Detroit & Michigan: Go-Town Transportation Lowdown

[LMich]

That's only assuming that the economy is going to be like it currently is in Michigan forever. Once you take away the partially legitimate excuse of lack of funds, it gets much harder to roadblock, and particular these days when public transit is at some of its highest levels of ridership outside of a few cities. Ann Arbor, for example, just put on the ballot a multi-million dollar service increase that's going to pass with flying colors. Lansing's in the FTA's development stage of putting in a full-fledged BRT line. Grand Rapids is almost done with their first BRT-lite line. Heck, Flint is even studying increasing commuter bus service. We're not talking a "lifetime" for the development of urban rail in Michigan. We're talking a decade or two.

This is about the will, and the will to do it will increase when the economy picks back up to a normal level. As much as I moan about the recent setbacks of the RTA in Detroit, it may have been appropriate to be so pessimistic in the 80's and 90's when a place like Detroit was splitting up SEMTA and talk of any transit expansion would have been crazy talk. Even into the 00's SMART took a few hits at the ballot box. But, we're in considerably different times (far more positive times), now. Had the RTA put transit on the ballot, this year, polling showed it passing and that was without any education campaign, whatsoever.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by LMich

The one big piece of news out of this that is different than what we'd been hearing earlier is that the streetcar will run off-wire for most of the trip. Earlier talk was that it'd only run off-line at key points on the route. That kind of narrows down the vendors and makes it easier to guess who the frontrunners could be. Which companies are best known for non-diesel, off-wire streetcars?

Fine. Now they've got a choice between batteries and a so called 3rd rail for ground-level power supply. Over here, we know well Alstom Transport is experienced in both those things, especially 3rd rail since so far, it's been much more successful than batteries, at least on our national LRT market that is almost entirely owned by Alstom, close to freaking monopoly in their home country... Oh, am I hearing any Canadian grumbling? Well, I honestly neither know about Bombardier, nor about Siemens, nor about any manufacturer from Japan, but off-wire systems really should no longer be anything exotic, so they should at least be able to fit out their vehicles with batteries. Bombardier might now even manage that 3rd rail thing too. You bet M-1 made sure to have several options anyway, so they can make a deal that'd be fair enough to them.

[LMich]

Oh, it will definitely be batteries, as third rail for systems not seperated from surrounding/existing transportation infrastructure is considered too much of a public safety risk. The Detroit People Mover downtown is third rail, but that's only because it runs above grade.

I must say that I'm surprised they are going off-wire for much of the line. Of course, it's far better from the point of aesthetics, but I imagine the cost of replacing batteries has to be more expensive in the long-term than maintaining catenary.

[mousquet]

I couldn't answer about the cost note, but for now batteries have to work coupled with traditional wires. That's the way they do in Nice that's the only city in France to have opted for batteries for a couple of short sections of their single line complete so far. Most the line is supplied by a catenary that reloads batteries while powering a tram. Then within downtown Nice where wires were regarded an issue to the streetscape, batteries take over for a little part of the ride. I saw no complaint about this system. In fact it's locally so successful that Nice is to literally quadruple the size of their current tiny network (again, made of one single line for now). Batteries might well be an interesting option, because it's definitely evolutionary. I mean serious improvements are expected in that technology.

As for 3rd rail, I find the term a little confusing when it comes to streetcars/trams, because it's something different from the regular 3rd rail of a heavier subway train for example. For LRT, the system is more sophisticated precisely because of absolute safety requirements. Some on here may remember what we had once read on Wiki.

Unlike the track-side third rail used by most metro trains and some main-line railways, APS (alimentation par le sol) does not pose a danger to people or animals and so can be used in pedestrian areas and city streets.

APS uses a third rail placed between the running rails, divided electrically into eight-metre segments with three-metre neutral sections between. Each tram has two power collection skates, next to which are antennas that send radio signals to energise the power rail segments as the tram passes over them. At any one time, no more than two consecutive segments under the tram should actually be live.

That's really some good stuff that's been hard to operate at the beginning in Bordeaux that was the first city worldwide to implement it. It works fine now, and it's what most serious French places are choosing for their downtowns. However, I don't know whether it could stand cars going over it, over and over, constantly. It's designed for pedestrian/bike safety and runs only in dedicated lanes in French cities, I believe.

