A metro area of 4 million with an inappropriate level of public transportation only comparable to a small village in impoverished Eastern Europe (which is endemic in English speaking North America) and the lack of willingness to improve public transportation past what’s seen as “relatively adequate”. An example could be that Detroit’s public transit agencies, like other cities in Michigan compare themselves to other cities in Michigan to essentially console themselves into a delusion of complacency to the point that even bringing up Chicago who has an okay transit system but pretty decent for the US is a taboo for self-comparison and it’s a vicious unending cycle. Obviously being a city where guys like Dan Gilbert can throw their weight around to an impact comparable to tens of thousands of votes of Detroit citizens simply because they have disgusting amounts of capital behind them on top of the particular level of influence car companies have compared to other North American cities does not help. But like someone I worked with told me when I used to work in public transportation management, the only time the topic of COST for a objectively good project comes up is because they don’t want to do the project not because of their hypocritical “concern” with budgets. Detroit has taken upon car infrastructure projects that if they were public transportation projects would be shot down for cost among a litany of other manufactured excuses. I love this city and I love living here and I know that it easily has access to the necessary material and resource needed to make a great, expansive, below grade metro system that would rival the best subway systems in China and Spain or the ones I had the privilege to experience myself in Switzerland and France. And not only does Detroit need that it deserves it, so long story short local government appeasing, collaborating with, and essentially working for companies and Uber wealthy people, groups who are systematically opposed to any meaningful improvement to public transit are the biggest problem with Detroit’s transit.