M1 Rail has a website

[Gsgeorge]

Long overdue, the M1 Rail project finally caught up with 2010 and got themselves a website.

http://www.m-1rail.com/

Still missing: System Map, anyone??????

Lots of talk from Bing & the developers on this project that ripping up Woodward will begin before the end of this year.

[douglasm]

You need a system map for something that's going to run up Woodward eventually to the fairgrounds? Sounds like a trolley route I once knew.....

[gnome]

Gotta see how other folks are adjusting their driving habits to sharing the road way with trolleys:

[Stosh]

Nice find. The way people drive around here will be a highlight reel a week, I'll bet.

[dtowncitylover]

Already discussed. It's towards the bottom.

http://detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=1035&page=2

[mogo]

Gotta see how other folks are adjusting their driving habits to sharing the road way with trolleys:

Adjusting their driving habits, as in checking their mirrors before changing lanes, reading the signs and generally paying attention? These drivers are idiots. If these accidents didn't involve the streetcar, they would have happened with some other car.

[Warrenite84]

Transit built all at once or in phases; this same discussion was going on in the 1920's when Detroit considered a comprehensive subway system.

The prevailing argument then was essentially, "Build near me first", so said the build it all now crowd. They felt if it was built in phases, businesses near first phase lines would steal business from areas that didn't. Sound like the Detroit & Burbs argument today? The squabbling continued, and the 44 mile subway line plan was trimmed down to 22 miles, then less then the Great Depression killed it.

We as a Metro Area are not flush with cash like then so are choices are severely limited. We are fortunate to have philanthropists who are willing to dig deep into their own pockets and put a foundation under 'our castles in the sky'. Without the M-1 Rail project, that is all we would have. So no, it is not perfect and dressed up as if money was no object.

The "Me First" crowd have got to stop sniveling that they didn't get it their way.

The only area I can see a vested interest in is Metro funding for a comprehensive transit system. For the average Metro Detroiter to buy-in to more taxes in this 'Great Recession', will take a great deal of salesmanship from ALL who feel increased transit options will put us on a solid footing for increased employment and overall consumer transit cost savings.

[kenp]

I pick the last scene [[the Van) as the best wreck

[bailey]

Long overdue, the M1 Rail project finally caught up with 2010 and got themselves a website.

http://www.m-1rail.com/

Still missing: System Map, anyone??????

Lots of talk from Bing & the developers on this project that ripping up Woodward will begin before the end of this year.

That site has a claim that there will be 12 stops... some of the Freep/det news illustrations have as many as 15. its a 3.5 mile length of track. is a stop every quarter mile REALLY a necessity? What is that, every 3-4 blocks...maybe? I mean if I can shout to the next stop and have those on the platform hear me...do I really need to ride the train to get there?

[mcsdetroitfriend]

i like how in the video half those idiots don't read the street signs that say no left turn

[professorscott]

That site has a claim that there will be 12 stops... some of the Freep/det news illustrations have as many as 15. its a 3.5 mile length of track. is a stop every quarter mile REALLY a necessity? What is that, every 3-4 blocks...maybe? I mean if I can shout to the next stop and have those on the platform hear me...do I really need to ride the train to get there?

Well, let's turn the question around. 12 stations in three and a half miles means a station about every third of a mile, roughly 1800 feet, or 720 paces. So if you think that's too many stops, let me ask you this: would you like to be the person whose job is 800 paces or more from the nearest stop? In fact, people won't ride if they have to walk that far. Neither you, nor most other people.

Now, out past New Center, there will probably only be a couple stops per mile, but then, there aren't as many employment locations to stop at. My guess is that people living along Woodward will continue to use the bus unless they live near a train station [[once the DTOGS extension is built), but locations near DTOGS stations will become preferable places to live and to open retail stores.

From New Center to downtown, there is already enough activity to justify closer station spacing.

As usual, all this is just IMVHO. Feel free to disagree, but don't bother flaming.

[bailey]

Well, let's turn the question around. 12 stations in three and a half miles means a station about every third of a mile, roughly 1800 feet, or 720 paces. So if you think that's too many stops, let me ask you this: would you like to be the person whose job is 800 paces or more from the nearest stop? In fact, people won't ride if they have to walk that far. Neither you, nor most other people.

Now, out past New Center, there will probably only be a couple stops per mile, but then, there aren't as many employment locations to stop at. My guess is that people living along Woodward will continue to use the bus unless they live near a train station [[once the DTOGS extension is built), but locations near DTOGS stations will become preferable places to live and to open retail stores.

