Legislative Town Hall Meetings on Public Transit

The Michigan Public Transit Subcommittee is holding a pair of regional town hall meetings that TRU will participate in:

This Monday, November 19, 7pm, Oakland Community College in Royal Oak (739 South Washington)
Monday, December 10, 7pm, Rapid Central Station in Grand Rapids (250 Grandville Ave. SW.)

These events are co-hosted by Public Transit Subcommittee chair Rep. Marie Donigan (D – Royal Oak) and subcommittee member Rep. Tom Pearce (R – Rockford / Grand Rapids). See the Royal Oak Daily Tribune for more information.

The Public Transit Subcommittee has been holding hearings over the past six months from a wide variety of transit agencies, experts, riders and other stakeholders, including TRU. Twice this fall, we’ve been asked to testify –

On October 10 before the House Subcommittee on Public Transit and
On October 23 before a joint session of the House Commerce Committee and the Subcommittee on Public Transit.

Legislators responded very positively to both presentations in which TRU Director Megan Owens introduced TRU and touched on numerous transit issues, but focused in especially on the economic development and urban revitalization that investments in transit and transit-oriented development can create. (See our TOD page and economic development stats page for details.)

Rep. Donigan and the Subcommittee plan to use all the information and recommendations they’ve received and create a report with proposals for how the state legislature can help improve transit throughout Michigan. It should be out by the end of the year. Stay tuned!