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Old Posted Jun 19, 2017, 3:53 PM
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animatedmartian animatedmartian is offline
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So about a month in now, and the QLine is doing... okay.

Most complaints are about it not being as efficient as it could be.

Daily Detroit points out the big ones. Quite possibly the biggest complaint is how useless the estimated time screen is. In fact, I don't think there's yet a fixed schedule on when trains are supposed to arrive which might explain why they use this method.



Quote:
The “estimated” times are a flat out joke. They’re rarely correct. The best guess you have is to watch the little dots with the blue tags for where the next train is, because those minute estimations seem to be never right.
http://www.dailydetroit.com/2017/06/...ove-need-talk/

The other complaint is that the whole length of the route can be walked in about the same time it takes for a train to complete it - about 45 minutes to an hour. You could probably beat the train if you rode a bike, though you'd have to maintain a good speed and have some decent endurance. Besides all that, using the QLine doesn't require too much exercise which is pretty convenient.

A lot of people are finding that they're not really fans of the shared-road method; mainly they dislike the train having to stop at red lights. Without having a dedicated separate grade ROW, some are saying the QLine needs signal priority.

A possibly good complaint is that the whole system very quickly reaches capacity during peak times. There's never an empty train and it seems like very soon more streetcars are going to be needed.

So QLine gets a 6/10 for being a good idea with ambitious goals but not such a perfect execution. Any future expansions, without a doubt, would need higher capacity trains, dedicated ROWs, and a fixed schedule.
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