The Tuscola, Saginaw and Bay Railway, a short-haul line operating in Michigan's Thumb area, is one of several railroads formed with Department aid and subsidy in the 1970's to preserve rail freight service, threatened with abandonment.
and establish new ones in communities throughout Michigan. Between 1973 and 1980, more than $200 million in gas and weight tax revenues and monies from the state's general fund were poured into bus and rail programs, aside from federal aid and contributions by local governments. State subsidies preserved and upgraded nearly 900 miles of railroads operated by eight rail freight companies, six of which were organized for that purpose. All the track otherwise would have been abandoned, ending service in widespread areas of the state. State subsidies also supported Amtrak rail passenger service and carferry service across Lake Michigan.
The state-launched Dial-a-Ride small-bus program spread to small and medium-sized cities across the state, and into some larger urban areas. It soon became the nation's largest, supported by state and local dollars.
Dial-A-Ride personalized transportation was established in 77 of Michigan's 83 counties, enabling hundreds of thousands of often homebound persons to travel inexpensively on small buses. State funds helped privately owned intercity bus companies to establish experimental service routes designed to become profit-making ventures. State and federal monies enabled municipal bus systems to buy modern vehicles, up grade their facilities, improve services and, in some cities, build intermodal terminals to accommodate a variety of transportation services, including taxis and passenger trains.
Starting with three vans and 31 state employees in April, 1977, the Department-sponsored vanpool program for state employees became the largest such program in the nation by mid-1980, involving 120 vans and 1,350 persons.
Challenged by the nation's continuing energy shortages, the department set the pace nationally in establishing ridesharing programs. Its vanpool program, the largest in the nation for public employees, grew to 120 vans in 1980, carrying some 1,350 state workers to and from work every day.
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