Ankur Dholakia / The Detroit News
Red Wings fans ride the People Mover to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The new plan would extend the tram three miles north to West Grand Boulevard, tying in to the Amtrak station and the campuses of Wayne State, Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Hospital.
People Mover grows up
Proposal would extend route to New Center
December 23, 2006
Andy Henion / The Detroit News
Boasting two years of full service and steady ridership, leaders of Detroit's oft-derided People Mover will explore an ambitious plan to expand the downtown loop.
A proposal by former People Mover manager Marsden Burger would extend the driverless tram three miles north to West Grand Boulevard, tying in to the Amtrak station and the campuses of Wayne State University, Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Hospital -- its final stop.
"His concept is very intriguing and one that has some substance," said Al Fields, chairman of the People Mover board and an official in Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration.
Business and civic leaders are involved in the planning and may pitch in some of the $150 million-$200 million cost -- reflecting a nationwide trend of more private involvement in mass transit.
Fields said he will meet with Burger in the next few months.
Burger, a transit consultant, worked for the firm that built the People Mover and served as the tram's operations director from 1994-96.
"We're going to start discussions with them and look at that, because we feel this system can be expanded on and utilized a lot more than it is now," Fields said.
Experts say any expansion is a long shot given Michigan's flagging economy and Metro Detroit's history of failed transit plans. The People Mover, which turns 20 next year, was initially intended as a regional system, but area officials couldn't win the needed federal funding.
From the start, the elevated three-mile loop was plagued with cost overruns and major service disruptions, including a two-year closure of the popular Renaissance Center station, which reopened in November 2004. (It is closed for the holiday from today through Christmas and will reopen Tuesday morning.)
And despite a ridership that has more than doubled since then -- to about 200,000 per month -- the tram still fills only about 10 percent of its seats and chews up $8.3 million a year in city and state subsidies.
"It's kind of our tragedy in this region that the original vision of the People Mover was never realized," said Jonathan Levine, an urban planning professor at the University of Michigan.
Private support helps
Federal funding for transit projects is scarce and fiercely competitive and it takes an average of 10 years to secure the money, said Art Guzzetti, director of policy for the American Public Transportation Association.
Communities from northern Virginia to San Jose, Calif., have used private money to help fund transit projects, Guzzetti said. Las Vegas' $650 million monorail, opened in 2004, was completely privately funded.
"It's common that the business sector would be involved as a catalyst that's trendy right now," Guzzetti said. "Current federal policies encourage private-public partnerships."
That's why Burger's group wants to fund the expansion with local and state money -- be it private or public -- and grants. While there are no commitments at this stage, some major employers say they'll consider pitching in if the plan proves viable.
"Henry Ford (Health System), along with a number of other businesses, might be interested in that as one possibility," said William Schramm, the hospital's senior vice president for strategic business development.
The group is trying to secure a grant for a $200,000 feasibility study, which could ultimately alter Burger's route, Schramm said. The zigzag extension generally runs parallel with Woodward using Brush, John R and Cass as the northbound legs.
The extension would allow Marilyn Fortner, a Detroit resident and frequent People Mover rider, to go shopping in the New Center area or visit her son, a junior at Wayne State.
"There are a lot of shops on Grand Boulevard," said Fortner, who considers the tram a Detroit jewel. "There's also the historical museum and the Fisher Theatre (along the proposed route)."
Will it stick?
Without the lengthy federal process, Burger said the expansion could be built in four years. It would not require new operating funds, staff or vehicles, he said, since the underutilized system could handle the extra riders.
The extension would have two lanes to shuttle people between downtown and New Center. Burger would split the five two-car trams into single units -- the way they were meant to be used, he said.
"This is the most advanced steel-wheel transit system in the world," he said, "but it could be a much more effective system."
The biggest question, said Levine, the U-M professor, is whether supporters can raise the necessary funds and avoid political pitfalls.
"The pattern in Detroit is that an idea comes up and people get excited about it and then it fails. It's been like that for decades," he said.
"But I think we still need to get excited about ideas. You never know which one is going to stick."
You can reach Andy Henion at (313) 222-2610 or ahenion@ detnews.com.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...ETRO/612230387
Ankur Dholakia / The Detroit News
Ankur Dholakia / The Detroit News
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