In short, both options are quite likely interesting, although 3rd rail seems more powerful for now. I think getting rid of catenaries is an ambitious and forward-looking choice for LRT. Clearly the best. Speaking of that, I find it somewhat messed up that every single LRT thing in Paris is still entirely on catenary while some ridiculously smaller places like Tours got their more advanced 3rd rail showing off and teasing us. What the heck, RATP?

[LMich]

Hmmm, interesting. I hadn't heard about APS. It will be interesting to see which system they end up choosing for this line. Of all the aspects of this tram's line, this one they've kept most closely guarded.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by mousquet

I couldn't answer about the cost note, but for now batteries have to work coupled with traditional wires. That's the way they do in Nice that's the only city in France to have opted for batteries for a couple of short sections of their single line complete so far. Most the line is supplied by a catenary that reloads batteries while powering a tram. Then within downtown Nice where wires were regarded an issue to the streetscape, batteries take over for a little part of the ride. I saw no complaint about this system. In fact it's locally so successful that Nice is to literally quadruple the size of their current tiny network (again, made of one single line for now). Batteries might well be an interesting option, because it's definitely evolutionary. I mean serious improvements are expected in that technology.

As for 3rd rail, I find the term a little confusing when it comes to streetcars/trams, because it's something different from the regular 3rd rail of a heavier subway train for example. For LRT, the system is more sophisticated precisely because of absolute safety requirements. Some on here may remember what we had once read on Wiki.


That's really some good stuff that's been hard to operate at the beginning in Bordeaux that was the first city worldwide to implement it. It works fine now, and it's what most serious French places are choosing for their downtowns. However, I don't know whether it could stand cars going over it, over and over, constantly. It's designed for pedestrian/bike safety and runs only in dedicated lanes in French cities, I believe.

In short, both options are quite likely interesting, although 3rd rail seems more powerful for now. I think getting rid of catenaries is an ambitious and forward-looking choice for LRT. Clearly the best. Speaking of that, I find it somewhat messed up that every single LRT thing in Paris is still entirely on catenary while some ridiculously smaller places like Tours got their more advanced 3rd rail showing off and teasing us. What the heck, RATP?

Will this work reliably in climates where there is a lot of snow and ice? That has been the perceived issue.

[mousquet]

Relevant point. Alstom's APS would be too sensitive to odd weather conditions, but aggressive Bombardier that's from Canada, thus whose the domestic market faces the same winter as that of the Midwestern US has been working on some solution based on batteries reloaded by underground inductors buried around each station of a line. They call their technology Primove, you check it out on their promotional site:

http://primove.bombardier.com/en/about/benefits/

They'd already be testing it on trams and buses in Germany, and they want it on electric cars as well. They still have to find some way to deal with heavy electromagnetic emissions to make it easily marketable, but their thing might end up really good, bringing an answer to your winter.

[animatedmartian]

M-1 Rail groundbreaking nears amid hopes for a broader regional system
March 9, 2014. By John Gallagher.



The long-awaited M-1 Rail project has a new route map, a promised spring groundbreaking and soon, maybe, a new name.

Naming rights will be sold as part of the marketing plan for the $140-million M-1 Rail line — so look for it to be called anything from the Little Caesars Express to the Quicken Loans Choo-Choo.

Naming rights for the urban rail line — like in Cleveland and other cities — could bring $1 million or more to help pay for the line, slated to run 3 miles along Woodward from Jefferson Avenue downtown to Grand Boulevard in New Center. The first passengers could be boarding by fall 2016, said Paul Childs, chief operating officer of M-1.

The broader question remains whether M-1 will run as a limited, stand-alone operation — much as the People Mover has looped around downtown since the 1980s — or lead to the build-out of a regional system that could run north to 8 Mile Road or even Pontiac and include rapid transit buses.

“I think it’s absolutely just the first portion of a regional transit network. I think this really gives us the foundational link people are going to build on,” said Matt Cullen, CEO of M-1 Rail. “We really think it’s the right project at the right time for Detroit. The hard work and the pain will be worth it.”

The broader vision still needs funding. A plan from the new Regional Transit Authority to ask voters for a fee or tax to pay for it was delayed last month until 2016, which could give the public time to experience the M-1 line in action. Depending on what sort of larger system is designed, stretching the line farther north — and east and west — could cost from hundreds of millions of dollars to more than $1 billion.

....

I really hope the people of this region see how great a benefit this is so that it can be expanded.

