse candidates. We're talking about you. We're talking about you. I know, but I'm still president of ACP Detroit, which is the largest branch in the country. So people still see me as that. I'm pastor of Fellowship Chapel, and I'm also the founder of Fane-Lilhammer PAC. But it's been realistic. Your endorsement means something, though, doesn't it? Well, I would like to think that some people think that it means something. So you endorsed Haley Stevens. You obviously supported her. You had the ability to endorse Abdul El-Sayed. You chose Haley Stevens, and many people in Detroit did. Now, she's out. We know that. But she's going to vote, I guess, for Mike Rogers. Does that hurt Detroit? How will that affect Detroiters? Quite frankly, I think this whole debacle has backfired. It has really stimulated people who may not have voted in the way of her opponent to vote for him. It has caused him to raise... A whole lot of money just in four hours. He raised over a million dollars in four hours. It has caused people to go to the polls now. What you have planned for bad, somebody else planned for good. And he's taking advantage of that. I don't know why Haley Stevens did what she did. I don't know why she used the church as a prop. uh... to make that kind of an announcement she went to she went to perfecting not fellowship chapel some people called fellowship thinking that it was at our church no y'all it wasn't at fellowship she was at i know marvin why you know you know everybody over there so it was not our church you think she i think she used it as well yeah that's where she made the announcement yeah they used it they used the black church That situation on Sunday to make that pronouncement. Otherwise, you could have done it in front of the spirit of Detroit. You could have done it in front of the federal building. You could have done it in front of your office. You could have done it in front of his campaign office. Why did you pick the church to do that? So I'm simply saying the black church is not to be used or abused. We're here as the oldest institution that has... Enhance the quality of life for black people when no other institution would. Because everyone seems to want the Detroit vote. It's a big vote. I don't mind. I don't blame them. Where are Detroiters on Sunday? They're at the churches. Pick one. They're not exploiting the church. You just said they're exploiting the church, though. Are they exploiting the church? The fact that they would go there and to do that, I didn't see the pastor standing with them. Did you? Well, he was on the audience. I didn't see the pastor standing with him. Did you? I didn't see a deacon standing with him. Did you? I didn't see the assistant standing with him. Reverend Anthony, I want to go to your church. Would you let them? The Bible says, whosoever will, let him come. You are certainly welcome to come and worship with us and do things decently and in order. That don't mean that I'm going to support what you're doing. Do you think Detroiters, and particularly black Detroiters, are being exploited by politicians? I think black folk across the country, not just Detroit, have a tendency by some to be taken advantage of and by others to just be totally ignored and rejected. That's why I I just left the Detroit branch NAACP office, Charlie. We have students there from Howard University, law students who came in to work the election with us. These are law students. I was reminded when I was talking to the students about some Charles Hamilton Houston said, the great dean of Howard University Law School, he and Thurgood Marshall did, Brown's Board of Education, great lawyer. That the black community, particularly, is not so much concerned about those elected or appointed. We cannot be trapped there because we must fight our own battles. That's the same thing the NAACP said in 1926. Yeah, we want people that support health care. What's the turnout going to be? It's going to be, it's already higher. It's already higher. What, by 50%? It's already, well, you want to give me to give you a number? And so if that number don't hit, then I don't score. So let me say it like this. It's going to be much greater than it's been in the past, and it already is. Let me just say this. I think that what you're saying here is that the black vote in Detroit is a powerful tool to get someone elected. That's why everybody wants it. That's why everybody's there. That's why they want it. It's not exploitation. It's good politics. I don't know, Charlie. It's good politics. But you, Charlie, you have a perspective, and so do I. I'm simply saying you could have picked any place to do. But you picked the black church, and you used the name of a preacher who was not there. I wasn't there. And I heard my name called, Reverend Dwayne Anthony. I mean, I appreciate the notoriety, but the bottom line is I had nothing to do with that. And so I'm simply saying, yes. That's not to say every politician does that. But I think on that day, yesterday, today, there is. Who's leading the Democratic Party today in Michigan? That's a good question. I don't know. I know where all the excitement is in Michigan. It's around the Senate. campaign. I know that the governor of the state of Michigan is a powerful person. I know that Hurtell, I haven't seen her. I know that Mr. Hurtell is a powerful person. Should Gretchen Whitmer be out more? That's a question you have to ask the governor. You're one of the most influential people in the state, though. You have to ask