The idea has failed before, most recently in 2016, but the attempt at wooing Amazon has the idea of a regional approach to public transit back on the table in Detroit.
"A coalition of 23 metro Detroit CEOs representing most of the region's largest companies are making a public push to get political leaders to coalesce around a regional mass transit plan to put before voters in the November general election," reports Chad Livengood.
The latest germ of a regional transit plan had sprung from the city of Detroit's attempt to woo Amazon for the site of its second headquarters. Though Amazon passed on Detroit, the city's CEOs are calling for the regional transit to persist. The concept of a regional approach to transportation in Southeast Michigan most recently failed in the summer of 2016.
Though the letter did not endorse any specific plan, there is one already out there—a $5.4 billion, 20-year regional transit plan Wayne County Executive Warren Evan that would rely heavily on frequent buses and would develop a commuter rail line between Ann Arbor and Detroit.
The article includes more detail about the politics of regional plan, and how the CEO's letter could be used leverage in the debate about regional planning.
FULL STORY: CEOs push for vote on regional transit
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