I think if you do not live in Michigan, you would watch this and think it was all made up, and least of all you would never believe how proud the Michigan and Detroit big shots are of this 200 million dollar QLINE, while they ignore the fact that a lot of really hard-working decent people of Detroit have to wait, ride, and transfer on buses for hours every day to get to their decent job in the NEAR suburbs. Not to mention the jobs they can't get to because of a lack of public transportation.
I was working for Comcast and we had to lower some cables to make room for the rails... And some newspaper took a picture and wrote construction begins on the M1 rail like 2 years before it actually began.... Work posted the picture next to the time clock and circled all our heads asking where our hard hats were. Then I joined the ironworkers and was bequeathed that job when the guy running it found out I could read prints. Did all the rebar in the street and all the stops.... Never actually rode the thing though.
The purpose of mass transit should not be for free park-n-ride passengers only. The QLINE absolutely is a Disney Ride. When I rode on it, everyone got on Downtown, then got off at Grand Blvd and went right back downtown. I'm guessing half of them were killing time to sober up before they drive back to the suburbs. It is useless for the overwhelming population of Detroit. Plus, you could have already parked for free ANYWHERE in the city and taken a bus downtown in less time than the QLINE takes.
what's the reason for putting streetcar tracks next to the sidewalk? any other city puts tracks in the CENTER of the street with stations spaced along the route. how are trucks supposed to make deliveries to businesses along Woodward?
You should do a video on the so called District Detroit that was supposed to acccompany Little Ceasars Arena. The QLine has had issues but at least it actually got built, instead of being some fancy drawings that turned into state of the art surface parking lots.
@JohnKerfoot just have to say we LOVE your videos. Ever think of doing a pure Michigan for Grand Rapids? Could be sooooo good. Keep up the good comedy (and truth) :)
I understand this is completely satire but I will say the q-line has been improved significantly since it opened a year ago. 25 minute wait times are now 5 minute wait times. A car parked on the tracks will be ticketed $40 dollars within 5 minutes(speaking from experience). That being said the q-line will never be like the people mover, and has the opportunity to hopefully expand down Woodward and hopefully other spoke roads such as Michigan, Gratiot, Jefferson, etc! I ride it all the time and depending on the time of the day; that thing gets packed. Anyway; Keep making more videos, they are hilarious!
Isn’t the Q-line in Detroit become human? When Markus was picking up the paint for the disabled old dude and he got assaulted by protesters who think robots were taking their jobs? (I live in Michigan btw and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of the Q-line)
I fully expect the thing to be a broken down, graffiti-covered festering cesspool by this time next year. $200,000,000 tearing down dangerous dilapidated buildings? NOPE! Build a Monorail *insert Simpsons monorail song here*
I liked this comedic advertisement, although the M1-Rail is certainly a nice addition that Woodward corridor needed. It's far from the People Mover will ever be and certainly much better than the nasty buses which I never ride.
People talk sht about the people mover but they seem to always want to use it to travel from the eastern part of downtown to the western part or other way during events
I can identify with issues regarding the QLine. A lot of money spent with concerns regarding the use of the system. Being a former Michiganian living in Florida, I took issue with the push down here for High Speed Rail. The intent was to link the big cities of Florida to help with tourism. #1. You have to have transportation to get to a rail station. #2. When you get to your destination, you need transportation to your final destination. (work, attractions, airports) #3. When you are done at your destination, you need transportation back to the rail station (hopefully your arrival at the rail station coincides with the train leaving). #4 . Then when you get to your origination, you walk to your car and drive home/to your hotel. High Speed Rail is "Quick" except when you have to slow down for roadway crossings or for crashes with vehicles (we've had a few). #5. The High Speed Rail does not have depots at many of the work sites, any of the airports or the "attractions" (the tracks don't go near any of them). The QLine, 3 miles for $200,000,000.00......John Kerfoot, I can feel the frustration. The need of mass transit with direct routes, reasonable costs (construction and boarding passes) and convenience for the boarders....
John, you HAVE to do a video on the ridiculous bike lanes that are screwing up our screwed up roads. I’m dying to see the first snow plow take out all the lane markers!
Remember when the Dick Purtan show sang "Coleman's Train" to the tune of Purple Rain? At least the PeopleMover lasted this long. so maybe the Qline will too.
A city of Detroit's size should have had a metro/subway system from the getgo. That would have made city living much more feasible hence the city wouldn't have suffered the massive decline it did and would still have a population around a million and would be like a sort of baby Chicago.
www.detroittransithistory.info/index.html We almost did. But Couzens was more interesting in taking over the streetcars from the private companies that built and operated them for profit than building a subway system.
