Wednesday, March 21, 2007
I apologize for any grammar or other errors. I really don't ever edit my stuff. If I do, it will never be the product I want it to be, which is why I write and then post. I really am a better writer. Really, I am :)
Jon's Detroit Part II
Chicago has it. New York certainly has it. So do Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Atlanta, Buffalo, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. Even Phoenix and Las Vegas are developing them. Extend that out even further; every other major city in the world, including our neighbors to the north and south have them too. What are they? Light rail mass transit systems. Detroit does not. Okay, I'm sorry, technically Detroit does. We call it the People Mover, a 2 mile circuit train that travels only in one direction and serves the central business district. The only problem is, very few people proportionally work downtown, and even fewer live downtown. Also, there is no connection from the DPM to Detroit Metro or City Airports, the Greyhound Bus Station, or the AMTRAK rail system. It is inherently useless.
For anyone that has ever lived or visited the Detroit Metropolitan Area, there is usually one thing you notice right off the bat: the lack of any form of transportation other than personal automobile. Yes, there is a poorly run bus system (which will be discussed later), but that just adds traffic on the roads. Mass transit is one of this area's worst problems. All these major cities have a transportation network to move people around quickly and efficiently. They extend from even the smallest metropolises, like Buffalo, New York and St. Louis, Missouri, to the largest megalopolises on both coasts. It is even possible for one to live in the greater Boston area and commute to work every day in Washington, D.C. Yeah, it's a seven hour train ride, so I wouldn't recommend it, but it is possible. More reasonable would be to live in Baltimore and commute by rail to Washington, or even to Philadelphia. Both of these trips are shorter in time than a good portion of commutes within the Metro Detroit area (about 45 minutes to D.C., about an hour to Philly).
I understand that ridership in the cities that have even the most efficient transportation networks is not anywhere close to universal. New York, Chicago, Boston, D.C.-Baltimore and Los Angeles have the most crowded roads in the country. But just imagine how crowded they would be if there were no trains ferrying people in and out of the city. Need I mention the transit strike in New York that crippled the city for days?
My point is this: Mass transit, when used effectively and efficiently, cuts down exponentially the amount of problems in a city. The roads are less clogged, leading to lower pollution and shorter commute times, among other things. Energy costs go down, as less fuel is purchased.
Mass transit does not necessarily mean subways. Streetcars and buses fit in to that category too. "But don't we have buses?" you ask. Yes, there are buses that roll along the roads. But they are a horrible alternative. Here's why.
In every city that I have mentioned above, there is only one "authority" managing the network. In Chicago it's the CTA; in Cleveland, the RTA, in Atlanta, MARTA, in San Francisco, BART. In Detroit, there are two: SMART (The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) and DDOT (The Detroit Department of Transportation). Then there is the one that manages the People Mover (The DPM). So really there are three competing…er… "cooperating" authorities to manage our transportation network. This is probably the biggest problem. There are two too many. Some routes are duplicated. Some require a counter-productive number of transfers. The entire system is in bad shape. Add in the fact that a bus only shows up at a scheduled spot every twenty to thirty minutes, and it's no wonder that the only people that ride the bus are those that have to ride the bus.
Question for those of you residing in the Metro Area: Did you know that there actually is a way to get to Detroit Metropolitan Airport using mass transit? If you did, do you know exactly how to get there? It should be no surprise that there is no actual route to the airport, although it is a stop along some routes. To get from my house on the east side to the airport, I would have to hop on the Gratiot southbound (I'm a lucky one who lives along one of the prime routes) and take it all the way downtown. Then I have to pay for a transfer, and wait up to twenty more minutes for the Fort Street bus. Yes, that's right, the FORT STREET bus. Note: Fort Street runs no where near the airport. It's actually the "Fort St/Eureka Rd" route, but nowhere on the bus does it say that. And then to make matters worse, only every other bus goes to the airport. So if you’re interested in taking it, you better have your schedules handy. Oh, and don't confuse the "Fort St" route with the "Downriver" route. Are you kidding me? And this is just one route.
