U of M starting a Detroit shuttle service, while the airport sees no need for one.

[brizee]

Not exactly "public" so I didn't put it in the thread.

I'm usually muck Fichigan all day. But this seems like a pretty good idea.

The welcome center seems kind of isolated though. Rosa Parks Center might have made more sense. State was using some train to/from Chicago to get alumni to return to the Mi. Maybe something like this is in the cards for the Green and White.

Meanwhile downtown hotels want an airport shuttle service. The airport says there's no need.

Like the above story I wouldn't even really use the service but hopefully they get their shit together.

[Spartan]

Not exactly "public" so I didn't put it in the thread.

I'm usually muck Fichigan all day. But this seems like a pretty good idea.

The welcome center seems kind of isolated though. Rosa Parks Center might have made more sense.

Why would they go to Rosa Parks Center when their main "customer" base wants to go to the UM Center in Midtown? They'd have to figure out how to get another mile away.

[DetroitPlanner]

Don't be too excited; dollars to donuts if you don't have a U of M ID they will kick you off and not even think twice.

[iheartthed]

Don't be too excited; dollars to donuts if you don't have a U of M ID they will kick you off and not even think twice.

Maybe, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't require it either. The U-M buses around Ann Arbor don't require student identification to use the bus.

[motz]

Meanwhile downtown hotels want an airport shuttle service. The airport says there's no need.

Like the above story I wouldn't even really use the service but hopefully they get their shit together.

Everything related to DTW is absolutely terrible and should be scrapped. They really think no one wants a shuttle from DTW to the city that the airport is named after? Why don't they just say "Okay sure but we're not funding it since we're busy lining appointee's pockets, so go on with your bad self and fund it"? Oh, right, because they would have to do their job.

[downtownguy]

Why would they go to Rosa Parks Center when their main "customer" base wants to go to the UM Center in Midtown? They'd have to figure out how to get another mile away.

Actually, they're doing more that the U-M Center. From the article:

The shuttle will take students and staff to U-M's Detroit Center, on the corner of Woodward Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It will also drop them off downtown, at the city's Cultural Center, Eastern Market and Southwest Detroit.

[IrishSpartan]

Greyhound for many years use to run buses from Downtown to Metro Airport and vice versa.

[Detroitnerd]

It's interesting to think that Ann Arbor is just far enough away from Detroit where it doesn't have to spend all its time defending itself as not being part of Detroit. So it can make things like the Detroit Center happen and build bridges. Meanwhile, in suburban "Southeast Michigan," nobody wants to mention a certain place that starts with "D" and ends with "T" and rhymes with "adroit."

[Spartan]

Actually, they're doing more that the U-M Center. From the article:

ah didn't see that. In that case, it's quite possible that Rosa Parks IS a stop.

[mtburb]

Actually, there already is a transit connection between downtown and Metro Airport: SMART route #125 provides a direct connection [[via Southland Center and Fort Street) during both weekday rush hours, but at other times, a transfer to DDOT route #19 [[or is it still #25?) is required at Fort and Outer Drive on the Lincoln Park/far southwest Detroit border.

[canuck]

It's interesting to think that Ann Arbor is just far enough away from Detroit where it doesn't have to spend all its time defending itself as not being part of Detroit. So it can make things like the Detroit Center happen and build bridges. Meanwhile, in suburban "Southeast Michigan," nobody wants to mention a certain place that starts with "D" and ends with "T" and rhymes with "adroit."

I tried and I tried to connect the dots but couldnt find the place you were talking about. More clues?

[poobert]

Actually, there already is a transit connection between downtown and Metro Airport: SMART route #125 provides a direct connection [[via Southland Center and Fort Street) during both weekday rush hours, but at other times, a transfer to DDOT route #19 [[or is it still #25?) is required at Fort and Outer Drive on the Lincoln Park/far southwest Detroit border.

According to googlemaps, if I were to get off a plane right now at DTW, I could wait well over an hour for said buses, which will then take me two hours to get downtown. That isn't transit. That is a piss-poor joke.

Not speaking a lick of Spanish and being totally unfamiliar with the city, airport, and transit system, I got off a plane in Madrid last year and effortlessly jumped on their transit system and made my way to the hotel in the city center. That is how real cities in the real world work.

What the hell is the point of Wayne County, anyway? As far as I can tell it is little more than a large-scale crime syndicate. Who needs it? I don't, and I live in it. Can't we throw them all in the brig?

It really isn't a surprise that a major university would want to like with its nearest major city. I can tell you there is a fuckload more insight in Ann Arbor, than, say, Hazel Park or Roseville or Lincoln Park.

[iheartthed]

It's interesting to think that Ann Arbor is just far enough away from Detroit where it doesn't have to spend all its time defending itself as not being part of Detroit. So it can make things like the Detroit Center happen and build bridges. Meanwhile, in suburban "Southeast Michigan," nobody wants to mention a certain place that starts with "D" and ends with "T" and rhymes with "adroit."

