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Residents and advocates renew call to 'Double DDOT' during public comment
Summary
Multiple public commenters urged Detroit council members to increase transit funding — calling to "double DDOT" to roughly $150 million — and asked for shelters, benches and wage parity for transit workers. No formal council action on transit funding was taken at the meeting.
Transit advocates and residents used the committee’s public-comment period to press Detroit City Council members to increase the local transit budget and improve service, shelter and wages.
Why it matters: Speakers said Detroit is among the lowest-funded large-city transit systems in the country and argued that higher transit investment would improve access to jobs, health care and daily life — especially for low-income residents, seniors and people with disabilities.
What speakers asked: Kasey Peller, identifying themself as a Detroit resident, Policy Manager at Detroit Disability Power and a member of the Double DDOT coalition, urged the council to "get us to $150,000,000 from the general fund this year," and to take the "relay baton" from the mayor’s recent $20 million increase.
Renard Rashevsky, lead organizer for the Transit Justice Team of Detroit People’s Platform and a Double DDOT coalition member, said per-capita transit funding in Detroit is about $67 and called the figure "unacceptable," arguing it contributes to missed work and appointments. Rochelle Stewart of Detroit People's Platform’s transit justice team said Detroit currently spends far less than in earlier decades and repeated requests for wage parity and bus shelters.
Speakers sought specific improvements including more shelters and benches at stops, better driver and mechanic pay and an overall budget increase for DDOT. None of those demands produced a formal motion or vote at the committee meeting; council members acknowledged the public remarks and the mayor’s recent increase but did not take legislative action on transit during the session.
Ending: Advocates said they had rallied outside council before the meeting and told the committee they would continue to press for funding in future budget deliberations.
