ANN ARBOR -- State Representative Pam Byrnes (D-Lyndon Township)hosted a town hall meeting Monday about mass transit and public transportation options in Washtenaw County. She was joined by Terri Blackmore, Executive Director of the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study; State Representative Marie Donigan (D-Royal Oak), Chair of the House Subcommittee for Public Transit; Dawn Gabay, Interim Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority; Jennifer Kalczuk of The Rapid in Kent County; and Carmine Palombo, Director of Transportation for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.
"Mass transit brings our communities together," Byrnes said. "It connects employers with employees; it connects doctors with patients; it connects businesses with customers. A thriving local economy and efficient, accessible public transit go hand-in-hand."
Byrnes pointed to the success of The Rapid -- which offers 19 fixed routes, demand-response services for people with disabilities and those living outside the fixed-route service area, car and vanpooling programs, and the Air Porter shuttle among other services -- as a model for the rest of the state.
"In our community, with our proximity to the Detroit area and Chicago, we are in a unique position to be a transportation hub for the state of Michigan," Byrnes said. "We have the talent, the expertise, and the public and private leadership right here in Southeast Michigan to build a world-class system."
Byrnes was recently appointed to a statewide transportation task force that will examine new and alternative funding sources for transportation in Michigan. The task force was created by law to examine the current state of transportation funding and make recommendations for potential sources of transportation funding to replace or supplement the current 19-cent gas tax and the 15-cent diesel tax.