The DDOT routes are even worse. Some Gratiot buses go all the way downtown. Some don’t. Some then go on 8 mile. Some go on State Fair. Some turn down Conner. Some turn down Cadillac. And then you go to the DDOT website, to actually find some answers as to which bus you need to get somewhere? There are only route names. There’s no map or anything. The entire thing is confusing.
And then there are the instances where the SMART bus and the DDOT bus are driving down the same street at the same time. What is the sense in that? We need a uniform system; one that serves the entire area.
Our only other form of transportation comes in the form of everybody’s favorite two-car electric train: the People Mover. We’ve all been on it. We all know the places it goes. But, here’s the thing: It is completely useless. Mass transit’s purpose is to get people from home to work or play and back again. It is supposed to do this relatively quickly and efficiently. The one thing the DPM has going for itself is its efficiency. At only 50 cents a ride, it’s a steal. Plus, a train shows up every three to five minutes.
However, that train won’t take you anywhere. Unless you live in the central business district, you can’t go home. You can’t go to work. You can’t go to the grocery store (if any existed downtown). You can’t even go to school! The People Mover serves the following locations directly: Cobo Hall, Joe Louis Arena, Greektown Casino (places of entertainment), The Renaissance Center (Place of business), and the Millender Center (place of residence). It does not directly go to the other major spots downtown: Comerica Park, Ford Field, Campus Martius, Fox Theatre, MGM or MotorCity Casino. It most certainly does not go to the main tourist destinations in the midtown area, Wayne State University, or even Wayne County Community College, let alone the New Center Area or Belle Isle. And, as stated before, it does not connect to any other transportation network. It really is a small little circle to nowhere.
With the ever rising cost of fuel, we as Detroiters need an alternative. This is why I propose the following:
Extend the People Mover, and make it a real network, much like Chicago’s El. Keep the central business district loop (Hey we would have our own “Loop”). Then make new lines along each spoke in the wheel: Jefferson eastbound, Gratiot and Woodward northbound, Grand River and Michigan westbound, and Fort southbound. Since it only goes one way, there would have to be tracks on both sides of the street in alternating directions. Since it’s elevated, it can run swiftly without interfering traffic. Then, we could mimic what they do in Chicago and use the existing freeway network to interconnect everything. There would be routes along 94, 75, and 96, plus along the Southfield, the Lodge, and the Davison. I would add a route along 8 mile too as the main cross-town route. Secondary routes would go up Van Dyke and Telegraph.
Ideally, the routes would continue to into the suburbs, to at least Metro Beach, Mt. Clemens, Pontiac/Auburn Hills, Novi (Rock Financial Showplace), Dearborn/Metro Airport/Ann Arbor, and the Downriver communities. This way, the network would connect the entire area. Think about it, without even hopping in your car, you could go anywhere in the Detroit area. Downtown, Midtown, the Airport, Macomb Mall, Royal Oak, the Palace of Auburn Hills, Great Lakes Crossing, etc. You could go to work everyday. You could go out without having to worry about driving home.
And while an elevated rail or subway would be the best solution, street-level rail or streetcars could work too. This makes so much sense there isn’t any good reason why this isn’t being built! Well, there is of course the money. This system will not be cheap. That’s where revolutionary ideas have to come into play, which I will get further into in part III.
For anyone that has ever lived or visited the Detroit Metropolitan Area, there is usually one thing you notice right off the bat: the lack of any form of transportation other than personal automobile. Yes, there is a poorly run bus system (which will be discussed later), but that just adds traffic on the roads. Mass transit is one of this area's worst problems. All these major cities have a transportation network to move people around quickly and efficiently. They extend from even the smallest metropolises, like Buffalo, New York and St. Louis, Missouri, to the largest megalopolises on both coasts. It is even possible for one to live in the greater Boston area and commute to work every day in Washington, D.C. Yeah, it's a seven hour train ride, so I wouldn't recommend it, but it is possible. More reasonable would be to live in Baltimore and commute by rail to Washington, or even to Philadelphia. Both of these trips are shorter in time than a good portion of commutes within the Metro Detroit area (about 45 minutes to D.C., about an hour to Philly).
I understand that ridership in the cities that have even the most efficient transportation networks is not anywhere close to universal. New York, Chicago, Boston, D.C.-Baltimore and Los Angeles have the most crowded roads in the country. But just imagine how crowded they would be if there were no trains ferrying people in and out of the city. Need I mention the transit strike in New York that crippled the city for days?
