Detroit’s top bus safety officer has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city and his mayoral-appointed boss, alleging he was suspended and fired for reporting misconduct by senior officials and cooperating with an Inspector General investigation.
The post Fired DDOT safety chief sues Detroit, alleges he was punished for reporting misconduct appeared first on Detroit Metro Times.
The city of Detroit fired its chief bus safety officer Wednesday after he blew the whistle on a top Department of Transportation official for allegedly showing up drunk at a transit center, berating employees, assaulting a security guard, and driving off in a city-issued car.
The post Detroit whistleblower fired after reporting alleged drunken meltdown by top DDOT official appeared first on Detroit Metro Times.
The annual “State of Transit” event was this week. Put on by advocacy group Transit Riders United, it gathers leaders from around southeastern Michigan to discuss all things related to public transportation.
Detroit Director of Transit Robert Cramer told WDET at the event that one thing DDOT has made progress over the last year is modernizing its fleet of buses. That includes adding 45 new hybrid and four electric buses.
He says the hybrid models have seem to be more feasible than the electric ones at this time.
“Because we don’t have a network of charging around the city that can keep topping it off, we send [the electric buses] out for 4 or 5 hours, then we’ll have to bring them back for a pretty lengthy charging,” says Cramer.
However, Cramer says DDOT is still facing bus availability challenges as it works to bring more buses onto the road. He says on time performance isn’t quite where it needs to be as a result.
“Right now we’re in the upper 60s,” says Cramer, “about 70% is out on time performance. The industry standard, and our goal, is 85%.”
Cramer says improving wages for drivers and mechanics has also helped the department improve service over the last year. He says it’s helped with employee retention.
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The post Transit director says DDOT is adding buses, working on efficiency appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.
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