Bloomfield Hills

Bloomfield Hills looks into rejoining SMART bus system

By Mary Beth Almond
C & G Staff Writer

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Rising fuel costs and a slumping economy have city officials considering a renewed relationship with the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation.

Bloomfield Hills first decided to opt out of the system in the mid-1990s, when SMART first asked suburban Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county voters to approve one-third of a dedicated mill property tax levy for three years.

“When the millage was first given to us, we took a survey of our residents and found out that there were very few users of the SMART system — I think we had one user, and at that time, I think the fee was around $200,000. The issue before the commission then was do they spend $200,000 for the one person that they knew used the SMART system,” Mayor Mike Zambricki said.

Now, city officials are rethinking the decision and are considering whether to ask voters on the May 2009 ballot if they are interested in rejoining the SMART system.

“Given the economy and the rising fuel costs, we just think it would simply be the best thing to do economically and socially,” City Manager Jay Cravens said.

Commissioner Mike McCready said the commission started looking into adding the bus service because of the high gas prices and because they often see people walking up and down Woodward Avenue.

“We want to help people in the community, whether they live here or work here,” he said.

Bloomfield Township resident Richard Rosenbaum said adding SMART bus service to Bloomfield Hills would eliminate the dangerous collection of people traversing more than a mile on Woodward Avenue to get to the nearest bus stop — due to the lack of sidewalks in the city.

“There are over 2,000 employees here (in the city), many of which would like to take the bus, but can’t. Others would like to take a job out here but can’t because they don’t have any transportation,” he said.

Jim Fetzer, SMART director of planning and service development, said the demand for public transportation has changed quite a bit from 10 years ago.

“We just passed our 50,000 riders a day mark two weeks ago, which is a record for us … so we’ve definitely seen a resurgence in fixed route services,” Fetzer said.

Opting back into the SMART bus system would increases taxes in Bloomfield Hills by 0.59 mills, which city officials estimate would add up to about $500,000 overall.

The SMART bus system currently has 57 bus routes, 284 fixed route vehicles, and 356 small vehicles that provide service from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

In Oakland County, SMART currently services Auburn Hills, Berkley, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, Clawson, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Ferndale, Franklin, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Madison Heights, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Pontiac, Royal Oak, Royal Oak Township, Southfield, Southfield Township, Troy and West Bloomfield Township.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Mary Beth Almond at malmond@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1060.