Last week, we highlighted some questions we had about the Detroit Transportation Corp. (DTC), the agency in charge of The People Mover and the city’s transit police. The agency has made it difficult to attend meetings and access information.
Some staff at the agency were paying attention, and by the end of the week, we were on a Zoom call with DTC’s General Manager Robert Cramer.
Cramer admitted they could do better, saying transparency and accessibility are important to the agency.
Cramer was the deputy general manager at SMART prior to his current role at the DTC. He told us SMART created a webpage where people can easily access board meeting information, complete with agendas and minutes. (Of note: The last minutes posted there are from January 2022.)
We asked if DTC could create a similar page and make documents accessible without having to issue a Freedom of Information Act request. Cramer pledged to do just that.
We did learn a few more details about the DTC from Cramer.
The DTC is a nonprofit “public body corporate.” It receives city funds but is not a city department. The DTC currently has 93 employees, around 30 are transit police officers.
Transit police officers spend the majority of their time patrolling Detroit Department of Transportation buses and the QLine, but are always available for calls related to The People Mover.
DTC is leaving its current office space in the Buhl Building and will move across the street to the Guardian Building. The new space costs roughly 25% less, said Cramer. The corporation hopes to make the move near the end of January.
Barring another cancellation, Detroit Documenters will be there today covering the DTC Board of Directors for the first time. Stay tuned for updates next week on what we learned.
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