  Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 729 Registered: 04-2006 |
The transit center that is. I just drove by the Rosa Parks Transit Center today. wow! I didn't know they had so much progress... what's the planned opening date on that bad boy? | ||
Mayor_sekou Member Username: Mayor_sekou Post Number: 1886 Registered: 09-2006 |
Anyone got pictures? | ||
Spiritofdetroit Member Username: Spiritofdetroit Post Number: 826 Registered: 11-2006 |
I noticed that this weekend. Progress there was minimal for so long, I was surprised to see so much progress | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 942 Registered: 01-2006 |
The Freep said today that the opening has been pushed back to March, 2009...3 years behind schedule. As I have said before, this develoment seems to only be a part time construction site. It seems that it is only being worked on about half the time I go by there (all during work hours). | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 55 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, its possible it might be done before then. | ||
Figebornu Member Username: Figebornu Post Number: 44 Registered: 01-2008 |
This "transit center" is a scam and attempts to deceive people into thinking that Detroit is up to date with the rest of the world in mass transit. It is because of Detroit's 50 yr. delay in developing a regional mass transit system that SE Michigan is slowing (some say progressively) dying, and that it remains the most segregated metropolis in America. SOSAD: Detroit does a Hollywood on us again. | ||
Chow Member Username: Chow Post Number: 447 Registered: 10-2003 |
Eh maybe that or government subsidized decentralization... Detroit's problems are deep and complex. It is more likely that poor transit is symptomatic of Detroit's decline rather than a cause of it. | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 56 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, They have a scale model of the transit center at DDOT"s main location, it looks like it will do exactly what it was designed for,Streamlining of Bus Transit from a Downtown Location, which at the moment does not exist. Also with its location near the People Mover,(Our version of Light Rail), it could very well be the Start of big things for Transit in the Great City Of Detroit. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2312 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yeah Figebornu, no one can argue that it is large enough to be the center of a regional buss system--sorry! It is at least half the size of Charlotte's, but probably even smaller... | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1285 Registered: 11-2003 |
Figebornu-- I think the loss of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs had a bit more to do with the decline... | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 103 Registered: 02-2005 |
The new transit center will at least make mass transit more visible in downtown. Anyone know what will be happening to Capitol Park? And does anyone have photos of the construction? | ||
Downtown_remix Member Username: Downtown_remix Post Number: 597 Registered: 03-2007 |
CAPITAL PARK WILL MOST LIKELY SEE THE SAME LIGHT AS CAMPUS MARTUIS. NEW SIDEWALKS, LIGHTING, AND SEATING. THE BOOK CADILLAC WILL OPEN IN OCT, SO WE AUTTA SEE SOME WORK BEGIN THIS SPRING OR SUMMER. | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 3862 Registered: 11-2003 |
I hope that does happen to Capital park, it could be much more residential than Campus martius | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 459 Registered: 11-2003 |
Capitol Park | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 108 Registered: 02-2005 |
Oops... thanks, Rjlj. | ||
Detx Member Username: Detx Post Number: 95 Registered: 07-2007 |
Capitol Park could be one of the most prime areas in downtown. I hope the new RPTC clears the way for a lot of development there. | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1437 Registered: 11-2003 |
^ Just a question, what about this project makes you think that may happen? It's a bus terminal. | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 461 Registered: 11-2003 |
Capitol Park will be the premiere area downtown. Once the new bus terminal is completed things will get rolling. | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1438 Registered: 11-2003 |
What about the bus terminal will spur development in Capitol Park? I think the Book Cadillac's completion would do the trick. Are people looking for a reason to go to CP and taking the bus is the trick. Or is it that the bums and those on that hang in CP won't be around anymore? I'm just looking for more than a blanket statement on development hinging on the completion of a bus terminal. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 266 Registered: 11-2007 |
The new terminal isn't supposed to spur development. It's the removal of the existing terminal that's currently in Capitol Park. That said, I think development of this area is still several years away. | ||
Lifeinmontage Member Username: Lifeinmontage Post Number: 58 Registered: 10-2007 |
damn. just when you thought you could take the bus from your book-cadillac penthouse to your corner office out in oakland county, they had to remove the bus terminal in capitol park. those top 1%ers can't catch a break. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1099 Registered: 12-2006 |
