Detroit People Mover 2.0
Opportunity and Discussion
January 2007
Summary
Detroit has an extraordinary opportunity to forge a “New Downtown” -- four miles long and a mile wide – integrating
Detroit’s Central Business District, the Detroit Medical Center, the Cultural Center and Wayne State University, the New
Center and Henry Ford Hospital. The opportunity involves transformation of the existing Detroit Downtown People
Mover (DPM) over a four-year period to link these current “islands” of civic life into a coherent and appealing
downtown experience via an expanded and financially stable transit system. This new system may be the single most
sensible, affordable and viable investment Detroit can make to continue rebuilding its extraordinary downtown assets
into the “urban destination” it once was and deserves to be again.
Key Points
- Move Detroit forward by forging a “New Downtown” using rail transit to integrate Detroit’s Central Business
District, the Detroit Medical Center, the Cultural Center and Wayne State University, the New Center and Henry
Ford Hospital in a four-year project.
- Utilize existing “paid for” People Mover assets to create an expanded system that will significantly lower existing
operational subsidies while providing a core level of central city transit service unmatched in the Midwest.
- Create a private/public partnership to drive the project and build the most cost-effective rail transit system
expansion and operation possible, using proven collaboration strategies with existing transit agencies and
fostering private sector opportunities to improve public transportation for Detroit’s future.
- Make Detroit a regional leader in urban transit and set the stage for future regional transit funding and
significant regional economic development.
Background and Potential of the Detroit People Mover
One Transit Technology Can Both Successfully Link the Woodward Corridor and Reduce Existing
Transit Operating Subsidies (but only one!)
Detroit has considered various fixed facility mass transit options for 50 years with little to show for the effort. But the
logical location for a rail transit solution for downtown has not changed: as documented in many past studies, [link to
bib/pdfs] has been a connection down the Woodward Corridor from the Central Business District to the New Center.
Today, a number of alternate technologies could be considered for a transit solution for this corridor, but only one
provides the ability to have a meaningful system constructed without requiring an increase in present operating
subsidies, and with the possibility that existing subsidies will actually decrease.
The Detroit People Mover system is a regional rail transportation technology. In Detroit, this technology was
implemented as a small loop because of a funding reality: its advanced automation technology qualified it to be a
competitor in the Federal Downtown People Mover Program. This federal program was designed to demonstrate that
automated technology would be accepted by the public for transit use. The Detroit People Mover was part of a
national demonstration program that planned to open the market for advanced automated systems, and these initial
applications were intended to be small, as part of a strategy to get them installed quickly.
These federally funded projects XX years ago were intended to demonstrate the technology, and held off on applying
it to larger regional systems before automation had been proven. It is clearly proven now. To function correctly, these
small automated system needed all of the infrastructure and facilities required for a larger application. In the Detroit
implementation, the present system can be expanded as a simple “track extension,” while the existing core Detroit
People Mover system has the support capabilities to run a system nearly three times its present size.
“…the existing core Detroit People Mover system has the support capabilities to
run a system nearly three times its present size.”
This expanded system would be able to effectively function with the present fleet of vehicles, existing staff levels, and
current maintenance and operational control facility, while serving the entire Woodward corridor. The present fleet,
which generally runs at less than 5% of capacity, can see a ten fold increase in ridership without the need for more
vehicles. When that need arises, we still have the capacity within the existing maintenance facility for a 100% increase
in our fleet size.
Further, at the point when new vehicles are needed, the ridership and increased fare revenue will have reached a level
where the present operational subsidy will have been nearly eliminated and downtown activity will have increased
dramatically - easily justifying new vehicles.
By expanding the DPM northward, the Woodward Corridor would be able to get the benefits represented by this
superior level of service for a capital cost less than any other meaningful form of fixed transit, and the City could
expect an operating subsidy reduction instead of a new, ever-increasing subsidy that would be associated with any
other form of manual fixed rail or advanced bus transit.
The creation of a new transit line within the City will dramatically increase the potential for Federal and regional
support to expand rail in the region, using the People Mover technology or other forms. To achieve Federal capital
funding for a transit improvement, Washington requires that there be at least 20% local funding to match their capital
commitment.
The creation of a new transit line within the City will dramatically increase the potential for Federal
and regional support…
A public/private partnership, in cooperation with local business, in concert with the City and the State, should be able
to develop a $200 million program for this expansion. While the funding that goes into this expansion will return its
value through increased service to the community, the funds themselves could be leveraged through a coordinated
effort involving our Congressional representatives to secure matching Federal dollars, opening the door to a potential
$800 million for further expansions.
Using this approach, the proposed Detroit People Mover expansion will improve the position of the region in winning
future Federal support for the following reasons:
- Detroit will have shown transit leadership by moving to improve what it already has with local commitments.
- The local funds spent on rail transit will serve as the matching fund requirement for expansion. (This was the
case in the San Diego Light Rail Program.)
- The AMTRAK rail station will be finally be tied to a true transit distribution system putting real meaning in the
desire of the Federal process to see the ability to transfer passengers between existing transportation modes –
so-called “multimodal interfaces.”
- The expanded People Mover will demonstrate that operating subsidies can be reduced by using automated
systems, and through this reduction, lower the requirements of the region to show a source of “operating
funds,” another requirement of the Federal Government before it will grant funding for a new system.
- The expansion will create an “urban destination,” that will provide all of the present Central Business District and
the Woodward Corridor amenities within easy access of parking one time throughout this expanded “New
Downtown.” This consolidated community will now serve as a stronger magnet to attract regional visits, and
through this, more easily justify the Federal outlay of funds for a regional transit link.
The Route and Its Rationale
[Please see the map with narrative discussion of actual route and rationale for specific station sightings, transit time
scenarios, and passenger volumes]
Stakeholder Perspectives
[Add page of key endorsement quotes from stakeholders along route]
Next Steps
Detroit People Mover 2.0
...a public-private partnership building transit for a New Downtown Detroit
Notice: This site is an internal project site and is under construction. All materials
are in review by project participants and should be considered draft only.
|