Birmingham Recieves More Than $40,000 in Credits From SMART

Birmingham will be receive more than $40,000 in community and municipal "credits" to fund the construction of a new bus shelter on East Maple Road.

The city received the credits — in total, $19,760 in municipal credits and $22,061 in community credits — from the Surburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) for fiscal year 2013.

Municipal credits is money collected by the state, largely from gas taxes, and distributed by SMART to local communities for their transit needs. Community credits are derived from taxes levied to support SMART.

Birmingham will using a portion of those credits — $16,765.50 of the community credits — to build a bus shelter on the south side of East Maple between Woodward and Elm. The Birmingham City Commission approved the project at their July 23 meeting.

Other improvements included in the project are a concrete connection from the bus shelter to the sidewalk, a bus shelter, bench, trash can and bike rack. The new shelter will be consistent with the look of the Birmingham's other four bus shelters.

Meanwhile, Birmingham plans to use the remaining money — $5,304.50 in community credits and $19,760 in municipal credits — to support the 's (BASCC) specialized transportation service.

BASCC provides door-to-door transportation for those seniors and physically-challenged residents in the district, as well as parts of Bloomfield Township, West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills and Troy, Monday through Friday. Rides are free though donations are encouraged.

BASCC's total allocation for 2012-13 — $25,064.50 — is consistent with the amount of funding the organization received last year.

According to a memo addressed to the City Commission from City Manager Bob Bruner, Birmingham received the same amount of funding from SMART's municipal and community credits in fiscal year 2012. Last year, the money was put toward a busy shelter at the northeast corner of 14 Mile and Woodward.