Regional Transit Stew: Consensus Building and Transit Building in Metro Detroit

This report describes the factors that enable and inhibit the development of effective regional transit, focusing on Metro Detroit and four peer regions: Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver and St. Louis. It provides key findings related to transit leadership and politics, especially those related to the successful planning and funding of regional transit. The report presents a three-phase process beginning with sharing and recognizing all stakeholders’ perspectives on what they want and need from regional transit. In the second phase, transit professionals translate that vision into a specific transit system design and plans to develop it. In phase three, stakeholders actively advocate for the plan and its funding by emphasizing the values and impact of the system that are most important to specific segments of the population. The report discusses the need for a very diverse and active coalition and presents examples of successful coalitions in other cities.