Bus Stop

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"When it came down to it, the amount of service it provided to Ann Arbor Township did not justify the millage request," says township supervisor Michael Moran. Though the plan envisioned tapping federal and state grants for capital costs, residents would have been asked to approve a half-mill property tax to underwrite the system's operation.

Scio Township supervisor Spaulding Clark says he had reservations about the transition from the AATA to a new authority, but the question of value was also key in his community's decision to opt out.

With so many municipalities unwilling to pay for the carefully crafted plan, the question now is, "Was it all a waste?"

Kunselman certainly thinks so, calling for a change in the leadership of the AATA board, and referring to the ordeal as "a huge political failure on Mayor Hieftje's part."

But others see more of a silver lining.