My point is this: Mass transit, when used effectively and efficiently, cuts down exponentially the amount of problems in a city. The roads are less clogged, leading to lower pollution and shorter commute times, among other things. Energy costs go down, as less fuel is purchased.
Mass transit does not necessarily mean subways. Streetcars and buses fit in to that category too. "But don't we have buses?" you ask. Yes, there are buses that roll along the roads. But they are a horrible alternative. Here's why.
In every city that I have mentioned above, there is only one "authority" managing the network. In Chicago it's the CTA; in Cleveland, the RTA, in Atlanta, MARTA, in San Francisco, BART. In Detroit, there are two: SMART (The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) and DDOT (The Detroit Department of Transportation). Then there is the one that manages the People Mover (The DPM). So really there are three competing…er… "cooperating" authorities to manage our transportation network. This is probably the biggest problem. There are two too many. Some routes are duplicated. Some require a counter-productive number of transfers. The entire system is in bad shape. Add in the fact that a bus only shows up at a scheduled spot every twenty to thirty minutes, and it's no wonder that the only people that ride the bus are those that have to ride the bus.
Question for those of you residing in the Metro Area: Did you know that there actually is a way to get to Detroit Metropolitan Airport using mass transit? If you did, do you know exactly how to get there? It should be no surprise that there is no actual route to the airport, although it is a stop along some routes. To get from my house on the east side to the airport, I would have to hop on the Gratiot southbound (I'm a lucky one who lives along one of the prime routes) and take it all the way downtown. Then I have to pay for a transfer, and wait up to twenty more minutes for the Fort Street bus. Yes, that's right, the FORT STREET bus. Note: Fort Street runs no where near the airport. It's actually the "Fort St/Eureka Rd" route, but nowhere on the bus does it say that. And then to make matters worse, only every other bus goes to the airport. So if you’re interested in taking it, you better have your schedules handy. Oh, and don't confuse the "Fort St" route with the "Downriver" route. Are you kidding me? And this is just one route.
The DDOT routes are even worse. Some Gratiot buses go all the way downtown. Some don’t. Some then go on 8 mile. Some go on State Fair. Some turn down Conner. Some turn down Cadillac. And then you go to the DDOT website, to actually find some answers as to which bus you need to get somewhere? There are only route names. There’s no map or anything. The entire thing is confusing.
And then there are the instances where the SMART bus and the DDOT bus are driving down the same street at the same time. What is the sense in that? We need a uniform system; one that serves the entire area.
Our only other form of transportation comes in the form of everybody’s favorite two-car electric train: the People Mover. We’ve all been on it. We all know the places it goes. But, here’s the thing: It is completely useless. Mass transit’s purpose is to get people from home to work or play and back again. It is supposed to do this relatively quickly and efficiently. The one thing the DPM has going for itself is its efficiency. At only 50 cents a ride, it’s a steal. Plus, a train shows up every three to five minutes.
However, that train won’t take you anywhere. Unless you live in the central business district, you can’t go home. You can’t go to work. You can’t go to the grocery store (if any existed downtown). You can’t even go to school! The People Mover serves the following locations directly: Cobo Hall, Joe Louis Arena, Greektown Casino (places of entertainment), The Renaissance Center (Place of business), and the Millender Center (place of residence). It does not directly go to the other major spots downtown: Comerica Park, Ford Field, Campus Martius, Fox Theatre, MGM or MotorCity Casino. It most certainly does not go to the main tourist destinations in the midtown area, Wayne State University, or even Wayne County Community College, let alone the New Center Area or Belle Isle. And, as stated before, it does not connect to any other transportation network. It really is a small little circle to nowhere.
With the ever rising cost of fuel, we as Detroiters need an alternative. This is why I propose the following:
Extend the People Mover, and make it a real network, much like Chicago’s El. Keep the central business district loop (Hey we would have our own “Loop”). Then make new lines along each spoke in the wheel: Jefferson eastbound, Gratiot and Woodward northbound, Grand River and Michigan westbound, and Fort southbound. Since it only goes one way, there would have to be tracks on both sides of the street in alternating directions. Since it’s elevated, it can run swiftly without interfering traffic. Then, we could mimic what they do in Chicago and use the existing freeway network to interconnect everything. There would be routes along 94, 75, and 96, plus along the Southfield, the Lodge, and the Davison. I would add a route along 8 mile too as the main cross-town route. Secondary routes would go up Van Dyke and Telegraph.
