Detroit lures major robotics show away from Chicago

[Bham1982]

What does a train to an airport have to do with a convention at Cobo?

[Atticus]

What does a train to an airport have to do with a convention at Cobo?

Having been involved in trying to lure convention to cities in a previous career, one of the common questions asked of a city on their bid application is something to the effect of: “Is there regular public transit between the airport and the city center or convention location?”

Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and Minneapolis could all answer yes.

For Detroit, the question was does the bus count?, and does putting the bus as the transit option look worse on the bid than leaving it blank? Truthfully, there was no good answer and Detroit’s bid always lost points compared to peer cities because of it.

Anyway, glad this convention is coming back. And yes, not having transit between the airport and city center causes the region to miss out on a lot of convention business opportunities.

[313WX]

Having been involved in trying to lure convention to cities in a previous career, one of the common questions asked of a city on their bid application is something to the effect of: “Is there regular public transit between the airport and the city center or convention location?”

Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and Minneapolis could all answer yes.

For Detroit, the question was does the bus count?, and does putting the bus as the transit option look worse on the bid than leaving it blank? Truthfully, there was no good answer and Detroit’s bid always lost points compared to peer cities because of it.

I find it hilarious that any serious person would ask a question like "What does a train to an airport have to do with a convention at Cobo?"

But, I give you Kudos for biting your tongue and providing a very classy answer.

[Bham1982]

I find it hilarious that any serious person would ask a question like "What does a train to an airport have to do with a convention at Cobo?"

I find it hilarious that he actually tried to answer the question, rather than admit the obvious - one has absolutely nothing to do with the other, but DYes is full of transit fanboys [[except for transit actually providing use serving the poor) so they'll use any crazy excuse for their boondoggles.

Yeah, Metro Detroit taxpayers need to spend megabillions for a commuter train to Metro Airport because it will make Detroit a huge convention city, never mind that such a train wouldn't go downtown, and the biggest convention cities on earth are Orlando and Vegas, cities with awful transit.

Also, it's quite apparent almost no one on DYes travels for work. When you go to a convention, you're either per diem or given reimbursements. In either case, you're gonna take Uber/Lyft these days, 99% of the time. It makes zero sense to use transit, even in a city with fantastic transit. It isn't like business travelers to Paris or NYC are typically riding the subway.

[Gistok]

I find it hilarious that he actually tried to answer the question, rather than admit the obvious - one has absolutely nothing to do with the other, but DYes is full of transit fanboys [[except for transit actually providing use serving the poor) so they'll use any crazy excuse for their boondoggles.

Guess what else DYes has....

[iheartthed]

Also, it's quite apparent almost no one on DYes travels for work. When you go to a convention, you're either per diem or given reimbursements. In either case, you're gonna take Uber/Lyft these days, 99% of the time. It makes zero sense to use transit, even in a city with fantastic transit. It isn't like business travelers to Paris or NYC are typically riding the subway.

There's a difference between business travelers and convention travelers. I travel quite a lot for client work, which is typically the business travel with the most generous budget. I also travel for non-client business reasons, and that gets far more scrutiny than client travel.

Convention travel is usually the most scrutinized type of business travel. Plus, not all convention travel is done by for profit entities with deep budgets. A lot of it is attended by non-profit, academic, or media publications, which tend to be even more cost conscious.

And, yes, I have used public transit while on business travel, even though I always have the option of Uber or cabbing it. It really depends on what mode will get me to and from the airport the fastest. The last time I traveled to Detroit for work, it took me almost two hours to drive from downtown to the airport. That's how much time I would except to budget for a drive from Manhattan to JFK, or Manhattan Newark Airport, during rush hour.

[dtowncitylover]

but DYes is full of transit fanboys [[except for transit actually providing use serving the poor) so they'll use any crazy excuse for their boondoggles.

As I know this comment is directed at me, my passion for public/mass transportation is not due to the fact I think it's sexy. It's because poor people deserve better than what they have now in order to make them not poor and this region deserves better than anything you're actually doing to make it better, which from what I can is doing nothing except spewing wrong shit on the daily with your posts. So fuck off.

[Junjie]

I find it hilarious that he actually tried to answer the question, rather than admit the obvious - one has absolutely nothing to do with the other, but DYes is full of transit fanboys [[except for transit actually providing use serving the poor) so they'll use any crazy excuse for their boondoggles.

Actually, he explained based on personal experience that convention planners take this into account and that Detroit has a poor answer. Which part of that are you disputing? Conventions don't actually ask, or Detroit actually has a good answer?

Also, it's quite apparent almost no one on DYes travels for work. When you go to a convention, you're either per diem or given reimbursements. In either case, you're gonna take Uber/Lyft these days, 99% of the time. It makes zero sense to use transit, even in a city with fantastic transit. It isn't like business travelers to Paris or NYC are typically riding the subway.

The O'Hare CTA station has the highest total passenger entries of any station on Chicago's blue line, with an increase of 400,000 YoY since 2014 and 900,000 YoY since 2009. I guess Uber must not operate in Chicago or something Either you're completely wrong, or business travelers consititute a vanishingly small segment of the market and there's huge demand for airport-downtown transit anyway.

https://www.transitchicago.com/asset...ip_2018-10.pdf

[iheartthed]

The O'Hare CTA station has the highest total passenger entries of any station on Chicago's blue line, with an increase of 400,000 YoY since 2014 and 900,000 YoY since 2009. I guess Uber must not operate in Chicago or something Either you're completely wrong, or business travelers consititute a vanishingly small segment of the market and there's huge demand for airport-downtown transit anyway.

https://www.transitchicago.com/asset...ip_2018-10.pdf

I always opt for the blue line to/from O'Hare over a cab if I'm commuting during rush hour. Cost factor aside, it's the fastest option during rush hour.

[Zacha341]

Hah. I hope you're being *sarcastic.*...... I know people working two, three jobs [[and NOT just to pay for their cars)! For example, I work at two job sites one day of the week, less than 1.5 hour time frame apart.

Driving is the only option to get from one job to the next on time.

... Also, it's quite apparent almost no one on DYes travels for work. When you go to a convention, you're either per diem or given reimbursements. In either case, you're gonna take Uber/Lyft these days, 99% of the time. It makes zero sense to use transit, even in a city with fantastic transit. It isn't like business travelers to Paris or NYC are typically riding the subway.