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Advocates urge more transit funding, warn federal policy changes could shrink future aid
Summary
Speakers at the District 1 meeting thanked council for new transit dollars but urged larger, sustained funding for DDOT and raised equity concerns about fare policy and federal guidance that could reduce funding for Detroit.
Speakers at the District 1 evening meeting urged Detroit leaders to invest more in transit operations and wages, warned that federal policy changes could reduce future aid, and asked the city to consider reduced or free fares for vulnerable riders.
Rochelle Stewart, a transit advocate, thanked the council and mayor for a recent $20 million allocation and an additional $2.7 million but said the city still needs to invest more in wages and service to keep drivers and mechanics. “We only have buses and they don't run the way they should,” Stewart said, and urged the council to fund higher wages so employees do not leave for other regions.
Renard Rashevsky of Detroit People’s Platform warned the council to plan for federal funding cuts. Rashevsky said a memo from U.S. Department of Transportation official Sean Duffy “prioritizes communities that have high marriage rates and birth rates, neither of which Detroit fall into those categories,” and argued that could disadvantage Detroit in federal grant scoring. He also raised concerns about a federal posture that could allow immigration enforcement on transit: “This order permits ICE to board our buses,” he said, and asked what riders’ rights would be if federal agents request identification on buses.
Rashevsky further urged the council to consider fare policies that assist unhoused veterans, returning citizens and others seeking to rejoin the workforce, suggesting reduced fares could boost ridership and longer‑term economic outcomes.
Advocates at the meeting asked the council to create contingencies if federal money is reduced and to prioritize resident needs when allocating local transit funds; no council vote or formal direction was recorded at the session.
