Detroit People Mover reimagined — and free — as key part of city’s future

[Airforceguy]

At the Broadway Street stop, some riders donning Buffalo Bills gear were confused about which People Mover stop is closest to Ford Field, where the Bills were playing the Lions in the annual Thanksgiving game [[you know, the one where Bills kicker Tyler Bass sunk a 45-yard, game-winning field goal).“Where do I get off to go to Ford Field?” one person asked, according to Cramer.
For Cramer, who was just four months on the job as general manager of the People Mover, it was an eye-opening look into just how archaic Detroit's one-way monorail has become.
“Man, that’s a failure,” Cramer said. “If it’s not apparent where to get off, we’re doing something wrong.”
For a long time, the People Mover has been a laughingstock example of how the Motor City does mass transit.
But there might be a new and useful future for the People Mover as downtown Detroit is poised to convert pandemic-abandoned office space into living space for a new influx of urban dwellers. The public agency that owns and operates the People Mover recognizes this changing landscape and is taking significant steps to modernize a mass transit system that sorta looks like something in the RoboCop version of Detroit ahead of major events coming to downtown over the next 12 months.Those events include the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of the NCAA Tournament in late March, the NFL Draft April 25-27, the Grand Prix May 31-June 2, the Detroit auto show returning to its traditional wintry show date next January, plus all of the concerts and festivals that fill Hart Plaza each summer.

The Detroit Transportation Corp. is starting by making the People Mover free to ride for the entire year thanks to a corporate sponsor to be announced in early March. The QLine streetcar that runs up and down Woodward Avenue is already free, so it makes sense that both last-mile transit options be free, Cramer said. There's also another practical reason: The People Mover's coin-operated turnstile gates and token machines for accepting the 75-cent fare are so archaic that replacing them with modern credit card-accepting machines would be a massive capital investment.Before taking that plunge, DTC found a sponsor to cover the roughly $450,000 in annual fare revenue and make the People Mover free for a year. It's a test run to see if it can improve ridership, particularly during the big events, as downtown transportation planners map out logistics for the next big event coming to Detroit: the NCAA Final Four at Ford Field in April 2027.

"It's a pilot program, so we're not going to rip out the fare gates, take out the token machines," said Cramer, who was previously deputy general manager of the SMART suburban bus system. Like a lot of things, the People Mover is still emerging from its pandemic-era doldrums. At some point during the 2020 shutdown of the system, the escalators all got damaged and stopped working.DTC is currently shelling out $2 million to get them all fixed before the NFL Draft, Cramer said.
The agency also is installing new security cameras, kiosks and video boards at each of the People Mover’s 13 stations, trying to make the small three-mile looping train more friendly, welcoming and known that it’s actually a form of public transit that should arrive every seven minutes at each stop.
DTC is spending $5 million on technology upgrades at the stations from its capital improvements budget, mostly federal funding, Cramer said.
Another $4 million is being spent replacing track. All told, the $11 million is one of the largest single-year investments in the People Mover in recent memory, Cramer said.
It's all being done to inject some much-needed life into the monorail, which had 60,144 riders in January, nearly double from January 2023, Cramer said.
Despite rolling just above the heads of Detroiters, the People Mover has almost been operating anonymously in plain sight for many years.

"It obviously leaves a lot to be desired," said Walter Lockett, 64, a retired Detroit educator who lives in Riverfront Towers and uses the People Mover to bounce around downtown, sometimes in conjunction with the QLine or a DDOT bus. "It takes a lot of navigation and logistics to do it, especially in inclement weather." Some of the People Mover stations lack clear signage at the street level that this is in fact a form of public transit, which could be a reflection of the way things were built in this city in the 1980s. When you get off the People Mover at the Renaissance Center, there's not a clear sign of which way to walk or which elevator button to hit in order to enter the labyrinth that is the headquarters of General Motors Co.“Those are things that drive us nuts also,” Cramer said.

In many ways, the People Mover's mid-1980s design connecting the Renaissance Center to the convention center, Joe Louis Arena, Greektown and the so-called financial district was meant to ensure you didn't have to step foot on a Detroit city street when you stayed at the Marriott in the RenCen and watched a Wings game at JLA or attended a convention at Cobo Center. DTC's moves this year to experiment with free rides and spruce up the appearance of People Mover stations comes as Mayor Mike Duggan is now openly talking about how the People Mover needs a new lease on life.Instead of tearing it down — as some have long suggested — the People Mover's track might need to be expanded to accommodate an influx of new residents and a significant shift in where downtown’s foot traffic is today compared to 1987, Duggan said last month.

"The People Mover was built when it was envisioned that a subway was going to come from Royal Oak or Pontiac and it was going to distribute people into the downtown office buildings," Duggan said Jan. 11 at a Detroit Regional Chamber policy conference. "They built the People Mover and the subway never came." What did come was stadiums, several blocks away from the elevated train's route. When the People Mover was built, Ford Field, Comerica Park and Little Caesars Arena didn’t exist — and the train never rolled up Michigan Avenue toward then-Tiger Stadium or an actual train station that was in its final days of operation at the time.The lack of stops near today's stadium district is one impediment to using the People Mover, although the Grand Circus Park station is across Woodward Avenue from a QLine station. But the connection is nowhere near as seamless as your typical big city mass transit system.
Two of the People Mover's oldest stops could prove to be assets in the very near future. The first is the Cadillac Center station on Gratiot Avenue and Library Street. It's tucked right next to One Campus Martius, headquarters of the Dan Gilbert-owned Rocket Mortgage, and across the street from the skyscraper that Gilbert is constructing that will have a mix of office, residential and hotel space.
When the skyscraper opens, that People Mover station could be the easiest way to get to a work there, given how parking is a premium in that corner of the city.

