Eight times a day, the Michigan Flyer bus departs downtown East Lansing with passengers en route to Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport. The service, provided by the Owosso-based company Indian Trails, wants to expand to a dozen trips a day and looks to a $600,000 federal grant to make that possible.
However, the grant and the expansion have some formidable opposition, including the Capital Region Airport Authority, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and some taxpayers. They claim public revenue should not be subsidizing a private company and fear a reduction in passengers flying from the Capital Region International Airport in Lansing to Detroit. The issue comes to a head tonight when the Tri-County Regional Planning commission votes on whether to approve Michigan Flyer’s application for the federal highway administration grant.
Carol Wood, Chairperson of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission and Chad Kushman, Vice President of Indian Trails join Current State to talk about how they view the potential expansion.