Quote Originally Posted by emu steve View Post
When we first discussed QLine one thing we discussed is whether it would encourage more residential building along the line and it has.

Using my favorite example, The Scott.

Simply, there should be enough Detroiters who live somewhere between New Center along Woodward and downtown...............
That's the thing with light rail.

It requires high population density to work. That's why the houses near Woodward and other major lines of the old trolley system are so close together [[rows of duplexes all like 8' apart, even though that's a major risk when there's a fire).

The value of a home was largely affected by how long of a walk the husband had to take to get to and from the nearest trolley stop.

Then came cars and the population spread out. By the late 40's the system wasn't used much,.. and it was so empty by the early 50's that they got rid of a system that was long since paid for. [[And GM collusion etc)

To make it work again you need high pop density and perhaps a land czar,.. who can determine what is and is not allowed to be along Woodward. You also need lots of people willing to live in high-rise buildings, where they have to park elsewhere [[if they own a car at all), do lots of walking, and ride elevators to get to their apartment. [[Get to your car or the Q-Line and forget something? You now need to walk back across the street and back to your building,.. go through the lobby,.. press the button and wait for an elevator, ride that to your floor and walk down the hall of your apartment,... and reverse all of that). That's a LOT different than when I forget something on my counter 3' from my the door of my attached garage.

This all happens A LOT in places where land is hyper-expensive,.. like in Manhattan. But MOST Detroit property is silly cheap. So rail is going to be an up-hill battle,... at least for quite a while.