Macomb County Resident Promotes Transit For Fun

Dave Gifford created a website, blog and social media to introduce suburbanites to buses.

FAST Bus SMART system - bt

WDET/Laura Herberg

In the 2016 election, the majority of Macomb County residents voted against adopting a millage to fund a Regional Transit plan. Since then, one resident has been so inspired by new transit options in the region that he took it upon himself to promote them. Dave Gifford works as a purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, but for fun he’s written blog posts like Detroit Breweries by Bus, SMART Bus: Every Route Explained and Bus Transit: The Key to Neighborhood Growth That No One is Talking About.  He was recently honored as the Activist of the Year by Transportation Riders United.

WDET’s Laura Herberg caught up with Gifford after the awards ceremony and asked him what motivated him to try to get suburbanites on the bus.

Click on the audio player above to hear the conversation.

At the end, Gifford mentioned SMART‘s new FAST bus, which offers limited-stop service from downtown Detroit to Mount Clemens, Pontiac and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus. You can find out more on Gifford’s website, blog, and Metro Detroit Public Transit Promotions Facebook page.  Here’s a sneak peak of his website below:

www.ridethereflex.org

 

Author

  • Laura Herberg is a civic life reporter for Outlier Media, telling the stories about people inhabiting the Detroit region and the issues that affect us here.