Thursday, November 21, 2019

Ride The D-Qline

Detroit's 3.3 mile long rail-transit of wonder, the Q-line, is already deteriorating after 2 years of operation.

The Detroit Free Press: Get serious about fixing the QLINE or admit that it's just for show

Of course, one must be amazed that someone actually gave up their car to rely on this 3.3 mile light rail that moves, if at all, at the speed of a slow walk.

As I've written previously to amusing criticism, my wife and I gave up car ownership in June 2018. Early on, we expected to rely on the train for trips to destinations such as the Detroit Institute of Art, Whole Foods and Midtown restaurants. While we do sometimes take the streetcar to those places, "rely" isn’t quite the right word for using the QLINE. In good weather, scooters or walking often are faster, happier options.

Ah, an SWPL mass transit enthusiast that publicly preached giving up his car, so he can use mass transit to the DIA and of course, Whole Foods. So how's that workin' out for ya there skippy?

M-1 Rail, which runs the QLINE, acknowledges that it is “not where we want with reliability at this moment,” spokesman Dan Lijana told me. Improvements are being made, he said, in arrival estimates and staffing that will improve reliability, though they aren’t visible yet.

This is after two and a half years of operation. This is exasperating. Already, many Detroiters scoff at the streetcar, complain about its unreliability and don’t consider it among transportation options.

So not only is it a slow 3.3 miles, but it's an unreliable erratic 3.3 miles.

Who coulda seen this coming?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Somebody shoulda looked to Kommiecticut's "Magic Bus" that runs along I-84 a little more than nine miles from New Britain to Hartford. Cost hundreds of millions to construct, needs $25M per year in state subsidies to break even, has not alleviated the traffic it was claimed to, and the buses run mostly empty non-stop. Couldn't let that federal carrot (money) not be used, right?