Mass transit can anchor the city, create jobs, retain population

Detroit is the only major American city without a rapid transit system. That, potentially, will change in the next five years as the city’s transit developments start to take shape. With these developments, as proven in other cities, jobs, people, and investment follow. Excerpt: As the years have gone on, however, the cry for mass transit in our urban areas has grown and grown. It’s a way for the poor in the inner city who lack access to reliable transportation to get and keep jobs in the suburbs – the place where the jobs are these days. Mass transit can be a force to reduce racial segregation. It is well known – and completely deplorable — that the Detroit area is one of the most segregated in the country. The fact that it lacks any real system of mass transit is no coincidence. Mass transit is highly desired by the young, highly educated “creative class” who want to get around a metro area after relaxing downtown — without having to designate a driver. Read the entire article here.