Detroit People Mover (photos and videos)

[wyliepoon]

While in Detroit this weekend I had an opportunity to ride the Detroit People Mover (DPM). Being from Scarborough and a daily rider on the Scarborough RT that runs on the same trains and technology as the DPM, I found that I enjoyed the DPM way more than the SRT. The SRT runs mostly through industrial/suburban wasteland. The DPM runs through a forest of old classic skyscrapers, and it's elevated. It's like a roller coaster for skyscraper fans! Unless Scarborough decides to replace its industrial heartland with block after block of well-designed Art Deco skyscrapers, the view from the SRT will never beat the DPM

A few photos...

View of skyline from Renaissance Center station

Ad-wrapped train

Videos of the DPM. The door chimes are the same as those on the SRT, but DPM has automated announcements, which SRT might not get in a million years!

Broadway to Grand Circus Park...

to Times Square...

to Michigan Ave...

to Fort-Cass...

to Cobo Center...

Joe Louis Arena to Financial District, via Detroit riverfront with view of Windsor

Finally, a photo treat... a DPM one-car train! Now there's definitely something you won't see in Scarborough!

 

[Sir Novelty Fashion]

One-car train... wow.

Thanks for the tour, Wylie. Were there many people out and about? (Nb. you might want to double-check the first and last video links...)

Also, it seemed to be a single track most of the way. How does that work?

 

[cassiusa]

Those streets are exceptionally empty. I've never been to Detroit. Does that train go in the more run-down areas of town or something?

 

[thenay]

The train line is one big circle, and is only one track going one direction. I hate to say this but if you been to Detroit, you'll know why the streets are empty. It's not the nicest place to visit, atleast from my experiences and people I know. Thanks for the photos and videos

 

[Degnaw]

Why do the videos make the train (or car) seem exceptionally slow?

 

[drum118]

Since Detroit is looking at expanding the system, a good time to sell them the SRT cars.

From another posting else where:
Now it appears that plans are in the works to extend the elevated light rail system to the New Center area. A proposal is currently in the works that would extend the driverless tram three miles north to West Grand Boulevard, tying it in to the Amtrak station and the campuses of Wayne State University, Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Hospital -- its final stop.

Plans would call for the tram to still operate along its elevated 2.9 mile single track loop around the downtown Central Business District, while designated cars (depending on the current demand) could venture along additional tracks northward. With boarding stations farther apart, and less curves to negotiate along the route, the trams could hit speeds of up to 50 MPH between stops.

With most of the funding to build the project being sought from the business and private sector, the operation could be a reality in 3 to 4 years. While seeking funding through the federal process would only hamper the project for up to ten years. It is estimated that it would cost between $150 to $200 million to extend the system.

 

[wyliepoon]

Thanks for the tour, Wylie. Were there many people out and about? (Nb. you might want to double-check the first and last video links...)

The links are now fixed... you can now enjoy the view of Ren Cen and Windsor in the last video.

Because of the Auto Show and the Red Wings/Blackhawks game, the People Mover train I was in was standing room only for most of its trip. Surprisingly Cobo Center, where the Show was held, was not too busy... most of the people on the train got off, but there wasn't a huge crowd waiting at the station to get on the train (Kennedy Station on the SRT during rush hour is many times busier than what I saw). A few security guards were posted at that station to maintain order. Most of the other stations have at least one security guard.

 

[officedweller]

I think any above grade system will seem slow because your point of reference is usually farther away than it would be in a tunnel (or even at grade).

 

[Archivistower]

I took the People Mover some years ago, thought it was hilarious. First of all, it's not public transit, even if it does serve some limited purposes, it's the kind of project that a few US cities have developed out of what seems to me to be sense of desperation, like "we've got to do something". Doesn't Miami have one of these. I'd say the single track and the extremely limited coverage renders it more or less useless.

Second, I recall it moving past lots of abandoned buildings, so you would be looking into dusty windows with vacant second storeys in the blackness. I found the whole thing sort of a inverse Walt Disney Ride. Any second, I expected a brightly coloured automated mugger to pop out and start singing "It's a bad world after all".

 

[Canuck 36]

I took the People Mover some years ago, thought it was hilarious. First of all, it's not public transit, even if it does serve some limited purposes, it's the kind of project that a few US cities have developed out of what seems to me to be sense of desperation, like "we've got to do something". Doesn't Miami have one of these.

Lyle Lanley: All right, I tell you what I'll do. I'll show you my idea! I give you the Springfield Monorail! [audience gasps] I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum, it put them on the map! [unrolls a U.S. map where Brockway, Ogdenville and N. Haverbrook are the only cities labeled, having been crudely scrawled in]

 

[Observer Walt]

Thanks for the photos. Sad to say, downtown Detroit has been in sorry shape for many years.

The people mover, which some have unkindly called the toy train, loops around the downtown and actually doesn't seem to serve much of a real transit function. If it could be extended up to the New Centre area, as suggested in the article posted by Drum, it might actually be more useful as a link and might be seen as an integral part of the transit system, rather than a cutesy novelty which I think it largely is now.

 

[andomano52]

is it just me, or does the LIM rail look thinner on the DPM than on the rt?

 

[unimaginative2]

The people mover does serve a useful purpose in that it shuttles people from events at Cobo Hall to other areas of downtown, particularly Greektown.

 

[borgos]

The SRT runs mostly through industrial/suburban wasteland. The DPM runs through a forest of old classic skyscrapers, and it's elevated. It's like a roller coaster for skyscraper fans! Unless Scarborough decides to replace its industrial heartland with block after block of well-designed Art Deco skyscrapers, the view from the SRT will never beat the DPM

Yea, but does the DPM afford you a front row view of the Bicks' outdoor vats with the uncovered fermenting pickles? Come on, some people are never happy.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

"Yea, but does the DPM afford you a front row view of the Bicks' outdoor vats with the uncovered fermenting pickles?"

No, but the SRT doesn't either...the Bick's plant closed years ago.