Dan T. Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 By Bill Laitner, Detroit Free Press He doesn't look athletic but James Robertson, 56, of Detroit has a champ's commute. He rides buses part-way but walks about 21 miles in round trips to a factory, unless his banker pal offers a lift. Leaving home in Detroit at 8 a.m., James Robertson doesn't look like an endurance athlete. Pudgy of form, shod in heavy work boots, Robertson trudges almost haltingly as he starts another workday. But as he steps out into the cold, Robertson, 56, is steeled for an Olympic-sized commute. Getting to and from his factory job 23 miles away in Rochester Hills, he'll take a bus partway there and partway home. And he'll also walk an astounding 21 miles. Five days a week. Monday through Friday. It's the life Robertson has led for the last decade, ever since his 1988 Honda Accord quit on him. Every trip is an ordeal of mental and physical toughness for this soft-spoken man with a perfect attendance record at work. And every day is a tribute to how much he cares about his job, his boss and his coworkers. Robertson's daunting walks and bus rides, in all kinds of weather, also reflect the challenges some metro Detroiters face in getting to work in a region of limited bus service, and where car ownership is priced beyond the reach of many. But you won't hear Robertson complain — nor his boss. "I set our attendance standard by this man," says Todd Wilson, plant manager at Schain Mold & Engineering. "I say, if this man can get here, walking all those miles through snow and rain, well I'll tell you, I have people in Pontiac 10 minutes away and they say they can't get here — bull!" The rest of this man's amazing story here: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/01/31/detroit-commuting-troy-rochester-hills-smart-ddot-ubs-banker-woodward-buses-transit/22660785/# Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonArtest15 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The Atlantic had a nice in-depth look at the problems that plague the working poor in Detroit and why Robertson has to make this hellish commute...here's a snippet: Let's start with the obvious problem here: lack of mass-transit options. Robertson used to drive to his job, but his 1988 Accord gave out 10 years ago. In car-obsessed Motor City, that's bad news. Robertson's $10.55 per hour pay is more than a buck-fifty higher than the living wage in Wayne County, but it's still not enough for him to get a new car and insure and maintain it. The Freep's Bill Laitner reports: Robertson's 23-mile commute from home takes four hours. It's so time-consuming because he must traverse the no-bus land of rolling Rochester Hills. It's one of scores of tri-county communities (nearly 40 in Oakland County alone) where voters opted not to pay the SMART transit millage. So it has no fixed-route bus service. Once he gets to Troy and Detroit, Robertson is back in bus country. But even there, the bus schedules are thin in a region that is relentlessly auto-centric. Detroit has never been big on mass transit—car companies helped hasten the demise of streetcars—but it's gotten worse over the last five years. Even as the city shrinks and people struggle, there are fewer options for transportation. But with unemployment rates inside the city at nearly 25 percent, workers have to leave the city limits for work. The Detroit area overall has a much rosier 7 percent unemployment rate. (A transportation official told the paper that Robertson might qualify for a special service for low-income workers.) The 21-Mile Walk to Work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 The story gets better. A 19-year old Wayne State University student named Evan Leedy saw the story in the Detroit Free Press and decided to start a Go Fund Me page to help Robertson afford a car, with a goal of $5,000. As of earlier today, he has raised more than $170,000 for the man. Blake Pollock, 47, of Rochester, is a banker. He's the guy in the original article who, after seeing Robertston walking in all kinds of weather during his commute, stopped one day to offer him a ride, and then developed a sort of friendship with Robertson, sometimes giving him rides for part of his commute. He is the one who alerted the Detroit Free Press about Robertson's remarkable story. Robertson realizes he'll need help with this windfall. Pollock is setting up a board of advisors to help Robertson manage the influx of cash donations and offers of cars coming in, including setting aside some of the money for auto insurance, repairs, and some medical and dental expenses. http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/02/03/robertson-meets-fundraiser/22785185/# There are a lot of everyday heroes in this story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 That's a cool story. I understand not having the money to buy a car...but a bicycle ? Come on man. Hopefully, he just buys a gas friendly, safe, used car. Stacks up the rest for when he needs it or buys a home cash (in Detroit that is possible) and still has some stacks left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Holy ****. That is an incredible story and GOOD find Dan. My ****les are now warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@DCGoldPants Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 there are still good people out there. I hope this money also goes to set up a service to help others who are motivated. Maybe something that gets them to work everyday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonArtest15 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 there are still good people out there. I hope this money also goes to set up a service to help others who are motivated. Maybe something that gets them to work everyday. It's a shame that the infrastructure of the public transit system in Detroit has gotten to this point. That should be on the city....but as Robertson said: As for the possibility that a new federal program, available from Detroit's bus system, might provide a small-bus service that would pick Robertson up at home and deliver him directly to his job temporarily, he said: "I'd rather they spent that money on a 24-hour bus system, not on some little bus for me. This city needs buses going 24/7. You can tell the city council and mayor I said that." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan T. Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Holy ****. That is an incredible story and GOOD find Dan. My ****les are now warm. I really need stories like this sometimes to cut through the madness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I don't exactly find stories like this heartwarming. Like....give the dude a bonus so he can buy a car. Or - more importantly - have real public transportation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 LKB, Very few cities have wonderful public transportation. DC, Boston, Chicago, NYC, umm..LA is okay, Miami is okay, Dallas is okay, Atlanta is okay... That's really about it. EDIT: I guess that Philly is pretty decent as well. Not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattsb84 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Didn't a large swath of detroit recently have issues paying thier water bills? If they can't pay that, where's the money coming from to put in a public transportation system...nevermind the fact that detroit is a dying city. Plus..this Dude should just get a bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 LKB, Very few cities have wonderful public transportation. DC, Boston, Chicago, NYC, umm..LA is okay, Miami is okay, Dallas is okay, Atlanta is okay... That's really about it. EDIT: I guess that Philly is pretty decent as well. Not sure. I know, and that's a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HogNose Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 LKB, Very few cities have wonderful public transportation. DC, Boston, Chicago, NYC, umm..LA is okay, Miami is okay, Dallas is okay, Atlanta is okay... That's really about it. EDIT: I guess that Philly is pretty decent as well. Not sure. Portland , Oregon tops the list when it comes to public transportation. They are a model city for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Portland , Oregon tops the list when it comes to public transportation. They are a model city for everyone. Thank you sir. I have never been to Portland. I was going off the cities that I have been to and used public transportation at some point. I've been to Philly and seen they have it, but never used it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RawBBQSauce Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 So when this guy tells the "Back in my day, we had to walk! 20 miles! In the snow!..." story to his grandkids, it will be 100% true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney B Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 For those people who are saying that he should get a bike, it isn't that simple. A guy his age trying to acclimate his body from walking to bicycling 40 miles a day would have to go about it very, very gradually. Not saying it's impossible, but it's risky. Most likely scenario: severe muscle strain within a few weeks, unable to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balki1867 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I'm a little shocked at the owner of this business. He goes on and on about how awesome this worker is but does nothing to help the guy out. I'm not advocating businesses going all out to help their people, but it seems really odd that a company of <50 people would treat a 10+ year veteran employee in such a way. He should be able to afford a beater of a car and insurance. Heck if he was able to work the hours of commuting he saved, that'd pay for those things pretty quickly. Instead the dude is walking through some horrible parts of Detroit at 2:30 in the morning. For the record I used to live in the Detroit suburbs and know this guy's commute really well. I lived right where the bus turns off Woodward toward Somerset, drove down Woodward all the way downtown to Tigers games many times, and worked out in the strip mall at Crooks and South Blvd (<0.5 miles from his office) for years. Much of that stretch (especially on Crooks) is not well-lit and didn't even have sidewalks until fairly recently (~6 years ago). Outside of that, Troy (the suburb through which he's walking), is very well-to-do and very white/asian. I'd be shocked if at some point, the Oakland County cops haven't gotten a call about a "suspicious-looking african-american man" walking through a white neighborhood at 11pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Thank you sir. I have never been to Portland. I was going off the cities that I have been to and used public transportation at some point. I've been to Philly and seen they have it, but never used it. Have you used any here in Charlotte? I've used the Lynx to go from South Boulevard station to TWC Arena and I've used the Gold Rush trolleys to tour downtown when relatives come to visit: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 The Lynx doesn't really work for me. I live too far to bother. When they build it out further...still waiting for 485 to be done...11 years later. Then it would be more feasible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I heard this morning on the radio that the kickstarter campaign has reached $300k! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDoyler23 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 It's an interesting story about a guy doing something incredible, pretty much just to survive. To me it's kind of unfortunate that someone with 10 years of experience on that job makes a couple hundred cents more per hour than the minimum wage. I guess that's Detroit's economy at work....or lack there of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Great story. A few things: Love the guy who started the fund Go Fund Me campaign to help him out. And the guys attitude to the amount of money raised. I'm a recruiter, that's my day job. I'd love to be able to send this story to every dumb**** candidate that called last minute to cancel an interview with a lame excuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slateman Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 So I love that this guy kept working despite that commute, however, couple issues 1. He owns a house. Move. Sell it, buy a smaller, less expensive house, use the profits to purchase a car 2. Really? He can't scrape together $500-1000 for a beater? Or even a bicycle? 3. His manager(s) were aware of his situation and couldn't find a reasonable response!? Oh and like Chevy or Ford need to step up and donate a car. Nothing fancy. A Cruz or an Escort would do him nicely. But get some free publicity with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsmarydu Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Prayers were answered. Update: https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/see-the-detroiter-with-21-mile-walking-commute-get-a-surprise-new-car-201755338.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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