New $160 Million DDOT Operations and Maintenance Complex Opens

Thank you.

Thank you, Director Kramer.

Good morning, everyone.

I am truly excited and pleased to be with you all today to celebrate a great day for DDOT, for our drivers, for our mechanics, and ultimately for the riders of this system.

Public transportation, we know, is a lifeline in our city.

A million riders a month depend on DDOT to get to and from work.

to school, to their doctor's appointments, and other essential destinations.

And that is why the city of Detroit, over the last probably six to 12 years, has made significant investment into the system.

We've increased wages for our drivers and our mechanics, putting us on par with Smart.

Now making a competitive wage, we've purchased 80 new buses.

We are investing in our shelters and our benches at various bus stops.

And today we are announcing again our $160 million investment into this beautiful facility, which is long overdue.

So today we are here at the site of the original Coolidge Terminal Facility, which was burned and decommissioned in 2011.

Now two years later is when the city went into bankruptcy, and we did not have the resources at the time to address improving the facility.

And so DDOT had to shift its operations to the Gilbert Terminal Facility, which is another aging facility that does not have the kind of amenities to provide the care and support to the system.

But today, that all changes.

Thank you to the significant financial support of the Federal Transit Administration, the Michigan Department of Transportation, the work of the Detroit Building Authority, to all of the local, state, and federal representatives.

I see Councilmember Durhall, who was an avid supporter of transit as well during his time on council.

All of our dignitaries, our congresswoman, our commission that is here today, this has been a collaborative effort to ensure that our residents, our drivers, our riders get the very best, because that's what our residents deserve.

And so now our drivers and mechanics have the kind of facility that they deserve.

This new DDOT maintenance building is where our bus fleet gets the kind of preventive maintenance it needs.

Next door we have a new climate controlled storage building where buses get to rest, they get cleaned up for their next shift to be ready to accept riders.

And then we have a new administration building where drivers and other employees can take a break.

They can decompress after a long, long day of work.

They have an indoor and outdoor lounge.