How I Understand Public Service After a Year at the RTA

By Kameron Bloye

The first time I remember riding public transit was on a family trip to Toronto in the late 2000s. Until this trip, my younger self figured every community moved around how my family did—navigating our Downriver neighborhood of Allen Park and all of Southeast Michigan, mainly in a car. ?

A little over a year ago, I was hired at the RTA as a Challenge Detroit fellow. I quickly grew to understand that transit is a vital part of our home too.?

Working at the RTA has taught me a great deal about this region and its people, including my home community. I’ve learned about how people make connections and that these connections don’t happen strictly within municipal lines. And through countless hours of transit research, information collection, and community engagement, I’ve discovered a renewed sense of pride in my community and the larger region.?

Recently, I’ve been lucky enough to work on policy-based research with my talented and experienced colleagues. In one project, we researched transit needs along some of the region’s major business and economic corridors. To better understand the unique transit needs and policy priorities of diverse communities, we pored over master plans and other published reports. It was interesting to learn how various municipalities incorporate transit in their current planning processes and how transit could fit into the future of these communities.?

For a separate project, I researched low and no-emission?transit technologies like electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses. This research allowed me to study transit providers in this region and learn?from industry peers across the country. By gathering information on where our area?is in our energy transition, we can gain a better sense of where we need to go to meet climate goals.

These projects not only taught me (very) technical information – like QLINE’s annual kilowatt usage or cities’ complete streets plans. They also shed light on communities and their specific needs. Even though I’ve spent most of my life here, I’d never been tasked with thinking about how increased bus service or fleet electrification might affect this region. Now, I can see the impact to the average resident.?

I joined this team with a limited idea of what public transit looks like in Southeast Michigan. I now realize that I also had a limited idea of what public service really means. It’s not simply compiling research or writing plans, nor is it conducting surveys or providing transit service. Working in public service means working to the benefit of the community. And to do that means spending real time in places where people live and listening to those people—putting in hours inside the office, then learning outside of the office after hours.

As I move into a full-time policy role at the RTA, I understand transit’s vital connection to improved social equity, economic development, and environmental sustainability—in short, stronger communities. And I’m excited for the necessary role that I can play in working toward this progress.?

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Kameron Bloye is currently the RTA’s Transit Policy Associate. His background is primarily in environmental and economic policy, and he graduated from the University of Chicago with degrees in Political Science and Spanish. He is originally from Allen Park. ?

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