the governor that. In your opinion, would you want, if you're a Democrat running for... Office, especially statewide office, would you want that? No, you're asking me a question of design. Would I want the governor of the state of Michigan to campaign for me? Yeah, if I'm running for office. And can we extrapolate that if she's not? Maybe there's some intention. No, no, I'm not going to let you take me down that path, Charlie. I'm simply saying because neither one of us knows that. She has the whole state and all the stuff that she's done. And she has a future following the end of November. So stay home and don't get in any trouble. So, I mean, that's a question you have to ask her now. All right, but you've got to give some credit. To the Progressive Party of the Democrats in Michigan, right? I give credit to the conservatives, the progressives, and those who are in between. Let me just say that's exactly why I'm giving credit. Let me say this. I'm progressive in some ways. I'm very conservative in others. Medicare for all? Absolutely. I think why should America be the only Western country that don't have health care for its people? Why should we have to go to Canada, which we cannot afford? Not thanks to your man Trump and what he's done based on these tariffs, which we cannot afford, which one of the candidates fully embraces. And so I'm simply saying I'm just answering, Charlie, you, my friend, you, my brother. I'm just saying, look. Look at their fruit. The Bible says, by their fruit, you shall know them. Look at the fruit of each candidate and make a decision. My Bible said I've got to take a commercial. Hold on. This is the part of the show we want to hear from you. We're talking about the elections. We're talking about Detroit. Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony, back in a moment. Thank you. So you want to zoom on Fox, too? We want you to zoom on Fox, too, but we want to make you look and sound really, really good. So four easy steps. First of all, take the phone and turn it on its side. We want you to fill up the entire screen. Then you've got to look around, and you've got to find the light. Remember, we want the light in front of you, not behind you. That's good. And then zoom mic. We want all of that. Right to hear you. And finally, turn down the television like I'm going to do right now. We want to hear you, not the TV. All right, let's review these easy steps. First, flip it, light it, unmute it, and turn down the TV. And then you are ready to Zoom on Fox 2. Remember, you can be a part of Fox 2's Detroit Talk City and the sports office. Just Zoom in live. This advertising. Welcome back to Detroit Talk City. I'm your host, Charlie Langton. All right, we are talking about politics and the pulpit of the candidates using the church to maybe extend their political activity in the city of Detroit. That's true. He says yes. Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony is here. Let's go to the phones, okay? Okay? Gerardo from Detroit. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Gerardo. Hello, gentlemen, and thank you for taking my call. Well, Well, here, that's just a history lesson. Black Robe Regiment at the colonies, the 13 colonies before the United States started and even before the revolution, preachers from the pulpit encouraged, they motivated people to join the colonial army. And to fight for the 13 colonies, to be there, to be one, to be together, to stand up from the pulpit. Even them, they even themselves put on the uniform and went to the field of battle as well. So now the thing is, when people are saying, I think that's a political. Stab in the back where preachers not allowed. But you know what? On a side note, I'm not white. I'm not black. Thank you very much. Jewish, Arab, I'm First Nation. Okay. Is there a question in there, Gerardo? People, black churches, whoever, they have a chance to elect the first black governor of the state of Michigan, and everybody's silent. All right. Let's let Reverend Anthony speak to that. John James, I think he's black. Is he going to get votes in Detroit? Just because of your color does not mean that has a lot to do with your character and your... politics. So we don't want to get confused by that. But in terms of what he said, black folk have been in every war that the nation has fought. Even folk from Haiti came over here to help America in its initial revolution. So beginning in the first war, the colonial war, that's been a part of our whole piece. We had to fight at home and we had to fight abroad. So that's not anything unusual. And yet churches have been encouraged with that because they fought They fought for freedom, they fought To make sure that they could enjoy the benefits of the nation. As it relates to the gubernatorial candidates, it's about policy, Charlie. And I think some people mistake color for policy. They mistake your political party for your policy. That's why we don't get caught up in that. We get caught up in what is your policy? What do you stand for when it comes to health care? What do you stand for when it comes to ICE coming into this community, beating up folk and intimidating? What do you stand on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act? What do you stand on the George Floyd Police Reform Act? What do you stand on these tariffs? And if your policies don't align with what we stand, then I don't care what color you are, it's not going to make a difference. All right, let's go to Linda from Southfield here