DTW McN terminal arrivals area bird poop, parking garage/shuttle bus - bad design

I recently used the DTW McN terminal and fortunately was picked up at the curbside. What wasn't so fortunate was the tremendous amount of bird poop on the sidewalk, all over, at the curbside waiting area. It was a mess, didn't look fresh, and set a bad first example for Detroit and DTW, especially for someone arriving here for the first time. Assuming a passenger didn't sit in feces on a Delta flight, the last thing they should have to deal with is dragging their bags through bird poop to a waiting car. Does DTW have a power washer?

Also - whoever designed the baggage claim/parking structure configuration at the McN terminal should be forced to drag luggage up the escalator and over the walkway to the garage, or wait for the few elevators in place to get up to the walkway. Nothing better than surviving a Delta flight feces-free than to lug your luggage [[always feels heavier coming home) up and over the curbside pickup area. Bonus points if you have to then wait for off-site parking shuttles - more cardio!

Why can't there be a designated area at the curbside for shuttle pickup? No one drives to the far end, they all bottle up at the beginning anyway. Rant over.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by detlump

I recently used the DTW McN terminal and fortunately was picked up at the curbside. What wasn't so fortunate was the tremendous amount of bird poop on the sidewalk, all over, at the curbside waiting area. It was a mess, didn't look fresh, and set a bad first example for Detroit and DTW, especially for someone arriving here for the first time. Assuming a passenger didn't sit in feces on a Delta flight, the last thing they should have to deal with is dragging their bags through bird poop to a waiting car. Does DTW have a power washer?

Also - whoever designed the baggage claim/parking structure configuration at the McN terminal should be forced to drag luggage up the escalator and over the walkway to the garage, or wait for the few elevators in place to get up to the walkway. Nothing better than surviving a Delta flight feces-free than to lug your luggage [[always feels heavier coming home) up and over the curbside pickup area. Bonus points if you have to then wait for off-site parking shuttles - more cardio!

Why can't there be a designated area at the curbside for shuttle pickup? No one drives to the far end, they all bottle up at the beginning anyway. Rant over.

---

The whole ground side setup at DTW is very poorly thought out.... and that is not even getting to the lack of transit options. [[Yes I know FAST exists which, while a step up from what existed before, is still very poor compared to most other 'world' cities.)

But the biggest complaint I always hear from out of town business folks is about how bad the rental car setup is. Given the lack of transit in the region, many folks visiting are resigned to rent a vehicle. And yet despite the fact that the weather is not good most of the year, we still have no consolidated facility and a bunch of exposed surface lots for the car rentals.

Upon arrival you freeze standing on the curb for 20min waiting for your rental car shuttle, watching every other companies' bus drive by. Then once you finally get to the lot, your rental vehicle is exposed to the elements. This means the walk from the rental office to find the car could very well be through a rainstorm, or just as bad, when you find it you have to scrape snow off the rental vehicle. This is how we welcome business folks from other regions, and then we wonder why they don't want to invest in creating jobs here.

Most other major cities, especially those in areas with not the greatest weather, have a consolidated car rental garage. This mean consolidated rental car shuttles that run more regularly to a common rental desk area, and a COVERED parking garage that houses the rental vehicles... protecting our guests from the elements. And despite not offering public transit, we can't also even offer that.

And finally to end the rant, the mechanism to fund such a garage is easy. Just enact a small 20-year rental car user fee on all rentals to cover the cost. You wouldn't need any local taxpayer participation. This is how other places do it, and the majority of car rentals are paid for by out-of-town businesses anyway. Effectively your are getting people from out of Michigan to pay for the jobs created here, building a project that provides a better welcome experience.

End rant.

Can't address the bird dung, but I'm puzzled as to why the logistics of your arrival were so difficult. On the Delta arrival/baggage claim level , you can walk out the door and proceed either right or left to the nearest designated cross walk.

Walking in the crosswalk, you encounter [[in sequence):

1. Three or 4 lanes of stopped traffic [[individual and shared-ride autos
bound for curbside)
2. A lane separator
3. Dedicated lanes labeled for hotel & rental car shuttles and van pickups
4. The first level of the parking garage.

There's no need to go back upstairs solely for the purpose of taking a bridge vs walking a crosswalk.

#2 & #3 were added in the past couple years. Prior to that modification, the shuttles had to pick up on dedicated lanes on the perimeter inside the parking garage. The area was too small for the large rental car buses, and difficult to label thoroughly for all the different kinds of shuttles.

All that said, the whole baggage claim is poorly signed for first time arrivals. For what it's worth, about 70% of the passengers never encounter baggage claim anyway, since they are only at DTW for the purpose of changing planes for another destination. [[IMO) the gate areas and ticket lobby of both terminals are Cracker Jack.

Went through DTW last September; I have to totally agree with detlump and atticus on their postings. When I finally got to the Budget car rental office, I found a line of twenty folks and only one clerk.....who could not have cared less about anything. Next time Budget will not get my business. I did ask for a wheel chair for my wife both ways, and an attendant was waiting for us both to and from. That was about the only positive I have to say for DTW. McCarran [[LAS) is a little better, but, actually, all airports suck.