"Lipstick" is that goofy-ass bus "rapid" transit that Rick Snyder and SEMCOG are going to try to sell you. The Woodward Streetcar is far more than lipstick. Reasons for this have been given, but since some folks want to be so blase at the potential for billions of dollars in new investment due to the streetcar [[see: Portland), then that's your problem--not the streetcar's.
It's dangerous [[and disingenuous) to downplay the streetcar based on a single fictional example. Are hordes of people going to take the streetcar from Congress to Grand Circus Park? Probably not. But will people board at Congress and ride to Midtown? Will additional people board at Grand Circus Park to ride to Midtown? Will people boarding at Midtown [[say, commuter rail passengers arriving from Ann Arbor or DTW) ride the streetcar to both Grand Circus *and* Congress to arrive at their destination? Yes.
Are any of these people going to ride the 53 bus, not knowing whether it's ever going to show up, if ever? No. Are developers going to construct new buildings and fill existing space just because DDOT erects a signpost on the corner? No.
And, I do know this: When I travel to a different city, I am a heck of a lot more inclined to ride a tram or streetcar than I am to board a bus, simply because I *know* where it goes, and I *know* where it stops.
Detroit is finally implementing something that it never should have done away with 60 years ago. Don't let the "good" be the enemy of the "perfect". Unlike the debacle known as DPM, the streetcar network can be expanded as money becomes available. But if you just sit on your hands and wait for a 100-mile streetcar system or light rail or commuter rail to fall out of the sky, you're going to get what you've always got: Nothing.
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