As Living said, this is not an economic development project. Those of us who use the transit "system" can tell you, there needs to be a place where people can make connections to DDOT and SMART and, for those few who use it, the People Mover. Right now, east-side and Woodward-corridor buses (for both systems) make most transfers at Woodward and Congress/Larned, SMART west-side buses go past the same point, but most DDOT west-side to downtown buses pick up at Capitol Park. So if you're transfering you have to walk or find a bus between Woodward and Capitol Park. That isn't awful if you look at a map (not too far of a walk) except for two things. One, if you're disabled or elderly, the walk might be a strain. More importantly, it's perhaps a five to seven minute walk, and if you're trying not to miss a bus on one of those many DDOT forty-minute lines, it can be a real pain in the ass. Having most of the downtown-service buses converge at one point is important to riders for that reason; and if it happens to also be a People Mover stop, all the better. If it's a nice place to wait for a bus (which Capitol Park is not), better still. If it's a place where you can buy bus passes, and maybe nearby there's a coffee shop or someplace to get breakfast, I'm in heaven. (I know; I'm dreaming for that last part.) | ||
Detx Member Username: Detx Post Number: 97 Registered: 07-2007 |
Viziondetroit, I think CP will see future development as the trash piles, hobos, and other eyesores that the bus stop there brought in will be gone. CP has great architecture and a decent location. I think it could be a niche area downtown for residential, retail, and mixed-use type facilities. | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 239 Registered: 01-2007 |
I've uploaded some pictures to my flickr photo account including new pics of the transit center, Greektown Casino Hotel, and the Griswold Parking garage, among other things,about 90 pics. Enjoy! transit center | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 5202 Registered: 10-2004 |
CP was a giant guano factory due to the thousand or so flying reptiles there. And then some crazy bag women feed them large megabags of popcorn and such. They rip the bags open and leave them there afterwards, as just more litter. I don't get that way much any longer. Maybe, it's better now. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 6127 Registered: 11-2003 |
There are some great old DSR photos of the way Capitol Park once was in the glory days of Detroit Transit. Imagine several bays for the Grand River Electrics, uniformed dispatchers signaling them to push out onto that famous electric bus line of the 1940-50s. See what you can dig out. jjaba, Proud Westsider on the Grand River-Telegraph. jjaba, at the Wrigley Stores Training Center in the Farwell Bldg. looking down on the rush hour ballet. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1106 Registered: 12-2006 |
The pigeons are still around, LY, but otherwise it's improved a bit since the Sheriff started working with DDOT. Before that happened, I would be waiting for a bus at 8 or 9 in the morning, and people would be walking up to me offering to sell alcohol, weed, bus tickets. I'm a middle age white guy in a suit, people walking up to me like that. One lady walks up to me and says, "can I ask you a question?" "Sure," says I. She says, "Do you drink beer?" Odd question, but what the hell so I said, "Yes." Then she points to one of the shelters and says, "My man over there has Bud, dollar a bottle, go ahead and get one." I said, "Now wait a minute. You asked me if I drink beer and I said yes. You didn't ask 'do I drink beer at the bus station at 8 in the morning'. If you ask better questions you'll get more precise answers." Incidentally I always wondered how somebody gets a hold of quantities of bus tickets such that they can sell them at the bus stop. (I know how people get a hold of beer and weed.) Maybe that's why the old paper tickets are no more. I have yet to see anyone peddling tickets since SMART and DDOT both went to mag-stripe tickets. But anyhow, CP has less the aura of a Turkish bazaar than it did a year ago. | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1443 Registered: 11-2003 |
I think what people are missing is... most of the bums don't ride the bus! They have a safe haven- The Farwell building. Until the those vacant buildings are knocked down or occupied they will still be there. | ||
Bc_n_dtown Member Username: Bc_n_dtown Post Number: 54 Registered: 09-2006 |
Warrenite84, those were great photos on the current progress of the RPTC. I also run a discussion group over in Yahoo!Groups on the DSR/DDOT. From time to time we've discussed the progress of the transit center but so far no photos have been posted. I would love to post a few of those——Is it alright to post a few of your photos to the group? | ||
Bc_n_dtown Member Username: Bc_n_dtown Post Number: 55 Registered: 09-2006 |
quote: Here's a link to a web-page on my DetroitTransitHistory site on the former DSR Capitol Park Terminal that Jjaba spoke about. For some reason, compared to the whole scheme of things, it didn't survive too long. Here's that link: http://www.detroittransithisto ry.info/Misc/CapitolParkStatio n.html | ||
Genesyxx Member Username: Genesyxx Post Number: 862 Registered: 02-2004 |
