Our weekly “New Starts” roundup of new and newsworthy transportation projects worldwide.

Detroit Pushes a Property Tax to Fund Regionwide Transit Plan
There’s a new regional transportation agency in Metro Detroit, and it’s charged with the same task as the old one was: creating a seamless regionwide mass transit network. The only difference is that this time, it might actually get the money needed to do the job.

Crain’s Detroit Business reported May 28 that the Regional Transportation Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) presented a plan for a property tax intended to fund the construction of bus rapid transit and commuter rail lines in Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties over the next 20 years at a news conference announcing its master transit plan on Tuesday.

The tax, which RTA CEO Michael Ford told Crain’s would be between 1 and 1.2 mills, would fund the construction and operation of three bus rapid transit routes along major Detroit-area thoroughfares, a fourth connecting Ann Arbor with Ypsilanti, and a long-discussed commuter rail line connecting Detroit and Ann Arbor. The tax would need to be approved by voters in the four counties in November; if it is placed on the ballot and approved, property owners in all four counties would be required to pay it, in contrast to a current tax that funds suburban Detroit bus service and contains an opt-out provision.

The RTA’s proposed lines would also connect with service currently operated by the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT), the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) and the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority as well as the Q-Line modern streetcar currently being built by M-1 Rail. A portion of the tax would go toward the cost of operating the DDOT and SMART systems, and a unified fare card good for all services in the region is also part of the master plan being developed by the RTA.

SMART is what’s left of the prior effort to create a regionwide mass transit network. The agency was established as the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA) in 1967 in order to develop and run a unified mass transit system, including a network of rapid transit lines and a downtown people mover, for Detroit and its suburbs. But as it lacked taxing power, SEMTA was never able to make good on its plans. The city of Detroit pulled out of the authority not long after its creation and eventually took over construction of the people mover in the wake of delays and cost overruns.

St. Petersburg Builds Tram Link to Airport
According to a news item in Railway Gazette International, St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, will build a fast tram line to connect its airport with the city’s metro system.

A St. Petersburg tram (Photo by r S.L.~enwiki) 

The line will cover the 11 km (6.83 miles) between Kupchino station at the southern end of metro line 2 and Pulkovo Airport in 20 minutes (average speed: 33 km/h or 20.5 mph). The line will be equipped with low-floor trams with a top speed of 50 km/h (31 mph).

What’s equally fast about the tram line is the speed with which it will be built: Officials hope to open the line for service in May 2017. The line’s estimated construction cost is 29.2 billion rubles ($443 million U.S.).

The line is being built to handle a projected doubling of passenger traffic at Pulkovo from 17 million passengers annually now to 35 million passengers by 2039.

Australian Academics Help Indonesian Engineers Develop Transit Expertise
The 15.7-km (9.75-mile) metro now under construction in Jakarta will provide educational and technological benefits along with the congestion relief it promises to Indonesia’s crowded capital city.

The education and technical benefits come in the form of assistance from Monash University in Australia. As reported in Railway Gazette International, the university in Melbourne will collaborate with metro builder MRT Jakarta on the development of infrastructure projects, starting with the initial metro line. The university’s Institute of Rail Technology will also help MRTJ develop in-house technical skills as well as offer technical assistance and professional advice to the agency. The university and the agency will also jointly develop technical standards and quality assurance protocols for future rail transit projects.

Work on the initial line of the Jakarta metro began in the fall of 2013, and the line is scheduled to open for revenue service in 2018. The Japanese government provided the financing for the line’s construction, and Japanese firms are carrying out the construction work in partnership with local companies as well as supplying the rail cars.

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Next City contributor Sandy Smith is the home and real estate editor at Philadelphia magazine. Over the years, his work has appeared in Hidden City Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other local and regional publications. His interest in cities stretches back to his youth in Kansas City, and his career in journalism and media relations extends back that far as well.

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