The moneymakers of the auto industry never wanted a thriving public transit system. That's why Detroit has worked to keep the people in vehicles: it's big money and the backbone of many, many industries.
at this point it being the backbone is bad for our society. bring back all versions of public transportation. its annoying that they never expanded of the lightrail
It’s just a shame to know that once upon a time the city of Detroit actually had a world-class system of transit. Streetcars used to be EVERYWHERE. And now it’s just the Q-line. Tragic.
Believe it or not, there was a subway proposal the automakers actually supported. Ryan Felton wrote about it in a 2014 Metro Times article "how detroit ended up with the worst transit."
As a Detroit Native, growing up 5 minutes from downtown during the era the People Mover was born I’ve been saying why does it just revolve around downtown instead of other places in the city like any other railway system in any other major city🤔!! And this was 38 years ago go figure. 🖤 my city to the moon and back FRFR!!
City and suburbs could not come to an agreement over how to spend the federal earmark on rail lines going out of downtown. So the money got yanked. The people mover was designed to serve as a connector loop to those unbuilt lines. Which is why so many stops are at major roads like Gratiot, Woodward, Grand River and Michigan.
The Detroit People Mover has a sister system that uses the same technology in Vancouver Canada. The system started small too but consistently expanded and in 2023 became North America's 4th busiest rapid transit system after New York's MTA, Toronto's TTC and Montreal's STM. I've always said that Detroit's People Mover is the key to explosive growth in Detroits future
To built extension minimum 2 - 3 years. Vancouver,BC Built Extension. 4 years to Complete 10miles 16Km length. To Coquitlam, BC. From 2000 - 2018 Vancouver Loop Waterfront downtown Vancouver to NewWestminster loop to Vancouver Community College. Passing Commercial Broadway 2x. UPPER platform to New Westminster Return on Lower Platform to Vancouver Communtiy college. A drunk person is able to Loop around
"The people mover has to at least be expanded West to : Corktown, Wayne State University, West Grand Blvd/Hitsville ("Motown Museum")". "And expanded East to DMC ("Hospital Area"), Eastern Market, the Cultural center, Up Jefferson Ave ("at least to Chene Park") & to the Detroit City Airport once completed ".
Start making it like New York and Chicago Subways if not underground above ground and even though the freeways in the middle of the freeways above ground
Wow! Finally starting to complete the initial plans for the PM that Oakland County kiboshed in the 80’s. Connecting Detroit to AnnArbor makes even more sense.
Sort of at least. The original plan was to use the PM to move people around within the downtown and it would then funnel people to and from a larger metro wide rail network.
Decades ago, the auto industry hobbled Detroit, constantly lobbying against mass transit. And suburbanites supported the anti mass transit sentiments. So the ridiculous people mover was adopted. What has changed?
That could be too far for it. Michigan Central Station in Detroit should be restored to bring commuter service, Cleveland, Ohio-bound Amtrak and Toronto-bound Amtrak. In downtown Detroit, the People-mover should add more stations including Brush St between Comerica Park and Ford Field.
@@jeffreymcdaniel6813 I agree. Use the People Mover as our rapid transit solution city-wide, and look to Vancouver, BC for that inspiration. Concerning the QLine, I think keeping it small is wise with perhaps a few shorter extensions with a line or two going east/west.
For Detroiters, the People Mover is an unnecessary Joke. You might as well walk since Detroit has a little downtown. It's great for tourists and sports events only.
Yeah. Like it could form the core of a good network but it doesn't have the network. Like the very least that could be done would be to expand to double track and build out 2 radial corridors into the suburbs, with one route looping through downtown in one direction and the other looping through the other way
Imagine that, citizens want good public transportation! It’s ALWAYS been one of Detroits biggest problems and It’s one of things holding detroit back from quicker progress. Detroit will never be able to sustainably bring in business without good reliable public transportation. The people mover is a joke, always has been. Another Coleman young blunder.
They they should combine and merge both Subway's the one that's going down Woodward and the people mover they should connect those and start from there and move it across the city around the City they should have been did that they should have merged them both and started going all over the important parts of the City midtown downtown corktown make it go in a bigger circle from midtown to downtown and in-between the city that would be a better idea to merge the two subways
You need to have transit options to get people from outside the city, to downtown. Rail feels safer than busses for people. Ann Arbor, Airport, Livonia, CorkTown light rail would baloon public transit usership. You need to be where the people are. Downtown detroit is great. Get people there, allow the suburbs to enjoy and through fairs help pay for the system
I love the DPM - see my video. Wasting years on study and BS public charettes though will lead to nothing. A fraction of the millions it would take to extend it a few stops could make Detroit a national model for super micromobility on the surface. Small electric assist vehicles for 1 to 10 people traveling in safe lanes will benefit all daily. Government needs to spark research and development in this area. Doubling down on more expensive concrete is a dead end. There is already way too much overbuilt public infrastructure that we can not afford to maintain indefinitely.
The plan to keep people from behind the wheel after a night out is always a great idea. Of course, the auto industry may have a say in this development only going so far, but even expanding to Midtown is a start.
Imagine ? Federal money in writing at the voting booth for Livonia and Detroit. --- In writing. Before most of you vote YES and and NOT a promise for after you vote YES. ---- NEW City Sales Tax coming. Want no Federal money? No problem, the Sales Tax will pay for the free rides. Pay tax on your Coney Dog for public transit and that is all ? Really? I hope not. Please request Petition, if interested. . I'm not doing this for me. I just wanna see Detroit come back and do not think City Sales tax is the answer, without leaders who care about the poor and want good jobs and state funds from your governor --- YES the fuel tax in writing. Imagine.
No. 😢 The people mover is definitely a "Downtown thing." 😊 Busses will get you West of Telegraph and North of 8-Road. Or you can buy a car. Or truck. Or van. Dumb-o-crates don't like mass transit. Makes it too easy for everyone to leave! Good luck and God Bless. ❤
It was Ronald Reagan who withdrew the previously promised $600 million in federal funds that was supposed to complete the people mover expansion in the 1980s. Look it up. And remind me again which political party Reagan belonged to....
Last but not least, look up the Detroit Area Regional Transportation Authority. That was vetoed by Governor John Engler. I'll give you ONE guess which party he belonged to....
In contrast, Democrat Dennis Archer tried his best to get DDOT and SMART buses to combine forces so riders would not have to pay for transfer tickets when switching from one system to the other on a given day. You want to guess who opposed it, so that agreement was delayed until 2019? Republican L. Brooks Patterson in Oakland County, and Democrat Mark Hackel in Macomb County. So that was a bipartisan failure.
