People Mover elimination

**Gistok** · January-03-12, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek response to this thread's post No. 2.

Yeah... that brings up an interesting point... sometimes folks's reply is not timely... and we sometimes forget what the original post was all about...

Of course the extreme to that was one poster who recently complained about comments made 2 years ago [[and reopened a nearly aged off thread).... only thing was the original poster was long gone from DYES!

**old guy** · January-03-12, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Ummm... except they're going to need 5.8 miles of railings, as well as the removal of 2.9 mile of track and electrical, and add lighting in Cobo... and who's going to shovel the snow in winter? Problem not solved...

From the way it sounds, getting the track and electrical removed could happen overnight.

**downtownguy** · January-04-12, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by mtburb

When did the David Whitney close? I have boarded at that station, so I know there is stairs, but I haven't seen an elevator there.

Stairs only. There are quite a few signs around the system informing that it is not handicap-accessible.

**mikeg19** · January-04-12, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Ummm... except they're going to need 5.8 miles of railings, as well as the removal of 2.9 mile of track and electrical, and add lighting in Cobo... and who's going to shovel the snow in winter? Problem not solved...

Plastic composite decking over the track and electrical. Throw up some lights in the cobo tunnel. Matty Moroun can donate the railings as part of his "I don't own the Depot" campaign to garner good faith in the community to have his bridge built. Snow and debris removal will come from Kwame Kilpatrick as part of his "I can only afford $8 a month" restitution work. See. 2012 is on the up and up Gistok

**michigansheik** · January-04-12, 08:02 PM

iirc i read on here before that our beloved PM was actually going to be two loops and just 1 car at a time.

its a crime they pm does not go to the cultural center [[DHM, DPL, DIA, WSU, CCS, DMC) because then you could argue it might be useful as far as a central city transport system. heck take it all the way up third to grand blvd and down john r and snake it out to eastern market. guess there's no money to the leaders for doing that.

would the people support a transit tax for a regional bus system paired with rapid buses and an expanded pm? i dont think its possible today but its a good conversation piece.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · January-04-12, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by mikeg19

Take the trains off and use it like the old elevated railcar line in NYC's meatpacking district. It would be like the Dequindre Cut, only above ground. Boom. Problem solved.

I posted in response to this suggestion once before. Many technical reasons why this isnj't feasible. Not the least of which is width. It would need to be substantially wider than it is now just to comply with code. Also, even if widened, it would not leave any room for parklike features, which NYC's HighLine Park has in spades. Lastly, the HLP, which is 1/4 the length of the PM, cost $180M. Conversion to park, technicalities aside, would be more money than operating the PM. Realistically, either we have the operating PM or we have an unused monorail line sitting dormant and unused. No source of money to convert it or tear it down.

**Gistok** · January-04-12, 10:15 PM

MikeyinBrooklyn, it would likely cost at least 10-15 or more years worth of annual operating subsidies to tear down the PM tracks and those huge beams. $$$

It's sorta like Matty and the MCS... it's cheaper for him to mothball the building with new windows, a new roof and a cleanout, than to tear it down.

**Planner3357** · January-06-12, 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by mtburb

When did the David Whitney close? I have boarded at that station, so I know there is stairs, but I haven't seen an elevator there.

Definitely no elevator. But I believe there is one at Broadway station. Isn't there an ADA law that would make them have to have it handicapped accessible?

**Gistok** · January-06-12, 02:48 AM

Originally Posted by Planner3357

Definitely no elevator. But I believe there is one at Broadway station. Isn't there an ADA law that would make them have to have it handicapped accessible?

Probably not once the David Whitney Building reopens. Before it closed, you could take the building elevator to the 2nd level and walk the arcade over to the PM stop. That will likely re-occur.

**mtburb** · January-06-12, 09:09 AM

So know I know the David Whitney closed in 2000, that meant the second entrance was built in 2001 or even 2002?

**DetroitHabitater** · January-06-12, 10:25 AM

relevant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn

**Gistok** · January-06-12, 01:41 PM

The elevated transportation system in Wuppertal is the "Raptor" of transit systems...

Wuppertal is just south of the highly populated Ruhr region of Germany, and is part of the conglomeration that makes up the 4th largest urban area in Europe [[after London, Moscow and Paris). The region is like urban sprawl... but in a different flavor... there are forests and agricultural lands between each of the 100 or so towns... 10,000-600,000 pop. each.

**Brian1979** · January-06-12, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Soon after the David Whitney Building closed. For at least a year [[maybe longer) there was no way to access the David Whitney PM station, until they built access. I haven't gotten on/off at that station, so I don't know the specifics. Is it just an elevator & stairs? I can't imagine there being too much room for stairs at that location...

The stairway is on the west side of the station closest to Washington Blvd. and Park.