on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Linda. Hi. Hi, Mr. Anthony. Hello. I agree with you 100% policy. Now, Ms. Stevens, I was a supporter of her, and I probably would have supported her again had she not shown me who she really is. This election is bigger than any one person, and she came out against us. And our party, for all the wrong reasons, we are in a fight to regain the House and the Senate back. And this woman thinks that everything should be centered around her. Wrong, Haley, wrong. All right. You're upset with Haley Stevens, aren't you? Well, I'm like Abdul. She's a distraction, but she's not my attraction. I'm moving on to have an intervention in the vote on tomorrow. All right, Zoom room is open. Our candidate's using the black church to pander to black voters. Detroit Talk City, back after this. Good. Detroit Talk City, I'm your host, Charlie Light. And our candidate's using the black church to gain the black vote. Let's take another call. Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony. Yes, sir. Sharon from Detroit, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Sharon. Hi, how are you? I'm appalled that Haley Stevens voted for or siding with Mike Rogers. She appeared to be a spoiled brat and it's not about politics. It's almost as if she went to her daddy for candy and he said no. And then so she ran to mommy to get it. Okay. I feel like she's using the churches, especially the African-American churches. She has been invited over the years to my church on several occasions. But after this, I highly doubt that she'll ever be invited back. And shame on Pastor Winans for having Mike Rogers, who's never came in to the African-American community to persuade black voters, because I don't think he care about black voters. Shame on Dr. Weiner for allowing them to come into his church. And I was a supporter of Haley Stevens, but never, ever, ever again. All right. Thank you, Sharon. I appreciate that. You can support Haley Stevens. You endorsed her in the primary. I did. We did endorse her in the primary. That was then. This is now. Did it bother you that she had $30 million from APAC? Well, Well... Did you know that when you endorsed her? No, I did not know that. But the bottom line... You knew that she was tight with them, though. I didn't know she was that tight, but the bottom line is, the bottom line is, Charlie, it does not surprise me, people dumping money into political campaigns. 30 million? It's the highest in the whole country. They had, they had, had an interest in that, I guess. The reality is. The Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee is supporting Senator Kennedy, Abdul Saeed. That's it. Based on policy. When do I, Anthony, support folk based on policy? Not on party, but based on policy. If your policy is lined up with what we need to go as a community, we're there. It doesn't matter if you're a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent. In your 20, 30 years you've been doing it, have you ever endorsed a Republican? Yes. Bill Milliken. Bill Milliken, you asked me, Bill Milliken, and Charlie, I wish, I wish there were one that you could say he or she is worthy of support. Can I get one? All I want is one. Let's get Pab from Livonia, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Pab. Hi, how are you? Good, good. What's your question or comment? I was listening to Pastor Wendell Anthony get highly upset about the Medicare, I mean the prescriptions and stuff. I would like to hear him tell his congregation that Medicare ain't free. I pay a nice piece of money for my Medicare Part A and Part B. I'm retired. I'm a senior. It ain't free. Let the people know, Medicare for All is going to have a hefty price. Sure. Sure, Pam. Bottom line is, thank you, Pam. I'm a senior as well, and I know ain't nothing free. Freedom ain't free. You got to pay your way in order to make the way. So the bottom line is this. There has to be a plan that's better than what we have right now. Prescription drugs are too high. When you go to try to support yourself, you cannot afford it. I ask my pharmacist all the time, how much does this stuff really cost? And they tell me the average person cannot afford prescription drugs. They are dying. We know it's not free, but there needs to be a plan. There needs to be a health care plan, which we have and which some people want to eliminate the very plan that you have right now, which is not sufficient. So I'm simply saying we need to go where we can get the best bang for our buck. And right now, it ain't with the other guy. J.B. from Detroit. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, J.B. How are you doing, Charlie? Good. My thing is, my question is, do the church get paid by the candidates that's running for office? Good question. Churches do not get paid. Our churches don't get paid by the candidates running for office. And I can't speak for other churches. Now, there are many organizations that make contributions so that the churches can get out the vote. That's a legitimate area of financing. There are many organizations that do that. There are PACs that receive support from candidates based upon their supporting the various candidates. But that does not go to the churches. That's not a legal. Pathway that churches can, in fact, enjoy. Reverend, let me get one more text in here. Why didn't Stevens do her stunt at the synagogue? No one cares about her finances. Why do you think that's the synagogue? I don't know. You have to ask her that. I think that you said it earlier. The black church, the vote is very, very powerful. The Detroit vote is very powerful. In terms of numbers, there are more black folk in Detroit and in Michigan than there are my Jewish brothers and sisters. So perhaps that's what she wants. Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony. Are we finished? We're done. Charlie, come on, man. I got a whole lot more. Ask some more questions. Coming up next half hour, public transit. Is there a future of the Motor City? Back in just a moment. Content of this ad. Welcome back to Detroit Talk City. I'm your host, Charlie Light. Still to come this hour, we are talking about buses. We're talking about whether or not people will be riding the buses in the future. We've got Tiffany Gunter. She is the CEO of the Smart Bus. Maybe you heard of it. By the way, if you're in Macomb County, pay attention because it's on the ballot there. And our poll question one more time. Could your vote change between now and tomorrow? No. Just scan the QR code. It's right down there at the bottom of your screen. We'll show you the results later on in the show. And again, the show is all about you. We're having a conversation. We do want to know what you think. Text us. Call us, 313-765-8844. You can jump in the Zoom room as well. Our meeting ID number, 892-4909-0290. And on social media, hashtag us at DetroitTopCity. All right, let's talk to Tiffany Guthrie here. The CEO of Smart. Good to see you as always. Always a pleasure, Charlie. Hello. Do you like campaigning for these milligents, for your smart bus system? You know, I guess I don't campaign, I educate, right? So what I do all year round, I go out and tell people what services Smart provides and then they make a decision on whether or not they want to support it. And you've got, so as I understand, the funding of SMART, you've got Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, right? That's correct. And it's based on a millage, so that's most of where your money comes from, right? Yes, that is our base, local funding base. And then we leverage state dollars and federal dollars on top of that. All right, so if something fails in Macomb, or, well, you've got 10 years in Oakland, I think, right? 10 years in Oakland, yes. How many years in Wayne? I don't remember. 10 years. Oh, 10 years in all? Oakland and Wayne. Oakland and Wayne are 10 years. This is only a five-year in Macomb, though, isn't it? It will be six. Oh, six years? Yes. Six years. Well, all right, so if it fails, that's a big problem, isn't it? Well, without the local funding base, we can't leverage the additional funding, so that would be an issue where we wouldn't be able to provide services in Macomb County. Are people riding the buses now than, say, five years ago? Our ridership is up. We're up over 30% system-wide right now, and we're... Climbing back to pre-pandemic levels, which is hard nationwide for a lot of transit agencies to get there. So we're seeing increases in ridership across each of the each of the counties. Why do you think that is? Well, it's a combination of things. One, we treat our riders with dignity and respect. We've been pouring concrete and improving shelters with lighting and benches and, you know, the things that make the amenities that make it work. We put Wi-Fi on the buses. But I mean, I'm a realist, too. Gas prices are pretty high. So some people are opting to come back to Sparks. Stupid. Is that good? When the gas prices are high, more people ride the bus? You know, there are economic factors, right? So I wouldn't say the high gas prices are good, but right now it's giving people a chance to try something different. Mobility is about choices, right, Charlie? So even if you have a car, I've always encouraged this, you can still use the bus. When you think about going downtown to a Lions game, paying $50 for parking, when you could pay $2 or more, you could pay $2, get a fare, and get dropped off at the door. I mean, it's a real alternative. It's $2 to ride the bus. It's a $2 fare. Yeah. And it has not changed. I think the last time we had a fare change was 2019, and that's when it became $2. And there's nothing on the board's agenda right now for changing the fare. But realistically, though, that is a very small percentage of your income. Oh, it's a very small. The fare revenue, which is why it's such a small percentage. The local base is really the local funding that supports the system foundationally. And ridership is what gets us additional funding from the state and the federal government. So the free student rides that we provide. That's just additional ridership. Seeing the ridership spike over 30% means we'll get additional funding going forward in our portion. So in the city of Detroit, they have D-dot buses, right? And then in the outskirts of the way to Ocumacombe, Smart. Yes. You're the head of Smart. I'm going to get into the combination in just a minute. Some of the criticism and I haven't... I haven't found a whole lot of criticism, which is pretty good. Not a lot of organized efforts against you here. Some say that, well, hopefully tomorrow's the election. Thank you very much. Some that said the buses are not full. What do you say to that? How many seats on a bus, roughly? A crush load for a bus is about 120 on a 40-footer. How many seats? No, you've got to stand up, though. That's a crush load. So when you're sitting on a bus, it's about 50-50. So here's the thing. Buses are like elevators. You're not going to have people just on