Question: Should The People Mover Come Down?

[motz]

I love using the PM for the Auto Show and Red Wings games during the winter, and any time I have people in from out of town for DEMF, we usually take a few trips on it after biking down Cass into the heart of the city. I think the value lies in it being a great little tourist thing and the ability to get people from one end of town to another, whether it be due to rain or cold temperatures. Normally I would walk EVERYWHERE, but rain and [[sometimes) cold really turn me off to doing so from time to time. Once M1 Light Rail gets installed, I'll be able to ride my bike to the M1 station, take that downtown, take the People Mover where else, and bam. Done. Thats an amazingly attractive prospect for someone who wants to drive as little as possible.

[detmsp]

I don't think m1 rail or BRT will increase people mover ridership too much. The people mover doesn't ever go more than about 3 blocks away from woodward. If the train or bus gets me to woodward, walking to the nearest people mover station, waiting for it to come, paying, etc just seems like way too much hassle when I'm already 3 blocks away from where I'm trying to go.

[DetroitPlanner]

I don't think m1 rail or BRT will increase people mover ridership too much. The people mover doesn't ever go more than about 3 blocks away from woodward. If the train or bus gets me to woodward, walking to the nearest people mover station, waiting for it to come, paying, etc just seems like way too much hassle when I'm already 3 blocks away from where I'm trying to go.

Some may use it to get to Joe Louis, but you're right, in most places the walk from Woodward is not a big deal.

[p69rrh51]

Get rid of the piece of crap!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Get rid of the piece of crap!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did the People Mover beat up your mother?

Seriously, this thread is silly. There is little use and significant consequence to stopping the People Mover's operation. And there is absolutely no money to tear it down. It's staying for the foreseeable few decades. We might as well use it.

[p69rrh51]

Did the People Mover beat up your mother?

Seriously, this thread is silly. There is little use and significant consequence to stopping the People Mover's operation. And there is absolutely no money to tear it down. It's staying for the foreseeable few decades. We might as well use it.

No but it ruins my views of the city and goes nowhere at a loss. Do you want to pay for the losses generated by the system?

[canuck]

No but it ruins my views of the city and goes nowhere at a loss. Do you want to pay for the losses generated by the system?

You should kick and scream at the loss of so many other things and not project a fictional happiness at the loss of PM. It is not an outrageous expense and is an important fixture for daytrippers and tourists alike. What is it about killing the good stuff?

[mark.vandorn]

DETROIT — The Detroit People Mover, the 2.9-mile automated rail system under construction in a loop above this city's downtown district, is over budget and behind schedule, has lost its central purpose and tends to fall apart. To top it all off, federal transit officials don't think very many people will ride it once it is finished.

Otherwise, it has been a huge success. At least for local jokers, that is, who would be lost if they didn't have the People Mover, which looks a lot like the Disneyland monorail, to kick around. Whether they call it the train to nowhere, the mugger mover or the downtown bobsled run, the message is the same: The People Mover is widely seen as a huge boondoggle and a classic example of government bureaucracy run rampant. Total cost: $210M [[$430M in 2013 dollars)

-L.A. Times, 1985

[mark.vandorn]

It's not going anywhere. They think they can connect it to and possibly expand it to the M1 rail. It's all going to be a clusterfuck. Nobody is ever going to use this shit.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

It's not going anywhere. They think they can connect it to and possibly expand it to the M1 rail. It's all going to be a clusterfuck. Nobody is ever going to use this shit.

Eloquent and well-reasoned as that is, it is not going to be "connected" to M1 rail. They will have adjacent stops at Grand Circus Park. What precisely won't be used? The PM is used. How would a system that you forsee not having users be cluster....?