Ideally, the routes would continue to into the suburbs, to at least Metro Beach, Mt. Clemens, Pontiac/Auburn Hills, Novi (Rock Financial Showplace), Dearborn/Metro Airport/Ann Arbor, and the Downriver communities. This way, the network would connect the entire area. Think about it, without even hopping in your car, you could go anywhere in the Detroit area. Downtown, Midtown, the Airport, Macomb Mall, Royal Oak, the Palace of Auburn Hills, Great Lakes Crossing, etc. You could go to work everyday. You could go out without having to worry about driving home.
And while an elevated rail or subway would be the best solution, street-level rail or streetcars could work too. This makes so much sense there isn’t any good reason why this isn’t being built! Well, there is of course the money. This system will not be cheap. That’s where revolutionary ideas have to come into play, which I will get further into in part III.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
For all of those that live in the Detroit area, you may have noticed that the weather was abnormally pleasant today. Very pleasant, in fact. At noon, the temperature according to the Weather Channel: 70. It was sunny, too.
I took the opportunity to leave the confines of my pod and venture out into the world. I left my office building, 150 W. Jefferson, to have a nice bite to eat in Campus Martius, the park in the heart of Downtown Detroit. And I noticed a few things.
Growing up as a suburban white guy, you're told and taught and shown a lot of things. For instance: white people only go downtown for Red Wing games; The only people who hang around in Detroit are criminals; Don't hang around anywhere in Detroit, or you will get mugged/stabbed/shot, etc.; Black people hate the white people, and white people really hate black people; Downtown Detroit is a ghost town, except for the casinos and, as mentioned earlier, during sporting events; it's never safe to do anything outside of your car in the city of Detroit...even in the daytime; There is no reason to be in Detroit except, as mentioned earlier, for sporting events, casinos, or maybe the occasional trip to Greektown (but even then it's really for the Casino).
There are things that are never supposed to happen in the city of Detroit. There are never supposed to be white people. There are never supposed to be people milling about. There are never supposed to be people jogging and biking through the city. There are never supposed to be families enjoying the city. There are never supposed to be people of all walks of life, of all colors and classes, sharing the same air in the city.
But not today.
I walked the three minute trek from my building to Campus Martius. I sat on a bench near the fountain, plugged my ipod in, and ate my lunch, watching in utter joy the things that I saw. There were people. And not criminals, drug dealers, homeless people, or the other stereotypical Detroit walkers. I saw real people. Campus Martius was abuzz with activity. The whole place was full. White people and Black people and Asians and Hispanics all enjoying the beautiful March afternoon, plenty with Au Bon Pain or Tubby's bags in hand, meeting and greeting and smiling and having a great time. And guess what, nobody was robbed. Nobody was stabbed. Nobody was shot. Nobody was prepositioned. Nobody was hassled for loose change. I imagined what Campus Martius was like in the old days, back in the first half of the twentieth century, when Detroit was one of the greatest cities on the planet. I imagined it looked exactly as it did today...except the clothes and the cars were a little different.
I saw a jogger cut through the park, a young, tiny little white girl, probably around my age. I saw a middle-aged black couple walking their bikes across Woodward. I saw a white man, probably not that much older than me, walking with his three young children and their two dogs. Everywhere I looked I saw ipods and cell phones. I saw people wearing suits with with those stupid phone thingees in their ears.
Around 1:30, I headed south down Woodward to Hart Plaza, the other really big park area Downtown. My experiences were the same there. I saw the same white dog-walking family. I saw white kids on skateboards. I saw Black kids hanging around and having a good time. I walked to the riverfront, and stared out over the icy water. I turned around, and there were people sitting on the park benches of all walks of life. I saw people walking and rollerblading up and down the riverwalk.
You're not supposed to see these things in Detroit. But I did today.
