7 Action News has confirmed that the City of Detroit has named a new head of DDOT.
Sources say Dan Dirks, a former SMART bus executive is set to be named head of DDOT Thursday.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan fired the current DDOT chief this week after Duggan noticed how poorly buses were running as he drove down Woodward Avenue. The Detroit bus system, which has shrunk in recent years, is plagued by equipment problems, driver assaults and labor problems.
Dirks retired in 2007, when he was 56, as general Manager of the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) after spending more than 30 years working from student intern to the longest serving General Manager in the history of the agency.
Under Dirks, according to the Free Press, SMART redesigned routes and service and became the nation's fastest growing bus system, increasing ridership 60% to more than 40,000 a day. Dirks guided SMART through four tough but successful millage elections, expanded community partnership programs, and greatly improved SMART's relations with Detroit's city bus system.
"I have two passions in life besides my family and faith. They are baseball and buses," Dirks said on an industry website..