Another promising People Mover station is one that's been under-utilized since Joe Louis Arena closed in 2017. At that station, a new 25-story residential tower opened this week and a new convention hotel is in the works [[to help Detroit compete for more convention business and host the Final Four in three short years).

https://www.detroitnews.com/in-depth...s/72413926007/

[Gistok]

When the PM opened in 1987... the Stadia/Theatre district were still in the future. So besides the Broadway stop close to the Detroit Opera House, none of the stations are near any theatres/stadia/arena.

I guess a change in the direction of the PM at the north end might be a smart move... making it go right at GCP instead of left... up Witherell to the Stadia district. Not sure how it would get to LCA... but on a return make it come down Park Ave. to meet up with GCP at Bagley. The bad news would be that the GCP station at the David Whitney Building is where the PM meets up with the Q-Line... so that would be a problem if that section of the track and the station were removed.

[casscorridor65]

I believe the PM could have a great future if expanded to accommodate the new city areas that intersect with the Q-line that have developed greatly since the 1980's. Expanding the loop up Michigan Ave. and maybe back to the west river front [[main post office area) would be an obvious first-leg expansion. Maybe even a leg up Gratiot to Eastern Market. With so many young people choosing NOT to drive these days, getting creative with an existing asset could find a renewed interest and purpose.

[Richard]

The fare is .75 ,you cannot ride anything in the country public transportation wise for .75.


The PM and the other one are the last mile of a transit system,it should be easy enough for those coming from the burbs to get to the game,get on the light rail,transfer to the PM get off at the stadium.

When you search the PM,#4 in the results was - How do I get to the game using the PM.

They did not mention if they raised the $6.9 million needed to repair,upgrade the system,before even thinking about expanding.

[Kathleen]

When the PM opened in 1987... the Stadia/Theatre district were still in the future. So besides the Broadway stop close to the Detroit Opera House, none of the stations are near any theatres/stadia/arena.

Fans walk blocks from their parking spot or from Woodward QLine stop to Comerica Park or Ford Field or Little Caesars Arena for their game of choice. So I don't see that getting off at the Broadway or Grand Circus Park stops on the People Mover loop is that much different in terms of walking.

That said, better signage on the PM cars and in the stations and on the streets is a must!

[401don]

When I'm in a new city I haven't visited before the last thing I would do would be get on transit when I could walk to a stadium in 10-15 min., which you can do from any hotel in Detroit, except maybe the 2 casinos.

[Gistok]

The head scratcher for me is that each station shows a map of the location of the buildings downtown, and where PM stations are in relationship to them...

[Kathleen]

When I'm in a new city I haven't visited before the last thing I would do would be get on transit when I could walk to a stadium in 10-15 min., which you can do from any hotel in Detroit, except maybe the 2 casinos.

Yes! When we are visiting a new city, we walk the downtown for miles! Up and down streets. Checking out the buildings [[inside and out), the public art, the museums, the restaurants and cafes, and the green space. That's how you get to know the city and its people. Makes us love [[or not) the city we are visiting more! We use the public transit only when the distance is too great to walk easily, or when time is an issue, or it's raining.

[royce]

This is a duplicate thread. At any rate, the discussion about expanding the People Mover is ludicrous. Expand it to where? If you get off at the Grand Circus Park station you can walk your fat butt to the stadia, Fox Theater, The Fillmore, and a host of other restaurants and entertainment venues. From that stop, Comerica Park is two blocks away. Come on! If you get off at the Cadillac Square station, Eastern Market is less than a half hour walk from there. No need to spend millions to extend a spur of the People Mover. What is needed downtown are some shuttle buses that, for a small fee, take you anywhere you want to go in the downtown area. You don't need the PM to expand.

There is a need to connect downtown to Corktown. Again, I think shuttle busses could serve that function instead of expanding the People Mover. Expanding the Q-Line might be better. Instead of the Q-Line ending at Lafayette and Woodward, have it turn up Michigan at Woodward and continue to Roosevelt Park and the old train station [[Michigan Central Depot Building?).

[stasu1213]

People Mover already goes to the edge of Grand Circus Park. Only in Detroit any form of transit other than busses became jokes. The QLine and People Mover became trains to nowhere. I believe that this is no coincidence. Michigan want to attract young people and companies to move here but not willing to invest money that both corporations and young people have interest in. That is alternative transportation or decent mass transit. It was reported that during the Lion's playoff transit organizers tried getting the QLine to run more frequently that particular night as well as the FAST Busses. The wait time for the QLine was longer and bus drivers didn't report to work for FAST and DDOT. All have to be on board if Michigan as well as Detroit are to be serious on improving mass transit and attract more people to this state

[gratiotfaced]

Bus lanes are cheaper to create and would do more to help transit overall. Why did we stop transit lanes after doing only two blocks on Woodward?

[ddaydetroit]

I’m in Bangkok right now their version of the people mover is so much more functional it takes people from where they work or hotel to work and shopping