[LMich]

I really do think the public will want to get in on this, but I really worry about the RTA and who it is held accountable too. In their short existence, they've shown an amazing tone deafness to the public's concern. And, with more votes needed for rail than BRT - and with the Oakland County members looking as if they were chosen specifically to be obstructionists for any transit expansion - I wonder how much we can get done without having to radically have the legislature restructure the board?

It's seems so strange that it's the business community pushing mass transit, while even a lot of the local officials (particularly the suburban ones) seem entirely uninterested. This should not be that hard given how decidedly pro-transit the region's citizens are, these days.

I could see Detroit going for this, internally. I do wonder how DDOT could convince the RTA to allocate the city more transit money, though?

[animatedmartian]

$6.3M dose of cold reality: Troy Transit Center sits empty amid dispute
LAUREN ABDEL-RAZZAQ. THE DETROIT NEWS.





....

The transit center was born in controversy and continues to be a headache for Troy years after the City Council approved federal funds to build it.

The center, which was completed last fall behind a shopping center near Maple and Coolidge Highway, remains closed to commuters because, according to a judge’s ruling, the city does not own the land upon which it was built.

In the meantime, commuters who rely on the Amtrak train must use a freestanding shelter on the other side of the train tracks in Birmingham, which provides little protection from the elements.

Riders on SMART bus lines 465 and 475 also have to wait in freestanding shelters along Maple Road, according to the suburban bus service.

...

Troy partnered with Birmingham on the transit project in 2000, when Grand/Sakwa donated the land with the condition that the money for the transit center be secured by 2010. Birmingham later backed out.

The city secured an $8.4 million federal grant, but the developer says the money was not acquired before the deadline, meaning the land reverted back to the developer.

In the lawsuit, the city offered to pay Grand/Sakwa $550,000 for the 2.7-acre site. That amount comes from a 2010 appraisal of the land that was completed before the transit center was built.

...

[LMich]

There is no doubt that the city will buy the land. But, let's be clear whose fault this was. This was the fault of certain residents and mayors (and neighboring Birmingham for bailing on the project) putting up every single roadblock they could to stop this thing. The city would have aquired this land years ago - and for free, no less - had it not been the likes for the anti-transit folks in the city.

It's a damn shame, but this center is going to be a success, and it's good that the tea party was finally cracked and done away with in Troy in 2012.

[LMich]

The Wall Street Journal has done an unusually accurate story on the sheer, mind-numbing, soul-crushing insanity that is DDOT. We've discussed it before in parts, but the national media has found out about it. It's really pretty painful to watch this slow-moving car-wreck, and with the RTA not in sight for years, it really makes one wonder what Orr will have to do just to make sure the thing doesn't go completely bust.

Detroit commuters board a Woodward Avenue bus earlier this month. Many residents complain of poor service and waits of more than an hour. Mike Mulholland for The Wall Street Journal

Detroit's Broken Buses Vex a Broke City

By Matthew Dolan | The Wall Street Journal

March 18, 2014

DETROIT—For legions of carless in the Motor City, the buses are running on fumes.

When the Number 53 along one of the city's busiest thoroughfares wheezily pulled into a crowded stop on a bitterly cold afternoon recently, a gray-haired woman in a pink knit cap immediately lodged a complaint.

"We have been waiting almost an hour and a half out here," she told driver Raymond Muse as she boarded the bus on Woodward Avenue. And then, as if her message hadn't been heard, the woman, who declined to provide her name, repeated: "An hour and one half I've been waiting."

Frustration over dysfunctional public transportation in this bankrupt city is a daily reminder of how often the rubber on Detroit's public services fails to meet the road, residents and city officials say.

Many Detroiters have little choice in the matter: High unemployment and expensive auto-insurance rates keep a growing number of residents from owning their own car, making bus service a necessity in a city of 139 square miles with no rail system, save for an elevated, three-mile monorail that loops around downtown.

Bus lines, which have a daily ridership of 100,000, have been cut or curtailed in recent years. Aging, poorly maintained buses regularly conk out, leaving remaining ones so overcrowded they often blast through stops without taking on new passengers. Many days, nearly one-third of all buses don't even make it out of their depots because of mechanical or staffing problems, according to transit advocates, union and city officials. The average age of a Detroit bus is 9½ years, the back end of a 12-year life span.

...



...

But leaving the city every day is often a necessity for many residents. Nearly 62% of workers are employed outside the city limits, commuting on average more than 40 minutes, according to Detroit Future City, a nonprofit urban-planning group. Only 20% of people in the Detroit metropolitan area can reach their job within 90 minutes using public transportation, ranking it 71st among the nation's top 100 metro areas for labor access rate, according to a 2012 Brookings Institution report.