From New Center to downtown, there is already enough activity to justify closer station spacing.

As usual, all this is just IMVHO. Feel free to disagree, but don't bother flaming.

What I don't want to see are stops like Bricktown to Greektown or Millender Center to Renassaince Center or Compuware to the Broadway on the PM. It takes longer to sit and wait for the damn thing to arrive board and disembark than it would to simply walk across or down the friggin street. Why make the same mistake?

If we have decided that we need stops bunched so close together, because we as a region can not walk an 1/8th of a mile down the street, why bother with the expense of rail? Just beef up the current stop-every-two-blocks bus system with more buses a dedicated bus lane. save all the hassle.

[rbdetsport]

What I don't want to see are stops like Bricktown to Greektown or
If we have decided that we need stops bunched so close together, because we as a region can not walk an 1/8th of a mile down the street, why bother with the expense of rail? Just beef up the current stop-every-two-blocks bus system with more buses a dedicated bus lane. save all the hassle.

Because people won't use it if it is a bus. People want rail. Whenever I bring someone from out of state to Detroit they are shocked to find that there is no such rail extending out to the suburbs as it is in their city. It is more of a prestige factor than anything else.

[Bearinabox]

What I don't want to see are stops like Bricktown to Greektown or Millender Center to Renassaince Center or Compuware to the Broadway on the PM. It takes longer to sit and wait for the damn thing to arrive board and disembark than it would to simply walk across or down the friggin street. Why make the same mistake?

If we have decided that we need stops bunched so close together, because we as a region can not walk an 1/8th of a mile down the street, why bother with the expense of rail? Just beef up the current stop-every-two-blocks bus system with more buses a dedicated bus lane. save all the hassle.

Nobody rides the DPM from Greektown to Bricktown and gets off, just like nobody gets on the Woodward bus at Warren and gets off at Farnsworth. I don't see where the fact that it's possible to use a transit system in a way that makes no rational sense is necessarily a flaw in the design of the system.

[English]

Why does every single thread about progress and solutions dissolve into squabbling and negativity?

Oh, wait. This is metro Detroit. We pride ourselves on doing nothing, accepting the status quo, shortsightedness, and pessimism. I mean, if we couldn't b*tch about everything, we wouldn't be Detroit!

Optimism is for those loser cities, like Charlotte and Portland and Seattle. Suckers!

[bailey]

Why does every single thread about progress and solutions dissolve into squabbling and negativity?

Oh, wait. This is metro Detroit. We pride ourselves on doing nothing, accepting the status quo, shortsightedness, and pessimism. I mean, if we couldn't b*tch about everything, we wouldn't be Detroit!

No, this is metro detroit; where we pride ourselves on doing what is easy regardless of merit, because doing otherwise is too damn hard.

Detroit and SeM need real, viable and coherent mass transit if it wants to be anything other than the desolate, rust belt, has been, backwater, cesspool it has become. It does not need a vanity project.

[English]

No, this is metro detroit; where we pride ourselves on doing what is easy regardless of merit, because doing otherwise is too damn hard.

Getting light rail here has been hard. In other places, like Charlotte, it is a no-brainer.

Detroit and SeM need real, viable and coherent mass transit if it wants to be anything other than the desolate, rust belt, has been, backwater, cesspool it has become. It does not need a vanity project.

Actually, it is the shortsightedness and the endless squabbling of the political and business leadership of this region that has turned the Detroit METRO into a desolate, rust belt, has been, backwater cesspool. However, we will not always be that way, despite the fantasies of sick people who get off on Detroit-in-despair. The phoenix city will rise from the ashes.

These will be the adults of the first half of the 21st century:

Rebel Without a Car?
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct...ness/fi-rebel9

Study: Millennials Have Less Interest in Cars
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...t-in-cars.html

Detroit needs to attract young people and immigrants if it is going to ever resurrect itself. A viable transportation system will not build itself precisely because of all the nagging naysayers. It has to be built in stages. The fact that the first phase is being built during a recession shows a kind of vision and optimism that we haven't seen since FDR's New Deal projects.

[Hypestyles]

there should be next-generation buses developed as well as the rail efforts.. dedicated lanes, etc. But the only way for it to work long term is to have a merged, single bus system for the city and suburbs.. all this drama between DDOT and Smart must stop.. dissolve them both..