them continuously, right? They get on, they get off at their desired locations. What a lot of people see is the start of a line or an end of a line. That's where you see a lot of the complaining about an empty bus because all the activity is happening throughout the route, right? So with the end of a route, you've offloaded everyone. And I mean, it's just, and the buses aren't empty. I ride the buses at least once a week, Charlie. And when I tell you, everyone that I ride with, I do a show, it's for your talk, our little Instagram show. And the thing is, they always get on 10 a.m., 2 p.m., it doesn't matter. People are on the buses, so the buses are not empty. Are they 24 hours a day? They're not 24 hours a day, 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Is that, I mean, that's not a problem to have them all over, all 24 hours? We don't have the funding to do 24 hours at this point in time. So we stretch the funding as far as we can, but we really, we shut down the services about 11, 11, 1130. So, yeah, you've got smart, you've got, what's the fast, fast buses, right? Yes, our fast buses on Woodward, Gratiot, and Michigan Avenue. Are those the most popular on the routes? Those are the most popular. Those, while we're up 30% system-wide, are up closer to 40%. So that's Woodward, that's Gratiot, that's Michigan. They run every 20 minutes. When you use the transit app in conjunction with them, if people download that app, you see that bus coming, you have predictability, you know what's happening with the system. Do the feds look at the ridership? Is that a big number? Oh, God, yes. Why do they look at it? What's their... That's how they apportion funding. So when they look at ridership, they basically say this is your population, this is your ridership and that's how they do the federal formula dollars. What number? What's a good number for you? It's not necessarily a good number. I don't know if I could do it that way. They want to see more. They want to see your system growing. Okay. That's right. Hold that thought over here. Tiffany Goucher, smart. We want to know what you're thinking here. Can public transit survive in the Motor City? You can text us. You can call us with your questions or comments. 313-765-8844. Detroit Talk City, back after this. Welcome back to Detroit Talk City. I'm your host, Charlie Lighton. Can public transit survive in the Motor City? We've got a phone call. Tiffany Gunner, she's the CEO of Smart. Let's go to, do we have it? Ann from Melvindale. Hello, Ann. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hi, Charlie. How are you doing today? Good. Good. So I have a question for the, I guess, representative from the SMART. Here in Melvin, though, we do not have any bus stops. I know it's a two-mile radius, but we do pay into the Wake County. Thank Sent a smart bus fund every year for the mill. We've been doing it for years. But we only have one stop, which has just probably recently been put in you because of the Baker College turning into the Melvinville High School. So my question is, can we get some bus stops? so We have a senior center high rise that they don't have transportation much. other than we do have a smart bus senior to make. Appointment to go to a doctor or something like that. But for the everyday average person, we don't have any bus stops in our city of Normandale. Good question. Good question, Ann. Thank you. So, Ann, thanks for the question. And what we're doing right now, on November 16th, we are having public hearings on proposed new services. And so what you can do then is, that one is online. It's a Zoom meeting. So you don't even have to leave your living room to be able to provide public input. What we do is we allow the public to come and tell us what we need, tell us the destinations that they're trying to reach, and then we work with the public to try to make that happen. So on the 17th, we're in person. I think that's in Trenton. And on the I can't tell you the name of the city that we're in, but we can definitely We definitely provide that to you. So we're out having these conversations about where service should be located. And I appreciate the question. We do try to stretch service as far as we can into the places that have the most origins and destinations and understood that you all are paying into that system. And so your voice needs to be heard. But I know that you have a system. I don't know if you use AI, but you regulate how many people are living where, where the population is, senior centers, those types of things, right? Absolutely. Hold that thought. I want to hear more about that. Take your calls as well. Text as well, you're on Detroit Talk City, can public transit, can public service, transit service survive in the Motor City? We'll be right back. Advertising. Detroit Talk City, text or call us with your questions or comments, can public transit survive in the Motor City? Tiffany Gunter is here, the CEO of Smart, also talking about a millage that's on the Macomb County ballot right now. All right, let's take a text, okay? Okay. And the text says, seems like a waste of money to provide Wi-Fi. I guess even my $15 phone bill is enough Internet to use. I don't know exactly what that means. Is there Wi-Fi on the buses? There is Wi-Fi on the buses. And we just recently rolled out Wi-Fi to the entire system. And while the texting person, I can appreciate their question, a lot of people don't have the privilege of having a data plan. So that $15 a month to him may seem like