Its still a skeleton. They're just now putting up the framework for the roof. As for them working part-time, I'd have to agree with this somewhat, but with the weather and funding issues, they're moving, and that's positive in my book. | ||
Warrenite84 Member Username: Warrenite84 Post Number: 242 Registered: 01-2007 |
Bc_n_dtown, go right ahead. Nice website too! When I get a chance, I'll be doing a bunch of reading there. (Message edited by warrenite84 on February 16, 2008) | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 61 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, Way cool site dtown, I didn"t realize anyone but the Schram"s had anything like this out there. Small world, so are you assuming the mantle as D.D.O.T. historian? Kudos again on Your site. | ||
Ffdfd Member Username: Ffdfd Post Number: 259 Registered: 09-2006 |
Photographic chronicle of the bus terminal project from when the fencing went up to present. http://tinyurl.com/23oe3d | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 62 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, Rockin pictures fd, I will echo the other posters surprise in how much progress has been made.(Quite a bit actually). Long Live D.D.O.T. | ||
French777 Member Username: French777 Post Number: 336 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yeah thanks Ffdfd that was really cool. They have made good progress even in the Winter months! | ||
Kid_dynamite Member Username: Kid_dynamite Post Number: 469 Registered: 06-2007 |
What structures were in that triangle location prior to the construction of the transit center? | ||
Bussey Member Username: Bussey Post Number: 636 Registered: 12-2003 |
Those photos really make the city seem extremely barren. | ||
Whithorn11446 Member Username: Whithorn11446 Post Number: 200 Registered: 03-2007 |
"What structures were in that triangle location prior to the construction of the transit center?" The Lindell A.C. building was located there(closer to Michigan Avenue) along with the parking lot. The alley between the building and parking lot is visible in the pictures. That corner will always probably look weird to some of us who remember the Lindell. That's life, times change. | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 783 Registered: 07-2004 |
The only issue I have with this transit centre, is that it is not really located in the centre of downtown. It is sort of off on the side, meaning people will have to walk further to their destination. I remember when I was in Detroit like 8 years ago or so, there was a transit centre infront of where Campus Martius is. Well just east of there. That is much more central. What I would do, is turn STATE STREET into a TRANSIT MALL between Gratiot and Cass, with super stops located -Gratiot/State/Broadway -Farmer and State -Woodward and State -Shelby and State -Washington Blvd and State -Cass and State PUBLIC TRANSIT INFORMATION CENTRE FOR SMART AND DDOT STAFFED 6AM-10PM MON-SAT would be built at Woodward and State. | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 464 Registered: 11-2003 |
We wouldn't want people to walk an extra block now would we? Detroit is only one of the most overweight cities in the country. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2696 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: That also means more people walking through a currently dead part of downtown, thus spurring interest in development of that area that many people previously had no interest in being... | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1601 Registered: 09-2007 |
That area of downtown isn't "dead." You have Federal, AT&T and DTE workers right across the street and the Casino right down the street. I would call dead around Montcalm and Cass. (Message edited by detroitrise on February 17, 2008) | ||
Living_in_the_d Member Username: Living_in_the_d Post Number: 63 Registered: 01-2008 |
Yeah, I will concur, Detroit is more alive than it has been in the last 20 years, even the less traveled parts. | ||
Rocket_city Member Username: Rocket_city Post Number: 641 Registered: 04-2006 |
As of 2.23.2008 http://farm3.static.flickr.com /2393/2289320846_30a3a66a23_o. jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com /2283/2289320862_ab8d341c3b_o. jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com /3216/2289320888_135a795172_o. jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com /2153/2288531915_5762a1e3cd_o. jpg | ||
Evelyn Member Username: Evelyn Post Number: 132 Registered: 02-2005 |
Thanks, Rocket_city! | ||
French777 Member Username: French777 Post Number: 369 Registered: 10-2006 |
  I have more pictures and Video on the other thread.. "My promo Video for Detroit" | ||
Jsmyers Member Username: Jsmyers Post Number: 1950 Registered: 12-2003 |
Miketoronto, I like your transit mall idea. That is how I envision a Gratiot-Grand River LRT line working. In terms of policing and timed transfers, one central terminal has its advantages too. | ||
French777 Member Username: French777 Post Number: 376 Registered: 10-2006 |
It is close to Times Square People Mover station Thus hopefully increasing ridership and spurring new resturants,shopping and ect around Times Square. The next Campus Martius! | ||
French777 Member Username: French777 Post Number: 399 Registered: 10-2006 |
any new photos? | ||
Detroit_stylin Member Username: Detroit_stylin Post Number: 5744 Registered: 10-2003 |
Update from last week. This is taken from directly in front of it on Cass near Michigan...  |
