Published in Crain’s Detroit Business on March 26, 2010…
By Bill Shea
John Hertel, who helped orchestrate a proposed $10 billion regional mass transit system and used backroom diplomacy to launch a light-rail line project for Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, was appointed general manager today of the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation bus system.
SMART’s board voted to appoint Hertel and ordered its administrative staff to begin contract negotiations, said Beth Dryden, director of external affairs, marketing and communications.
“This all happened very fast,” said Hertel, who expects to begin work in coming weeks. He declined further comment.
Hertel will replace Hayes Jones, who retired in June. Steve Brown, a deputy general manager, had been working as interim general manager.
One of the first things on his plate will be SMART’s 0.59-mill property tax, a primary source for operating funds that is up for renewal on the August ballot in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
Because of declining property values, SMART’s annual tax revenue has fallen from $65 million to $51 million since the last renewal in 2006. The system raised fares, cut jobs and trimmed benefits last year to save money.
The system’s 640 buses service 1,200 square miles of suburban Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties (54 routes, 7,000 stops), typically serving more than 12 million riders annually. The system connects to Detroit’s bus system.
Hertel currently is CEO of the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council’s Detroit Regional Mass Transit effort. His current bosses — the elected political leaders of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, and the mayor of Detroit — put him in charge of creating a regional transit system that could survive the political pitfalls that have consumed numerous previous attempts.
Legislation to authorize the system is being debated now in Lansing.
The Big 4, as Hertel’s political bosses are known, agreed in December 2008 on the plan — a mixture of improved and expanded bus service, light-rail and commuter trains over 406 miles in the three counties — and Hertel was working on a report to them that will suggest a governance plan and likely funding options.
The plan would cost $10 billion over 25 years, but only would be deployed by stages if ridership dictated the need.
Hertel also spent months shepherding a privately funded venture to deploy a 3.4 mile light rail loop with 12 stops along the busiest stretch of Woodward Avenue in Detroit, now known as M1 Rail.
Hertel previously was chairman of the board of commissioners for Wayne and Macomb counties, served as director of the state fairgrounds from 1993 to 2006 and was elected three times to the Michigan Senate.
He also has taught at Lawrence Technological University and worked at WXZY-Channel 7 as a producer and editorial director.