Cost and Demolition of the Detroit People Mover
Isn't the People Mover overly expensive to operate?
It would cost about $4.00 to $5.00 per person for the People Mover to pay for itself [[theoretically taking into account a decrease in ridership due to the price hike).
Interestingly, this is how much the Las Vegas Monorail charges, which offers an alternative to the gridlock and overly crowded Las Vegas Strip.
I'm not sure if there is any chance for the People Mover to charge much more than it does now, without an actual demand for it's services. The Las Vegas Monorail costs a lot, but it is a reliable alternative to dealing with traffic and parking [[pedestrian and auto), is on a heavily traveled tourist route, is clean, is fast, is quite, and has air conditioning that actually works. The light rail line on Woodward stands to be better positioned as both a tourist and local line.
A better idea for the People Mover might be to cut costs [[one car operation, closing of unused stations and removal of trains at off times, when people aren't in a hurry). It just might make more sense to decommission and demolish the People Mover, sending it to the history books, written off as a failed experiment, after a more modern and efficient alternative can take it's place. Some inherent flaws with the People Mover have been said [[by some DY posters in the past) to be it's noise, cost of daily maintenance, cost of major repair and renovation, and thanks to it's elevated track and direct connection to popular buildings, it does not contribute to the life of the street, and in many cases, can detract from it [[good if overcrowding was an issue).
I'm not really sure how much money would be saved by utilizing modern light rail at street grade, over the People Mover. It is going to have to work for a little while, at least. Who knows? Five years ago the Red Line Downtown bus loop still mirrored the People Mover, and was cut. Maybe one day a purpose will be realized, or a train can be preserved in one of our museums. One of the cars might also make a good diner some day. :)
PS: I just wanted to add that if you walk a block or two off the Strip, everything backs up to concrete, parking lots, parking garages, and vacant lots in Las Vegas. It looked no different from Detroit, on an urban design and use stand point, and was primarily designed for cars, like most of AmeriCCCa. When someone mentioned how much Las Vegas always grows, changes, and moves forward, our driver on our last trip [[who sounded a bit like Rodney Dangerfield) told us;
Quote:
"yeah folks, I hope you enjoyed Las Vegas. [[Turning to my wife and I) I'll tell ya what, when your daughter.... she's what, almost one? In two decades, when she's twenty-one, she won't want to come to Las Vegas. Of course, I don't believe like you all believe, I'll tell ya' what, I believe Las Vegas is becoming a dust bowl, and that's just from what I've seen goin' on [[motioning to a gloomy scene that reminded me too much of home, half the homes and buildings were abandoned and decaying, only the sand would give away that this was Last Vegas, and not Detroit).
This was a common view that I heard on that trip, and one that the folks on the urban and local podcasting and blog sites seem to have picked up on [[such as Kunstlercast, and various blogs).
Censored.
One More Concerning Trumpeteer's Last Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Trumpeteer
GOD DAMN!! Fucking incredible as to totally ignoring factual statements about an area you both obviously know nothing about except for a slanted website with photos..WOW what a source as well as posibly having been to the local at some point looking for newstands.:mad: How about starting one about how evil "The Man" is and rant about that as well??
Please carry on this conversation amongst yourselves as you're the fucking experts.
You can sometimes tell where a [[American) city's reputation is headed by looking at the popular searches and photos that come up when you "Google" them. This is not necessarily the reality of the city, but is rather where a city's downtown reputation is comfortably heading; a mix of where they have been and where they want to be, with emphasis on the later.
Results for various cities with the reputation that was alluded to above, when discussing Atlanta:
Results for other cities to compare to:
Michigan cities to compare:
Michigan's city's search results have apparently come a long way since before the period I will call The Detroit Super Bowl Campaign. I vaguely remember pictures of riots, police brutality, and blight pictures with racial subtext coming up on the top of searches for all of Michigan's urban centers.