Take a peek inside Detroit's new Qline streetcar! (Warren, Wyandotte: buy, construction)

[Geo-Aggie]

All us arm-chair transportation engineers certainly know better than the well-informed, studied, and educated nobodies who invested in, researched and designed the system - I'm sure.

Some thoughts:

• The cars are large for special events. Most of the time they will sit at low-capacity, but when a Tigers game gets out, do you really want to be waiting around for cars that hold 20-30 people? Of course not. And I'm sure their cost analysis showed it's cheaper and more efficient to run large cars all the time than to run small ones and throw on a bunch more for special events.
• The track is short because it's largely privately funded, so therefore it takes people to and from places that will return a private profit. There's not a ton of profit to be made by taking people to Highland Park or Woodward and Chicago at this point and the cost of taking people to Ferndale/Royal Oak is too high for returns.
• Salt Lake City built a 2-Mile streetcar, the S-Line, through "Main Street" Sugar House (a neighborhood that feels a lot like Royal Oak) it has done reasonably well and has ferries people around just fine with maybe one tenth of the attractions that you have in Downtown/Midtown/New Center Detroit.

[brodie734]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Qline is a PPP (mostly private endeavor). Not part of RTA or any government system.

The QLine is only privately funded for 10 years, if the RTA isn't funded then there will be no continuing funding for the QLine.

[highlanderfil]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

All us arm-chair transportation engineers certainly know better than the well-informed, studied, and educated nobodies who invested in, researched and designed the system - I'm sure.

No need for the snark. Most of us aren't stating their opinions as fact - we're asking questions because certain things don't make sense. And why would you naturally assume that the people making the decision have necessarily got it right? Plenty of well-researched investments fail.

[craig11152]

Originally Posted by usroute10

I can understand your point of view. However, this streetcar is not a part of the RTA plan.

Valid point, I guess i was morphing in to mass transit in general.
As a sidebar did I read this will eventually be absorbed by the RTA. Since it won't turn a profit I am sure the private sector builders want to get out from under an ongoing, never ending deficit as fast as they can.

[Republic of Michigan]

If Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti-Metro Airport-Dearborn-Mexican Town-Corktown come into existence then this will be great. In addition, maybe this line could one day go up through Ferndale, Royal Oak, Berkley, and Pontiac.

[highlanderfil]

Originally Posted by Republic of Michigan

If Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti-Metro Airport-Dearborn-Mexican Town-Corktown come into existence then this will be great. In addition, maybe this line could one day go up through Ferndale, Royal Oak, Berkley, and Pontiac.

I'd vote for that. Or just a commuter train running on existing tracks all over the tri-county area.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

All us arm-chair transportation engineers certainly know better than the well-informed, studied, and educated nobodies who invested in, researched and designed the system - I'm sure.
[/list]

Your guess about their guess may be correct. Fact is no one know what will work. These systems tend to be planned by ell educated nobodies, like you said,. They are just guessing too. Some of them work. Some do not. Some get tweaked before they work. My guess is this one will work. It will not pay for itself, but it might meet operating costs. Regardless, the Dan Gilberts of the Detroit world will continue propping it up if necessary if it keeps their buildings filled.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

All us arm-chair transportation engineers certainly know better than the well-informed, studied, and educated nobodies who invested in, researched and designed the system - I'm sure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig

[Geo-Aggie]

Originally Posted by Arthur Digby Sellers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig

Was this your project? If so, that's really cool and we should chat sometime! I find transportation engineering to be fascinating, even if my background is all environmental.

That being said I don't imagine our humble 3 mile street car, who people believe has too big of cars, can be adequately compared to a massive turnpike reconstruction that was plagued with underground structural issues.

[keraT]

I know this is little older thread from last year (before Qline opened to public) but I don't see any place where people have been talking about their experience riding the Qline. I happened to be in DMC area last Friday for doctor visit and decided to explore downtown all over again. I took the Qline from Warren ave all the way down to Congress.


The waiting stations looked very nice. There was a monitor displaying lot of information including time until next train stops at this station. Mine said 7 min which gave me enough time to explore the station, try to figure out how to buy my ticket. Luckily rides are free until Jun 30th. So no need for ticket. In the train, I expected to see lot of students or empty since it has been over a month and initial excitement might have worn off. But to my surprise the train was full and there were lot of different types of people on board: from retires exploring in groups, to students, to hospital employees. I heard lot of "oh look, this is here.... oh I use to work here 40 years ago..etc. Lot of excitement in the train


most people got off at Camus Martius. It was around lunch time, I am guessing many people went there for food. I took the train back at 3pm and the train was just as full.