So the burden falls to the city's Transportation Department and its fleet of 460 buses. The aging behemoths ply 36 routes daily, with about 6,000 stops, and a workforce of nearly 1,200.

...

[animatedmartian]

At this point, I'd just hope for a merge with SMART and/or to just overhaul the whole department and start with a clean slate. I'm surprised that this far into the bankruptcy, not much has changed about the bus service.

[LMich]

I know we've discussed it, before, the reason it can't be merged with SMART is because no one is going to take on DDOT's debt. The funny thing is that the management has already been privatized for a year going on two, now. So long as this stays a city department in a bankrupt city - which means there is no predictability in year-to-year about revenue except that it's mostly always going to be down - there is no hope for the system. And with SMART having issues of its own and a state legislature which set the RTA but has basically killed it in its craddle by not properly funding it, the only other option would be to hand it over to some private entity, entirely. But, who in their right mind would buy a system with this debt attached to it? Seems as if that we even a possibility, the city would have to own the debt and hand off the rest of it to someone if that's even legal.

You know, I'm happy that Mike is a transit advocate, but after having it let it get as bad as it's gotten over the years, I'm a nearly a complete lost as to how you save this short of the state saving the RTA so it can actually do its damn job. The most ironic thing I realized the other day is that while both bus systems have cratered, the only transit projects that are on a forward tragectory are the rail projects. lol Maybe, transit leaders in the regions should take a hint, which is that the feds seem to believe in transit in Metro Detroit more than the actual residents do. Maybe, they should start believing and vote accordingly. Just saying.

[LMich]

Well, despite the article above about DDOT and the dysfunction of the RTA, it appears that at least two systems within the RTA (AATA in Ann Arbor and SMART in Metro Detroit) will be asking voters to increase service at the ballot box. The AATA proposal will almost certainly pass, and the SMART increase - the first since two-thousand-freaking-two - seems very likely to pass.

Riders board an AAATA bus in downtown Ann Arbor on a recent afternoon. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)[/size]

Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Chamber joins growing list of transit millage supporters

By Ryan Stanton | MLive.com

March 31, 2014

After hearing arguments both for and against a proposed tax increase for improved local transit services, the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce has announced its support for the 0.7-mill proposal.

The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority's proposal will appear on the May 6 ballot in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Ypsilanti Township.

...

If approved, the new tax would cost the owner of a $200,000 home an extra $70 per year and help pay for a 44 percent increase in AAATA services, including extended hours of bus service on nights and weekends, new routes, more frequent trips and expanded dial-a-ride/paratransit services for seniors and the disabled.

The chamber is taking the position that a high-quality public transit system is critical to enhancing the region's economic vitality and quality of life.

...

The SMART millage is far less ambitious, and will mostly be used to just hold service steady, though, maybe make up a tiny bit for the 25% cut to services some years back. They have until the end of the month to get this on the August ballot in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.

Bus riders pack SMART board meeting to lobby for tax increase

By Eric Lawrence & Christinia D. Hall | Detroit Free Press

March 27, 2014

Supporters of southeast Michigan’s bus system might be wondering whether tri-county voters will approve a millage increase in August, but if it were up to Tom Zerafa of Oak Park, the request would be for even more.

“I believe the public is ready to pay a little more for better service,” Zerafa said during a board meeting in Detroit today for the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, or SMART, system. “I don’t mind paying a higher tax if it means better service.”

The proposal that voters in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties are expected to weigh would boost the property tax 0.41 mill, which would be an increase from the current 0.59 mill to 1 mill. It would generate an additional $28 million per year and $140.9 million over five years.

...

[LMich]

This has been tried many times before, but it appears there is a pretty serious concept to revitalize Detroit City Airport on the eastside, and return to its regular passenger service:

Jarrad Henderson | Detroit Free Press

Detroit bankruptcy plan calls for revitalizing Detroit city airport

By John Gallagher | Detroit Free Press

April 4, 2014

Detroit’s aging city airport could gain new life and again provide passenger service if a plan is approved to spend millions on a terminal, Jetway for passengers and major upgrades.

The $28.5 million earmarked in Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s restructuring plan would also set aside money for a study of the airport’s role in its east-side neighborhood. The area near Conner and Gratiot and along French Road has persistently high crime and poverty.

