
Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute - evo_9
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/
======
karmajunkie
Why is it that everyone's first response seems to be along the lines of
patting this guy on the back for his dedication to getting to work (an
applaudable work ethic, to be sure) but no one condemns his employer for his
abysmal hourly wage, which is what forces this ridiculous commute? According
to TFA, he's a favorite of the company owners—but apparently not such a
favorite that they can bump the wages of a worker who's been there for at
least ten years into something approaching a living wage. They don't seem to
have a problem with the healthcare problems this man is almost certainly
creating for himself from the numerous ill effects of sleep deprivation.

We should all be disgusted by this.

~~~
bane
Just because you like somebody who works for you doesn't mean it makes
financial sense for the company to pay them more.

~~~
Delmania
Given the man's dedication to his job and impacts his actions has to health,
it makes financial sense for the company to help him out financially in either
securing a car or a closer place to live or risk losing a valued employee.

~~~
bane
Or they could fire him and just hire somebody closer to their office.

I'm playing devil's advocate here, because I also sympathize with the story.
But money really does rule all and cold business decisions are often
unpleasant.

~~~
Macuyiko
Don't exaggerate. Show me how many hours Todd Wilson, the plant manager
mentioned in the article, walks or even works a day and how much he earns.
Then we can talk cold business.

I'm as liberal as the next guy, but stop pretending that companies are the
most efficient, overhead-hating entities around and as such cannot deal with
the poor common man, because we all know they're not.

------
venaoy
The journalist writes 2000+ words, but doesn't even bother asking the guy the
most obvious question: why doesn't he buy a bike?

In Detroit, biking is doable at least during the 7-8 months of the year with
no snow. The guy probably has access to secure locking facilities at home and
work as bryanlarsen pointed out. He is paid $84.40 per day at his hourly rate
of $10.55/hour so he can definitely afford a working used bike starting around
$50.

~~~
sireat
This was the question on my mind, is biking not an option in Detroit?

I bike to and back from work daily 14 mile round trip using a cheap 2nd hand
city bicycle. Snow and cold only makes it more fun.

Of course, I am lucky that I am doing it by a choice and could take the bus or
drive my car.

~~~
maxerickson
His round trip would be 46 miles.

For me, there's some sort of qualitative difference in a bike ride that goes
over something like 10 miles, so I can see why it isn't a first thought for a
23 mile trip.

~~~
venaoy
No his round trip is 23 miles.

I can't possibly fathom why your first thought to travel 23 miles would be to
walk? Biking is OBVIOUSLY so much faster, easier, less straining, etc.

~~~
maxerickson
_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_

He walks about 3.5 miles, takes a bus to the edge of its service area, and
then walks another 7 miles to the job.

~~~
venaoy
I meant to write 21 miles (not 23 miles) round trip:

"Detroiter James Robertson, 56, walks about 21 miles a day"

So he would only have to bike 21 miles per day.

------
elecengin
I grew up in metro Detroit. I used to work summers as a programmer in one of
the factories in the Rochester area near where he works.

The lack of public transit is one of the reasons I left the state. As the
article alludes to - the cause is intentional. By removing public transit,
rich suburbs can keep out the people from the city. An ambituous plan to add
light rail down the iconic stretch of Woodward Ave extending out from the city
to the suburbs was scrapped mostly because of this discrimination. It has
turned detroit into a modern ghetto.

The only hope is that the downtown revitalization going on in Detroit breaks
down this type of balkanization by encouraging traffic in the opposite
direction (from the suburbs to the cities).

~~~
a2tech
You mean the M-1 Rail Project? If yes, its still very much alive and is under
construction now: [http://m-1rail.com](http://m-1rail.com)

~~~
mft
One of the earlier plans for the project called for a light rail line all the
way up to Pontiac, or at least out to 8 Mile.

The current plan calls for a 3 mile out-and-back that barely gets out past
downtown and serves a tiny percentage of the population[1]

[http://detroitography.com/2014/12/05/map-will-the-m1-rail-
st...](http://detroitography.com/2014/12/05/map-will-the-m1-rail-streetcar-
serve-detroit-residents/)

------
imglorp
I'd like to point out the infectious nature of determination. This gets back
to motivation vs discipline discussion on HN lately.

It seems like human nature, when you see someone leaning in so vigorously, to
either join their cause or do something to help them personally. The manager's
wife cooked James meals, the banker was giving him rides, and now as nwilkens
points out, someone's crowd funding a car for him. Think how the guys at that
plant feel working alongside someone like that.

For those keeping score with discipline and motivation, here's another tool
for that toolbox.

------
serve_yay
> "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!"

I say someone with that attitude should help this guy get a car. Good grief.

Is this guy respectable and noble, or an excuse for demanding more from his
fellow workers? As in "look how determined your coworker is, you should all be
doing more".

~~~
jpindar
>Echoes the plant manager Wilson, "We are very much trying to get James a
vehicle." But Robertson has a routine now, and he seems to like it, his
coworkers say.

------
nwilkens
Looks like he may end up with a pretty nice ride!
[http://www.gofundme.com/l7girc](http://www.gofundme.com/l7girc)

~~~
imglorp
Or an okay ride with an operating fund.

------
t0mbstone
I have very little sympathy for anyone in this story.

There are so many things that could solve this guy's problems.

1\. He could buy a bike.

2\. He could move closer to work.

3\. He could buy a crappy car.

4\. He could move to just about any city other than Detroit. I guarantee he
could find a labor-based job making $8-10 an hour that wouldn't require him to
walk 20 miles every day, if he was just willing to move.

The fact of the matter is that this guy has been deliberately choosing to live
this way for more than ten years straight, even though he has numerous ways of
getting out of his situation.

On top of that, the guy is apparently "picky" about who he will ride with,
refusing help from co-workers who would otherwise give him rides, because he
likes to be "independent".

The whole story is mind-boggling, sure, but if there's one thing I know, it's
that this guy doesn't need our pity _or_ our donations.

~~~
DanBC
How can he afford to move?

~~~
t0mbstone
I didn't say it would be easy, but it's definitely doable, and I know plenty
of people who have done it (including myself).

------
recursive
This seems like a good application for a bicycle.

~~~
mikeyouse
Biking in the snow / slush (especially on public streets since Detroit doesn't
have the money to clear sidewalks) is an extremely precarious proposition.

~~~
maxerickson
The 7 mile leg close to the job is in Rochester Hills. Who knows what the road
conditions are there, but Detroit's budget woes aren't a factor (It's even a
different county).

So apparently half of the problem is that Oakland county doesn't have as much
public transit as Wayne county.

~~~
mikeyouse
Good point, I was mostly assuming the 'Detroiter' in the headline was
accurate. Rochester Hills (and Oakland County) is a much more affluent area
than Detroit -- Plows shouldn't be in short supply.

For the unaware, the 'Somerset Collection' they mention in the article is a
mall with Cartier / Burberry / Salvatore Ferragamo stores inside. There's a
certain amount of symbolism that the Detroiter has to commute past vast
affluence that was once local to Detroit to chase a factory job.

------
ambago
An update on the various fundraisers set up for James:

[http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/...](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/02/01/james-
roberston-detroiter-commute-fundraiser/22701087/)

------
koof
It's a crime that he only sleeps for two hours a day.

