Actually it was the opposite. Detroit Transit system had over 500 million riders a year in the 50's. As the system took streetcars out of service, the ridership declined to the current ridership which is somewhere around 50-70 million rides a year.
There is something incredibley odd about miketoronto's posts. Not to say that his writing style could not have changed overnight but it almost seems like someone else is using his account right now. Is there anyone to tell if the account has been hacked?