In all fairness, the A-squared was not so long ago just as reluctant to mention its big neighbor to the east. I'm pretty sure that my first year roommate from New Jersey never once set foot in the city of Detroit during his four years of living there. Another roommate from San Francisco had been living there for 2 years before we met and he only started going to Detroit after I took him there first.

[professorscott]

The airport authority is a tough nut to crack. They don't want any public transit and AATA and SMART had to fight for years to get what's there now.

I have heard, but can't confirm, that the airport authority has a lucrative and exclusive contract with some particular limo type company, and sees any decent transit as a direct [[and nonlucrative) competitor. If anyone can actually confirm, please do.

So the situation is that both AATA and SMART would like to do more here, but aren't able to.

[Hamtragedy]

If I see another Metrocar in the left lane doing 61 with the "chauffeur" yakkin away on his friggin phone.................

[EastsideAl]

The airport authority is a tough nut to crack. They don't want any public transit and AATA and SMART had to fight for years to get what's there now.

I have heard, but can't confirm, that the airport authority has a lucrative and exclusive contract with some particular limo type company, and sees any decent transit as a direct [[and nonlucrative) competitor. If anyone can actually confirm, please do.

So the situation is that both AATA and SMART would like to do more here, but aren't able to.

Confirmation of that in this story about the Airport Authority effectively blocking lower-cost shared-ride shuttle services from operating at Metro - as they do at most other major airports in the country.

Of course, the Airport Authority is using the highly dubious cover of "not enough demand" for any lower cost service between the airport and the center of the city for which the airport is named and is the only commercial air entry point. They are, however, more than happy to have travelers pay $50 or more for the oh-so-rare ride downtown with one of the airport's 'approved' services.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...008/1409/METRO

It's buried a bit far down in the rather poorly-written story, but here is the important part:

"Chuck Covington, the president and CEO of People’s Transit based in Romulus, attended the meeting. He said the lack of attracting passengers on a walk-up basis “would be a game killer.”

“You need to be able to have a booth there like every other airport allows its ground transportation, like a SuperShuttle or a similar service to have,” Covington said. “The way it was set up would not make for a feasible operation for a company starting off there, even a well-recognized company, without the public having an idea in advance they could be taken care of without having to make a reservation.”

The airport has a contract with Metro Cars and its affiliated Metro Cabs to pick up passengers who just walk up to the curb after they have arrived. Other independent services such as taxis and limos must have prior reservations with passengers to pick them up, and pay a $10 "departure fee"."

For their part, the airport authority seems to be suggesting that, although they won't allow shuttles to compete openly with their Metro Car friends, they might entertain offers to license an "exclusive" provider of shared rides downtown [[i.e. if "the price is right")

[Malcove Magnesia]

What IS the U-M Center in Midtown? I have a fuzzy memory of a U-M related building [[Rackham or Grad School type thing) quite close Warren & Woodward, but perhaps things have changed since I graduated from WSU years ago.

[night-timer]

Westin has a hotel at Detroit airport and also has its Book Cadillac property downtown. Maybe they could do a transfer. Rosa Parks is a convenient enough drop-off point if someone is wiling to walk or get a connection to downtown hotels [[for out-of-towners) or [[for locals) to get to their home address. Don't some airfares come with a hotel transfer from the airport included in the price? Maybe not in Detroit. What percentage of people want to be forced to rely on a limo to get out of Detroit airport to wherever they're going?

[Detroitnerd]

In all fairness, the A-squared was not so long ago just as reluctant to mention its big neighbor to the east. I'm pretty sure that my first year roommate from New Jersey never once set foot in the city of Detroit during his four years of living there. Another roommate from San Francisco had been living there for 2 years before we met and he only started going to Detroit after I took him there first.

I think you're quite right. In fact, I think a great number of people in Ann Arbor resist being lumped in with Detroit. But when it comes to Detroit being another city that it can study [[a la the Detroit center) then it's another thing entirely.

I used to like going to Ann Arbor, once upon a time, when it was a bit grittier and cheaper. Now it's a little too chi-chi for my taste...

[EastsideAl]

What IS the U-M Center in Midtown? I have a fuzzy memory of a U-M related building [[Rackham or Grad School type thing) quite close Warren & Woodward, but perhaps things have changed since I graduated from WSU years ago.

You're thinking of the Rackham Building at Farnsworth and Woodward just south of the DIA. That building is still owned by U of M, but is mostly used today by WSU.

The U of M Detroit Center is on the west side of Woodward just north of the Orchestra Hall/Max Fisher Center complex. In fact, the building is actually owned by the DSO. It opened in 2005 and hosts a variety of programs, performing arts presentations, and services for Detroit businesses and non-profits. More information can be found here:
http://detroitcenter.umich.edu/

MSU has a similar center a couple of blocks to the south on the other side of Woodward.