Windsor Park (Metra station)

Detroit People Mover- Renaissance Center to Fort/Cass

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• published: 14 Apr 2010
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After a trip to Novi for a convention, I decided to explore Detroit's infamous downtown and ride the city's only rapid transit line, the People Mover. At 50 cents, it's probably the cheapest rail ride I've ever taken! (Incidentally, the design of the Renaissance Center station disallows access from the street, only and auxiliary exit to it, and only from the Center itself-- very annoying and confusing.) Propulsion is via linear magnetic motors, resulting in very fast acceleration and high speeds. It is an automated line on a very squiggly, 3-mile clockwise-only loop around the downtown core, using exactly the same Bombardier trains and propulsion as 3 of Vancouver TransLink's 4 much more extensive and extremely heavily-used SkyTrain lines, (extensive video of which I have on this account- it's an interesting comparison!) as well as that of Toronto TTC's Scarborough RT. Planned since 1975 and built in 1986 as part of a Federal people-mover program (along with Miami's, and interestingly, shortly after Vancouver's first line) the loop was constructed in hopes that it would serve as the downtown loop joining together a regional rail transit network in much the same way as Chicago's Loop does, but political and funding problems, as well as the general decline and deterioration of Detroit as a whole, prevented this, and now the system runs at only 2.5% of capacity. It connects with Detroit DOT buses at the Rosa Parks Transit Center via Michigan Avenue and Times Square stations, and in 2013 will connect with Woodward Avenue LRT and SEMCOG Commuter Rail to Ann Arbor and other Southwest Michigan destinations. Plans to extend it to New Center and the Amtrak station are on hold. The People Mover runs at a very high cost per rider, and is sometimes out of service for long periods. In 2008, it began running clockwise, having run counter-clockwise since it opened. A passing siding allows for (very slow) bi-directional operation if need be. Here, I am riding it from GM's headquarters at Renaissance Center, past Cobo Center and Joe Louis Arena, to Fort/Cass, location of several government buildings and the Detroit Free Press. This was on a Sunday night, probably the lowest-ridership period on an already very lightly-used system, emphasizing the deserted-ness of this city, though several people got on and off at Greektown, where nightlife was surprisingly active (for Detroit!) Along the way is a beautiful view across the St Clair River to downtown Windsor, Ontario. Overall, one gets the impression that this system was an afterthought, thrown on top of the city grid with little regard for riders, flow, access to city districts, commuting patterns (what little exist here anyway), or multi-modal connections (ditto). Access to stations is enough of a problem that walking is almost more attractive, station spacing is often only a block or two apart, signage is tiny, un-standardised and confusing, and the system is poorly-maintained and rough-riding. Still, it's a system that might have promise in the future if Detroit can ever manage to recover.