I've been to many different cities, and in every one, I wish Detroit were more like it. Chicago...Toronto...cities that have vibrant downtown areas, full of people who don't want to sell you drugs or rob you or beg you for loose change. Today, I saw a different Detroit then the one everybody sees on TV or reads about in the papers.
A friend of mine recently moved to Washington, D.C. and one of the first things he told me was about all the people walking around, all with cameras and iPods. It seemed so weird, so foreign. I wished I lived in a city so alive, pulsing with the activity of people, flowing with all the energy and effort it takes to make a city a real city. Well, today, I saw it.
I'm not saying Detroit is back. I'm not ready to roll in in a flight jacket and say "Mission Accomplished." But if you saw what I saw, you'd feel a little better about this city too.
I took the opportunity to leave the confines of my pod and venture out into the world. I left my office building, 150 W. Jefferson, to have a nice bite to eat in Campus Martius, the park in the heart of Downtown Detroit. And I noticed a few things.
Growing up as a suburban white guy, you're told and taught and shown a lot of things. For instance: white people only go downtown for Red Wing games; The only people who hang around in Detroit are criminals; Don't hang around anywhere in Detroit, or you will get mugged/stabbed/shot, etc.; Black people hate the white people, and white people really hate black people; Downtown Detroit is a ghost town, except for the casinos and, as mentioned earlier, during sporting events; it's never safe to do anything outside of your car in the city of Detroit...even in the daytime; There is no reason to be in Detroit except, as mentioned earlier, for sporting events, casinos, or maybe the occasional trip to Greektown (but even then it's really for the Casino).
There are things that are never supposed to happen in the city of Detroit. There are never supposed to be white people. There are never supposed to be people milling about. There are never supposed to be people jogging and biking through the city. There are never supposed to be families enjoying the city. There are never supposed to be people of all walks of life, of all colors and classes, sharing the same air in the city.
But not today.
I walked the three minute trek from my building to Campus Martius. I sat on a bench near the fountain, plugged my ipod in, and ate my lunch, watching in utter joy the things that I saw. There were people. And not criminals, drug dealers, homeless people, or the other stereotypical Detroit walkers. I saw real people. Campus Martius was abuzz with activity. The whole place was full. White people and Black people and Asians and Hispanics all enjoying the beautiful March afternoon, plenty with Au Bon Pain or Tubby's bags in hand, meeting and greeting and smiling and having a great time. And guess what, nobody was robbed. Nobody was stabbed. Nobody was shot. Nobody was prepositioned. Nobody was hassled for loose change. I imagined what Campus Martius was like in the old days, back in the first half of the twentieth century, when Detroit was one of the greatest cities on the planet. I imagined it looked exactly as it did today...except the clothes and the cars were a little different.
I saw a jogger cut through the park, a young, tiny little white girl, probably around my age. I saw a middle-aged black couple walking their bikes across Woodward. I saw a white man, probably not that much older than me, walking with his three young children and their two dogs. Everywhere I looked I saw ipods and cell phones. I saw people wearing suits with with those stupid phone thingees in their ears.
Around 1:30, I headed south down Woodward to Hart Plaza, the other really big park area Downtown. My experiences were the same there. I saw the same white dog-walking family. I saw white kids on skateboards. I saw Black kids hanging around and having a good time. I walked to the riverfront, and stared out over the icy water. I turned around, and there were people sitting on the park benches of all walks of life. I saw people walking and rollerblading up and down the riverwalk.
You're not supposed to see these things in Detroit. But I did today.
I've been to many different cities, and in every one, I wish Detroit were more like it. Chicago...Toronto...cities that have vibrant downtown areas, full of people who don't want to sell you drugs or rob you or beg you for loose change. Today, I saw a different Detroit then the one everybody sees on TV or reads about in the papers.
A friend of mine recently moved to Washington, D.C. and one of the first things he told me was about all the people walking around, all with cameras and iPods. It seemed so weird, so foreign. I wished I lived in a city so alive, pulsing with the activity of people, flowing with all the energy and effort it takes to make a city a real city. Well, today, I saw it.
I'm not saying Detroit is back. I'm not ready to roll in in a flight jacket and say "Mission Accomplished." But if you saw what I saw, you'd feel a little better about this city too.
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