Posted May 7, 2017, 4:09 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2010
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The QLine has the capability to be expanded but as always with transit projects, it's a matter of funding.
Quote:
QLine expansion needs a champion, money
By BILL SHEA. Crain's Detroit. May 7, 2017.
It took a decade to get the QLine from an idea on paper to a streetcar on rails.
The project survived amid the city's political scandals and a historic municipal bankruptcy, and weathered an effort by the city, state and federal government to kill it in favor of more buses.
Expanding the QLine to run farther north on Woodward Avenue, or on spur routes elsewhere in the city, may be a simpler and less costly endeavor, the system's CEO said, as the line prepares to start ferrying the public this Friday.
"The next ones aren't as expensive," Matt Cullen said. "We had a lot more complexity."
What he means is that the nearly $200 million to get the $6.6-mile QLine loop designed, built and running also provides much of the infrastructure needed for expansion. For example, already built is the 19,000-square-foot Penske Technical Center in the New Center neighborhood. The $6.9 million facility serves as the maintenance, storage and operations nexus for QLine, and would for any expansion.
Also already paid for are the designs for any additional streetcars, although the fleet of six likely could support a modest extension of the line.
"Within 10 years, I would not be surprised if there are a couple of connector spokes," said Cullen, who added that the QLine was intended to be a demonstration project and part of a wider public commuter transit system that includes city and suburban bus systems and Amtrak.
Aside from more tracks north on Woodward, possible candidates for streetcar service include Monroe Street in Greektown, and Jefferson Avenue, which has population density and economic development potential.
But any expansion faces major hurdles: "Who's the champion of that? Where's the money come from?" Cullen said.
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Cullen said the demand and economic case are there for adding service, but there's nothing formally in the works from M-1 beyond getting the QLine running.
"We as a board have not signed on for any additional tasks," Cullen said.
One transit insider said demand will fuel the political will for expansion, especially beyond the city.
"I hope once people have a chance to ride on it, to experience what convenience modern transit can really mean, more will say, 'Why don't we have this in Royal Oak and Troy and Grosse Pointe?,' and we'll have demand," said Megan Owens, executive director of Detroit-based Transportation Riders United.
That echoes what the QLine's founders have said all along.
"People get a chance to ride a modern transit system and see the convenience and service it provides, and they'll say 'What about us? Let's do more of this sort of thing,' whether it be light rail or bus-rapid transit or streetcar," said Leo Hanifin, dean emeritus at the University of Detroit Mercy's College of Engineering and Science, and an M-1 Rail board member who led the original streetcar study that became the QLine.
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A long-term question that remains unanswered is how the system will be funded in the future. M-1 operating funding is available for several years of service, but the original intention was for the system to be absorbed and funded by the publicly funded regional transit authority. However, the RTA failed to win voter support for a transit tax in November.
Cullen said other options included seeking corporate donations, selling more advertising and reselling the naming rights. Quicken Loans in March 2016 announced it had bought the naming rights for $10 million over five years. Quicken Chairman Dan Gilbert is M-1 Rail's co-chairman, and Cullen is one of his top lieutenants.
The ideal operational funding solution, Cullen said, is the RTA getting a regional tax approved.
"We think there's a path to sustainability and it depends on what happens to the RTA," Cullen said.
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http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...NEWS/170509858
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