Meanwhile, in the Detroit Free Press: "Heart and sole: Detroiter walks 21 miles in work commute." www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/01/31/detroit-commuting-troy-rochester-hills-smart-ddot-ubs-banker-woodward-buses-transit/22660785/
Hey detroit, ive got a magical solution. Its called a light rail. Other cities have it too such as Minneapolis, denver, phoenix, dallas and even that shithole Cleveland has one.
whtabtbob it doesn't inhibit traffic. it stops at all lights just like regular traffic. other traffic flows as normal during the 95% of time it's not around.
This was funny but some of the comments got me thinking, that of course just like any major city, it starts with something small. I would hope that this can expand to other city towns and not just Detroit. I don't know how many cities except New York, Chicago, Philadelphia that have major subway transit but Detroit seems to be the only one if not one of the few that doesn't have it. So I hope it expands
If the politicians would stop and figure out where and how efficient a mass transit system could be maybe they could at least break even and the taxpayers would not have to subsidize them. That tax revenue cold be used for other things like infrastructure. They just can't seem to figure out how to use taxpayer money efficiently and effectively. Alison Burke over at Brookings' Hamilton Project, says most all money U.S. public transit systems lose per ride. The immediate if unsurprising take=away is that every single metro rail system loses money. Only a handful of America’s 1,800-plus mass transit operations (metro trains as well as buses and other modes) generated more fare revenue in 2013 than they paid in costs, according to Hamilton.
Hey got start somewhere. It cost a lot to pave Woodward which was only for one mile in the 1900's residents didn't even own a car. Look what that led too.
Negativity is so much easier than positivity. We COULD be hopeful about the beginnings of mass transit coming back into the city and the fact that parts of Detroit are overall recovering from decades of decline, but it's better to just sneer at any efforts to reverse the decline and help along the possible resurgence.
that's weak sauce - to dismiss criticism as simply "negative". it's about doing something right as opposed to doing it completely wrong. see how things work in other parts of the world and and have those expectations, not rjust the pathetic, crumb-snatching attitude of "well, i guess this is better than nothing." need to have higher standards, and when Detroit is given a half-assed faux-mass transit trolley, I have no problem ripping it apart (even though, honestly, there was very little exaggeration in this video).
Phillip Smith how is a three mile loop helping mass transit? this has NOTHING to do with mass transit. it's EXACTLY what they called it in the video, People Mover part 2. the people mover went over budget. i can't remember exact numbers but it was in the tens of millions of dollars. the people mover only services downtown Detroit, and so does the QLINE. the QLINE doesn't help fix ANYTHING that's wrong with our mass transit system in Detroit.
In an ideal world, the Qline should have been built from downtown Detroit to 8 mile in one swoop but the funds weren't there. Originally the plan WAS for the Qline to run 9.3 miles up to 8 mile, but the Federal Government pulled their money in favor of a bus system, so private funders were left to finance what they could. And in November 2016, Southeast Michigan rejected forming an RTA that would have really helped connect the region, in part through more funding to light rail. My point is you're representing the Qline as if it was always supposed to be a 3.3 mile journey, when it fact it was supposed to be much more far reaching with triple its range. This is what we could get, not because of stupid short-sighted planning, but because both Southeast Michigan and feds decided to abandon it. All we can do now is hope that the Qline is successful enough servicing downtown, midtown and funneling money to those areas that the state and perhaps the feds give it their support. That's why I choose to be optimistic about it and what it could mean for metro Detroit while still recognizing that we have further to go as a region if we want to remain relevant.
You all know that the price of parking skyrocketed when the new stadium was built, right? Whats wrong with parking for free somewhere down Woodward and paying a couple bucks to take the QLine? Oh, but you all would rather pay $30-$40 to park and cry about how there's no use for a rail line. More proof of the dumbing down of society.
Massive infrastructure costs...big part of the cost hit. To just throw rails down and get a couple of cars wouldn't have been...but there was zero infrastructure. Still...3 miles...$200Mil...ugh....I'd like a light rail out to Northern Oakland, Nothern St. Clair (Port Huron), and Ann Arbor...then we're talking about making something like this actually viable...though there isn't a single mass transit system in the US that doesn't rely HEAVILY on tax $$$....
"Mass transit world leaders in total awe". Ha ha, are you sure? So, the world would be "in total awe" just because a tram line has been inaugurated in Detroit. I rode it a couple of years ago, mind you, and it's fine, efficient and it gives Detroiters a sense of their city bouncing back. All of this is great but it's a far cry from "mass transit world leaders in total awe". Don't overblow it.
someguy23475 Yes because a "Money pit" would be a substantial financial loss or necessity that is no longer valuable. Which the M1-Rail is not owned and won't be constantly funded by the city as you described.
someguy23475 Penske and Kresge Foundation are the actual initial and prime pushers of the M1-Rail. Quicken Loans simply paid for the "Q Line" name. It has enough financial backing for 5 years of operation, after that Penske is looking to donate it to the RTA or any Michigan transportation organization.
