Andy Didorosi thinks Detroit s Motor City heritage doesn t preclude interest in convenient mass tran

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At a time when many of his peers are finishing college to find a still-depressed job market, Andy Didorosi isn t waiting hawaiian airlines interisland air passes for anyone to offer him a slot. At 25, the college dropout describes himself as a "social entrepreneur" and is currently at work on his latest start-up the Detroit Bus Company , founded with the idea that even the Motor City can use a little more mass transit, especially if it's targeted to the right people.
Looping through downtown neighborhoods and close-in suburbs where people in Didorosi's demographic live, Detroit Bus Company offers a way to bar-hop a weekend night away for $5 without the worry of a potential drunken-driving arrest. DBC buses offer music, graffiti-style paint jobs and onboard transponders that allow riders to track the buses in real time, something the more conventional buses run by many public-transit utilities haven't been able to figure out yet. Bridge Magazine caught up with Didorosi before the bus started running one recent afternoon hawaiian airlines interisland air passes for a chat.
A: It came out of frustration for all the ideas for Detroit transit that popped up and then fizzled. First we heard about light rail, and that was awesome living up here inFerndale, and to be able to go downtown (on that), it was everything hawaiian airlines interisland air passes we wanted it to be. And then it went away. That was when I decided there had to be a solution to this, and there s no reason there shouldn t be buses running up and down Woodward, to replace light rail and the crappy service that s there. Replace isn t really the right word; let's say, "exist until light rail shows up." Because even if they broke ground right this very minute, we re still three years away from light rail. But everyone knows we re five to 10 years from a usable solution. Meanwhile, we re all here, and we have no way to get around except for big, expensive cars.
Andy Didorosi thinks Detroit s Motor City heritage doesn t preclude interest in convenient hawaiian airlines interisland air passes mass transit. The 25-year-old s latest start-up, the Detroit Bus Company, is building up from its base of service to those wishing to safely enjoy the city s weekend nightlife. (Bridge photo/Nancy Derringer)
A: We went through the different ways to make it feasible. We tried to make it as logical hawaiian airlines interisland air passes as we could, but the park-and-ride didn't work out. So we re slimming down a little. At first we ran Friday, Saturday hawaiian airlines interisland air passes and Sunday, hawaiian airlines interisland air passes and getting to that point was really difficult. I ve started a handful of businesses so far, and transit is, like, tenfold more complicated. Just when you think you have it figured out, it unfolds 10 new layers of beautiful complexity.
So we got on the road and found that people weren t (using it) on Sundays, and we learned that people s Tigers plans are really written in stone. They re going to do what they do. People are happy to pay $30 to park near the stadium (rather than $5 to ride the bus, which early on offered Comerica Park service on home game days). hawaiian airlines interisland air passes They ve accepted that. So we re getting simpler, doing less better, and just running Friday and Saturday, 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
A : Absolutely. We ve got six buses. Starting July 7, we're running our Royal Oak/Ferndale/Hamtramck-to-Detroit bus, and this will re-habituate people to coming to Detroit for entertainment. Once we get that down, then we ll begin running easterly. We ll run an airport bus. Our goal is to charge $10 to ride from downtown to the airport, fast. Right now GM, Chrysler, everybody downtown sends people to the airport in taxis or (car-service) cars, and that s $60-$80. These companies hawaiian airlines interisland air passes might support us.
These are all things in motion. hawaiian airlines interisland air passes We re meeting hawaiian airlines interisland air passes with the Detroit Enterprise Fund for a potential very-low-interest loan to infuse some capital. It s going to take time to percolate to build into a reliable system. We never plan to compete with the (existing) system. The demographic we re looking for is distinctly different. But, to ride the SMART bus is $2.25 each way, so twice is $4.50. We re $5. It s not that different. We don t take a single tax dollar, we don t take any public money, and we re operating.
Bridge: You have an iPhone app where you can see where the bus you're waiting on is, in real time. How is this raggedy little start-up like yours able to do this, and not the regular transit company?
A: When I was 16, I started buying and selling cars. I found this little police auction on the east side where they sold humble, dirty, distressed cars, and they d go for about $200 each. I was working as a busboy, and I was working hawaiian airlines interisland air passes as an assistant hawaiian airlines interisland air passes at this garage, and I thought, OK, I can buy three cars with the money I have. And I did. Brought them home, cleaned them up, and I sold my first one for $1,200. I was in the bathroom in my mom s house, hawaiian airlines interisland air passes with the money laid out on the counter, hawaiian airlines interisland air passes and I thought, It would take me forever to make this money cleaning wrenches at the garage or busing hawaiian airlines interisland air passes tables. hawaiian airlines interisland air passes They act like $10 is a gold nugget when you re working at a restaurant.
hawaiian airlines interisland air passes I went to college for a little bit, and I was working as a piston design engineer, making about $45,000 at 19, and that was pretty hawaiian airlines interisland air passes good. I got into racing cars, and they wouldn t let me go racing the week between Christmas and New Year s, and I quit. I left a letter on my boss desk, and I went racing, and life s been awesome ever since.
Staff Writer Nancy Nall Derringer has been a writer, editor and teacher in Metro Detroit for seven years, and was a co-founder and editor of GrossePointeToday.com, hawaiian airlines interisland air passes an early experiment in hyperlocal journalism. Before that, she worked hawaiian airlines interisland air passes for 20 years in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where she won numerous state and national awards for her work as a columnist for The News-Sentinel.
These stories are always inspiring. From observing start-up businesses involving transportation over the years, I can only cite a couple taxi stands that have lasted. About ten years ago an older man started up a rural bus service here in farm land, connecting small towns in Williams, Henry, Fulton and Defiance hawaiian airlines interisland air passes counties to a couple shopping centers hawaiian airlines interisland air passes in Defiance and Wauseon. He bought a few old school buses at auction and announced the business was open but he only had a handful of riders the first week and just said to hell with the whole thing.