A new survey is up for community input on ideas to be developed within the Livingston County Transit Master Plan. The Livingston County transportation planning project has taken feedback from area residents and developed a dozen options for new or better transportation services throughout the county. Now, the Livingston County Transportation Coalition, stakeholders, and analysts are asking residents to help them further zero in on what’s important to them. They can do so by taking the new online survey.

The 12 proposed ideas are laid out in the survey in the fashion of a restaurant menu, with “appetizers,” or ideas that can be more easily implemented, and “entrees” for the ones which provide a bigger challenge. Transportation Coalition Chairperson Dr. Leo Hanifin said what people are looking for in the Master Plan really depends on each individual’s own situation. He said that people in the rural areas, as well as seniors, find the dollar rides very important. With the ¾ of residents working outside the county, and 60% of county workers coming from elsewhere, moving people in and out is also a priority. Hanifin also said that 57% of residents who they’ve heard from aren’t happy with the biking and walking paths. Other proposed ideas on the list are services running between Brighton and Howell, and commuter services to hospitals, Ann Arbor, and Oakland County.

Hanifin said the results from this survey will be used to help determine priority on which options will be further developed. Following this, the involved parties will develop a financial analysis, have a governance discussion, then present a full plan later this year, or early next year, for final response from citizens. Hanifin said the final report should be ready sometime around February. Take the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/livcotransitpriorities. (MK)