A journey to work: A Detroit woman’s experience riding the bus in the Motor City
By RAYMOND STRICKLAND
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DETROIT, Michigan (WWJ) — It’s 7 a.m. in Detroit, and Amanda Houp is waiting for one of two buses she has to take to get to work.
Houp allowed herself two hours to make sure she got there on time, but even that wasn’t always guaranteed.
“It was supposed to be here at 7:17. It’s 11 minutes late, so it’s not coming,” she said as she waited at the bus stop.
CBS News Detroit reporter Ray Strickland joined Houp on her bus ride to work.
The first bus Houp took never came, and the second was about 20 minutes late.
It was no surprise to Houp. She deals with this daily.
“Sometimes you are standing the whole day. Sometimes you’re sitting the whole time,” she said after getting on her first bus of the day. “It just depends how crowded, if buses showed up beforehand or not.”
After about a 20-minute bus ride, it was now time for Houp to get on her second one of the morning.
It’s an hour-long process, which begs the question, why go through this?
For the mother of two, it’s not that simple.
“Sometimes you have to pay bills or take care of your kids. All that comes first,” she said.
After one hour and two different buses, Houp finally made it to work.
Her experience is what more than 100,000 people who ride Detroit Department of Transportation buses deal with daily.
It’s a frustrating experience, with buses showing up late or sometimes not at all.
“[This is] my typical day. If you’re not used to it, it’s definitely a process,” Houp said.
We caught up with Houp a few hours later in downtown Detroit, where she sometimes has to go to work.
As she prepared to leave to go back home, she was hoping her bus would show up on time so she could make it home to her kids.
The bus did arrive on time, but Houp believes worrying about buses is something she shouldn’t have to do.
She says the city needs to do better.
“Probably hire more people, so that way the buses come on time,” she said. “Upgrade their buses, maybe fix them so they don’t break don’t as often. That’s it.”
CBS News Detroit reached out to the city about the state of bus service in Detroit. A spokesperson for the city says DDOT is dealing with a shortage of drivers that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city says it’s working to address the issue by offering increased rates for training and better incentives, like bonuses for attendance and employee referrals.
The city hopes the changes will be a solution to the shortage, which they believe will improve bus service.
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