nothing, but to a lot of people, that's something. And you don't want to use all your data while you're commuting. And so what we find is our riders really appreciate being able to do their homework, answer emails, and do other things while they're on the bus. It's a benefit and an amenity in a lot of systems, and it's one that we're happy to provide to our riders. By the way, on Election Day, it's free bus. Isn't it free? Yes. So on Election Day, we want to make sure that no one is limited in their ability to get to the polls. And so we do in conjunction with DDOT. Provide free rides on that day. All smart services are free as well as DDOT services So that no one is limited in their ability to actually have to go to a pole, right? You can go to anywhere Yeah, the service is still going. It's a fixed route. Absolutely. Let's go to the calls Mary from St Clair Shores, Utah Talk City. Hello Mary. Hi, I just would like to say yeah, I live in Macomb County And I would really, really like to see a lot more bus transportation from like the east side of Detroit out to like Clinton Township, Sterling Heights. Um, because there's a lot of automotive suppliers out here and they, they have job openings and I know that people, a lot of people have, you know, they don't have their own vehicles or they need auto repairs and they, they, they rely on bus transportation to try to even get to an interview and let alone be able to get to a, a new job every day. And I just, I don't know if she needs to work more with Macomb County. But I know that there are a lot of jobs available in Macomb County, especially like Clinton Township, Sterling Heights, Hall Road area, and the people are still having problems getting bus transportation out there. That's all. Good question. Thank you, Mary. So we've got quite a bit. But a service in Macomb County and to Mary's point, we do work very closely with elected officials in the city, city officials, the villages and the townships on service and what the needs are for their communities. We look at what's called. Propensity for transit uses, so where are the origins, where are the destinations, where are people trying to go from and get to? And we have layered service. It's not all fixed-route bus, so sometimes people don't see all the services we provide. We have community partnerships in every community, the smaller buses that move people around, the specialized transportation service. So in Melvindale, I mean, if there's enough there, you could do a, I mean, if there's enough need, you could do a small bus. Yes, it's need-based. It's need-based because, obviously, there's scarce resources, but we could do all types of different things to work with the community. on partnerships, and so the flex services, the microtransit services are also in Macomb County, a long-haul road, and we just encourage people to go to the website, learn more about the services that are actually there. I'm always surprised at the number of people that don't know what we provide. Please go to smartmovesist.org and just learn a little bit more about what's going on with SMART. Linda from Richmond, here on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Linda. Hi, Charlie. Oh, I just love this program. Hi, Tiffany. Hi, how are you, Linda? Yes, I just want to comment. I've got so many people watching this, and I just wanted to tell you, I had an accident about 11 years ago, and I can't drive too far, and like doctors and dentists and stuff like that, and I take the smart bus now for 11 years, and they are, if you are 30 years old, And they bring you back. They pick you up from your appointment on time. I just love the smart bus. Oh, that's nice. Thank you so much. Thank you for riding with us. I hope to see you on the system. I'll try to find you one day, Linda. I'm out there all the time. There you go. All right, let's take a text here. Hi, Tiffany. Great to see you. People park their cars without getting ticketed to use the smart bus when traveling downward to attend like the Tiger Games, especially if you're coming from Royal Oak. Good question. So there are a number of parking garages, but you have to pay when you park in that garage. So there's opportunities for park and ride along the system. Please check out the transit maps that we have on our website. So there is definitely park and ride lots that you could use, but you would have to go a little bit further out than Royal Oak. But if you want to just park your car. somewhere, use one of their garages. They tend to be pretty cost efficient as well. $2 an hour, I think, for their parking. And then just hop on the bus from there and ride. It's a great option. So thanks for that question. We appreciate it. Get you right on the Lions games, too. Right to the door. I mean, it's great service. I use it myself. Let's go to the phones again. Michelle from Rochester. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Michelle. Hey, guys. You know, you've been talking about Oakland County, all this service. I have not seen Any service out here. She's in Rochester? Rochester. Oh, okay. So Rochester, they've got the 492. It's one of the first new lines that we introduced in a while that runs right to Rochester. What road? I believe it's on Rochester Road. It's right down the main street. So there's the city of Rochester, then Rochester Hills. Michelle, are you in Rochester Hills then? I'm in Rochester House, correct. All right, so that's the outskirts of Rochester. Okay, yeah, so it may not be as directly connected to your community, but we're still adding services. So we passed the Oakland County millage in 2022. We've been turning on services ever since then. We're up 150% in ridership. We haven't made it everywhere yet. I'm honest about that. It takes time to order buses. 