“I look at Detroit city airport and think it is a jewel that nobody’s polished,” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant and president of Colorado-based Boyd Group International. “Our idea is that it could be the thing that revitalizes that entire area. The airport has huge value both as a facility and also in terms of revitalizing that whole area of Detroit.”

The money would come from the city’s anticipated bankruptcy settlement. Like other recommended investments in Orr’s plan of adjustment, including $520.3 million for blight removal, the airport investment would take place over the next several years as savings become available from settlements with creditors.

...

The facility — officially the Coleman A. Young International Airport — may soon get some of the new partnerships it needs. Officials are talking to two unidentified start-up regional carriers about providing scheduled passenger service, airport manager Jason Watt told the Free Press on Thursday. The planes would carry perhaps 75 to 100 passengers, providing flights to destinations such as Chicago, Boston and New York.

As recently as the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of passengers a year traveled through the airport on Southwest Airlines and Pro Air. But Southwest pulled out in the ’90s, and Pro Air closed in 2000 in a dispute with federal regulators.

Since then, the facility, formerly Detroit City Airport, has operated solely as a base for corporate jets and small private planes. It remains a busy hub for those flights, with about 80,000 a year, but Watt said the airport could handle much more.

...

[LMich]

Update for the Woodward Avenue Streetcar as of a few days ago:

- Most island modifications and utility relocations are completed. There are three more utility relocations planned south of Adams.

- They have chosen the vendor for the actual streetcars, but aren't telling anyone who has been chosen and wouldn't give me any timeline on when this would be revealed despite them at the very least implying this information would be announced in December. This is one of the unfortunate things about a privately developed project.

John R & Woodward - April 2014


M-1 Rail facebook

[ardecila]

I'm sure the vehicle selection was complicated by M-1's decision to go off-wire. Only a few companies offer that type of system, and it isn't cheap.

[animatedmartian]

Car-sharing in Detroit is growing.

Ride-sharing plans mark transit shift in Detroit
MICHAEL MARTINEZ. MAY 4, 2014.



Need a ride? There’s an app for that.

A growing number of alternatives to traditional car ownership are popping up on cellphones throughout the Motor City. In the past year alone, two ride-sharing services, Lyft and Uber, have expanded to Detroit. So has Zipcar, a car-share program that lets drivers rent vehicles for up to a week. There’s even a bicycle-share program called Zagster, for those who prefer two wheels over four.

But some of those services — specifically Uber and Lyft — have been dodging fire from city and state officials who say they’re operating illegally, since their drivers don’t have the proper licenses required of all vehicle-for-hire drivers. Lyft and Uber have countered by saying they don’t have to comply with the same regulations as taxis because they aren’t traditional transportation companies. Lyft this week reached an agreement with city attorneys on operating regulations, while officials are in talks with Uber.

Still, their arrival marks a shift in how Detroiters get around town, experts say. As popular spots like downtown and Midtown continue to swell with young professionals, more options are needed for people who by choice or circumstance don’t have a car.

“I think it reflects the fact we don’t have a very diverse transportation system in place,” said Joe Grengs, an associate professor of urban planning at the University of Michigan, who closely watches transportation issues. “Detroit has pathetic public transit. People have a hard time getting around, and this is filling a need in a much more inexpensive way.”

...

[LMich]

Well, it looks like after a year-and-half of existence, the RTA finally has a CEO. Better yet, not only has he worked outside the region on transit, but also has local experience having most recently headed up the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, which just weeks ago got a huge expansion of services passed with the passing of their millage.

Ford (David Guralnick)

RTA votes to hire Ann Arbor transit leader as its new CEO

By Leonard N. Fleming | The Detroit News

May 22, 2014

Detroit— The Regional Transit Authority on Wednesday unanimously chose Ann Arbor Transportation Authority leader Michael Ford as its first CEO, putting in place someone to oversee better coordinated transit service with local agencies and to plot a strategy to win a funding referendum in 2016.

Ford, 52, is still under contract but told board members he can get out of that with a 60-day notice. He makes $185,000 annually.

Board members say Ford’s enthusiasm, experience in different transit markets including Seattle and Portland and the recent success of passing a recent millage with 71 percent of the vote were the main factors in his selection.

...

In other news, as a part of JP Morgan's investment strategy rolled out, yesterday, they are granting M-1 Rail $1.5 million for the streetcar, and offering its technical support to help raise $30 million in New Market Tax Credits for the project. Full-on construction is still schedule for this summer, and they've got two vendors they are negotiating with for the rolling stock.