18 to 24 months is the lead time for that, and we're continuing to evolve new services. What I would encourage... What folks will do is to continue to make those comments. We have a board meeting once a month, Thursday of every month. If there's something that you're looking for that SMART's not providing, you need to let us know. We will get out there. Again, it's still based on the propensity for transit usage. And so we cannot necessarily touch everything directly, but we have microtransit zones, those flex zones that are very popular and useful in those communities where fixed route might not make sense or community transit as well. But there's a lot of building going on, maybe Rochester Hills, even north. So again, you're looking at all the numbers. This is evolving. It's evolving. Absolutely. Bob from Roseville. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Bob. Hey, how you doing, Charlie? Good. I drove Buster Smart for 34 years. My guy. Whoa. All right. Hey, Bob. Yeah. How was it, Bob? It was good service. Not many people, but Gratiot was busy. Then they started when Lakeside Mall was built. They started going to Lakeside Mall. Then they did Shainer. Shainer was closed, and more people got used to riding Shainer. And Jefferson was pretty good to ride. A lot of people rode Jefferson Route, Kirchville Route. I did it for 34 years. Wow. That's amazing. Thank you so much for your service, Bob. Do you have a union? Yeah, we do. The ATU, the Amalgamated Transit Union. Proudly, we are members of the ATU. Several. We have five labor unions within SMART. Let me get you real quick on DDOT and SMART. Were they ever merged? Did you say will they? Will they ever merge together? You know, what we are doing right now is we're doing so much work because the goal isn't necessarily merger, but it's to make the service feel seamless to the end user. Because jurisdictional lines really don't matter when you're just trying to get to work or your hospital appointment. And so I work really closely with Robert Kramer and the team over at DDOT to work on our planning. We talk about operations together, maintenance side together, so that we are working like we are part of the same team. It's not a competition. Chuck from Roseville. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Chuck. Hi, Charlie. Thanks for taking my call. I just want you to ask the gal that's running SmartBus, I'm a senior, and I'm sure you remember, remember when we used to be able to take the bus from Eastland to Tiger Stadium to go to the football games? Yeah. And you could take it from Northland to the game, and it would only cost you like three or four bucks. They are always looking for more money. That would, to me, be a moneymaker for a smart bus. They could charge people $20 a person, and it would still save them $60, $70. $170. Well, but that's not the goal, though, is it, Chuck? Don't say that! Don't get ready! She is. She's looking for a million. Her budget's 180 million, so it's okay. This gal here cannot do that. The federal government does not allow us to charter services. They ended that. So what he's talking about was something that we used to be able to do, and now we can no longer do it because the charter companies can't make money if we're doing charter services in their place. Let's take a text right here. I have a Class B and a Class C chauffeur's license. How do I apply for a job with SMART? Oh, I love it when you want to work here. So you just go to smartmovesus.com. I think it's smartmovesus.com. I said .org earlier. Smartmovesus.com. Look in the section for employment. We're constantly hiring for both paratransit and fixed-route operators. So for paratransit, you do not have to have a CDL in order to operate a paratransit vehicle. But for fixed-route, we train every single person at SMART. So if you come in and you don't. If you don't have that, we will train you, have you go take your test, and you can work it smart. So go apply. If they're not up today, check in about two to three weeks, they will be back up again. We just took in that last class of operators, and so we'll be up and running and interviewing again for that. There is a smart bus proposal on the Macomb County ballot. You got 30 seconds. Give it your best pitch. Why should people vote yes? I don't tell people how to vote, Charlie. So here's the thing. It's a renewal. It's been, Macomb County has been all in upon smart service since 1997, I believe it's the year. Macomb County Board of Commissioners, first time ever voted unanimously to place this on the ballot. We are seeing every single community saying good things about SMART, about the way we The way we're showing up, we're increasing our on-time performance, we're showing up for our seniors, we're showing up for our kids, free rides for students. This is the way, this is a lifeline for people to be able to live their lives to the fullest and not have a car be a barrier to accessibility. And free rides tomorrow for election day at allsmartnd.com, right? Smart nd.com, yes, we're doing this together. Tiffany Gunner, thank you so much. Always good to see you. All right, stay with us. The results of our poll, our question of the day, when Detroit Talk City returns after this. Look at this.