Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2006 » Ann Arbor-to-Detroit mass transit report cites commuters' support « Previous Next »
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Detroitman
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Username: Detroitman

Post Number: 888
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 216.78.45.242
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 10:28 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ann Arbor-to-Detroit mass transit report cites commuters' support

Metro group to proceed with study of a rail or bus system to meet demands for quick, reliable service.

Amy Lee / The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20060108/M ETRO05/601080369/1003/METRO
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Broken_main
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Username: Broken_main

Post Number: 590
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 69.222.11.226
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 12:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I can only dream of the day when I can take a ride to AA for a day trip.

This is one of those topics that tend to excite me at first then i get sour just thinking about the length of time this is going to actually take.
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Jt1
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Username: Jt1

Post Number: 6362
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 205.158.96.181
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 1:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I am against it. This will just allow all of the AA criminals easy access to Detroit.
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Motorcitymayor2026
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Username: Motorcitymayor2026

Post Number: 347
Registered: 10-2005
Posted From: 71.10.63.140
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 1:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

HAHA
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 805
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 2:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Soon all the criminal in Detroit will be useing cheep imported air-soft handguns.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 1508
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 4.229.132.249
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 2:51 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

They gotta learn their craft somewhere JT1
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 807
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 4:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We were born to late.

Rejoice

Modern Equipment

AA Trolley


Honey, I am going to be late for dinner, yea I borrowed someones cell phone thats why the ID is wrong.
Crash
UofM
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Drm
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Username: Drm

Post Number: 781
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.73.193.207
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 4:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I can't wait to take my first train trip to Ann Arbor, commit some crimes, maybe steal a TV or two and carry my looted merchandise back to Detroit on the train.
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 808
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 4:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A Local
A local run

A friendly and well dressed crew's motto is "Service is our only product"
crew
U of M
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Wolverine
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Username: Wolverine

Post Number: 98
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 141.213.196.136
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 4:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

^ Damn, how may derailments did AA have in their history? I recall walking down Main Street and seeing history boards of trains running off the tracks and into buildings.
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 809
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 4:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A modern Station House in Ann Arbor will great travelers with convenient easy access and amenities.
Station
U of M
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 811
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 4:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mayor Don Williamson of Flint has already ordered the construction of tracks down Saginaw Street. He fears that Flint would be left out as a destination spot if the Ann Arbor connection is made.
Flint
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Danny
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Username: Danny

Post Number: 3625
Registered: 02-2004
Posted From: 141.217.174.228
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 5:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A commuter from Ann Arbor to Detroit. HAH It would take politics to do that. So far DARTA is dead!
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 1509
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 4.229.132.249
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 6:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How generous of you Drm to come here and teach the craft of criminality to us dumb Ann Arborites.....and here I thought we'd have to go all the way to Detroit to be taught by the pros....you really are too nice to us.
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 1130
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 141.213.173.94
Posted on Sunday, January 08, 2006 - 6:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah Ann Arbor has a great bus system...that must equate to the rash of muggings and off-campus housing break ins. Truly. Just imagine if transit connected A2 to its big brother crime haven.

In another era, we could just try to get Amtrak to put high-frequency commuter trains on its current A2 to New Center route, but it's funding is clearly on the wane...plus what we want is a multi-stop commuter train, i.e. two or more stops in Detroit plus Dearborn plus Metro plus Ypsi, at the very least. From the diagram in the paper they're going to use the current rail route, but there would cleary be work to be done to connect to downtown, so that, like that one guy wanted, folks could get to their downtown offices. Can you say Dequindre cut + a new station near the port of Detroit just like the old days?
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Zulu_warrior
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Username: Zulu_warrior

Post Number: 2401
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 205.188.116.201
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 12:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well this will certianly end the Ann Arbor as a suburb of Detroit debate......

PSIP, I think that train station house is now the Gandy Dancer......
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 819
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 1:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Zulu, my little tongue-in-cheek photo story showed the original 1880-1886 Michigan Central depot. The present building (below) was built in about 1920.
It is indeed the Gandy Dancer Restaurant now.


MC AA
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Dougw
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Username: Dougw

Post Number: 939
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.248.54.221
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 1:32 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Whaddaya say we actually discuss the article for a bit... :-) (I numbered the options for purposes of discussion)

quote:

...
SEMCOG's transportation group has narrowed a list of possible options to five from 25, which includes a possible light rail line, express bus routes in dedicated lanes and commuter railroad service.

...

The options selected for deeper analysis are:

1. A bus route that would connect Ypsilanti to Detroit via Michigan Avenue and connect Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor via business route I-94. Dedicated lanes for the fast buses would be used when possible; otherwise, the buses would use general traffic lanes.

2. A rapid bus service that would include four routes, one each for a service from Ann Arbor to Metro Airport, one from Ann Arbor to Detroit, one from Detroit to Metro Airport and one from Detroit to Dearborn to Metro Airport. Each route would mainly follow I-94.

3. A light rail line between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor that would operate as a double-tracked rail line in the median of business route I-94. Between Ypsilanti and Detroit, it would operate on a double-tracked rail line in the middle of Michigan Avenue.

4. A commuter rail line that would operate along Norfolk Southern's Michigan Line between New Center in Detroit and the Amtrak station in Ann Arbor and would require additional shuttle buses from that route to Metro Airport.

5. A commuter line between Metro Airport and Detroit would operate along a dedicated, double-tracked railroad in the median of Merriman Road, then along the Norfolk Southern tracks in southern Detroit. Service between Metro Airport and Ann Arbor would require the rapid bus service.

Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United, said her group is backing the fourth option that largely uses existing train tracks. She said that route could be the quickest route and perhaps the cheapest to establish.

"But probably the biggest reason is that it would have a travel time equivalent to driving, which would make it a true commuter alternative," she said.




I'd guess Corktown and other neighborhoods along Michigan would like option #3 best. Although I can see option #4 as good in other ways.
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Citylover
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Username: Citylover

Post Number: 1512
Registered: 07-2004
Posted From: 4.229.126.250
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 1:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You got it backwards Zulu.People are traveling onto the AA area to work and do business at UM as well as the auto tech centers in the outlying twps.

Hell the Detroit suburbs i.e. the real suburbs may also be suburbs of AA.

The current Amtrak station is just west of the gandy dancer(about 30yards).
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 820
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 69.246.13.131
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 1:44 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Grayhound provides service, Detroit Ann Arbor, 3x a day, 1hr 15 min trip. $7.50
http://www.greyhound.com/home. asp
And this costs NO taxpayer money.
I hate to say this, because I really like light rail, but its not going to happen in our lifetime unless oil becomes so expensive cars become obsolete.
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Everyman
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Username: Everyman

Post Number: 17
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 24.136.14.239
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 2:09 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Meh, I don't think a $14 round trip (I checked) on a greyhound is a substitute for something like Chicago's Metra (probably a 3.70 zone ticket and about 50 minutes) or just driving.

I'd like to see #3, personally, it'd go quite a way towards fixing the brain drain that's seen in SE Michigan (that I am, sadly, a part of).
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Skulker
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Username: Skulker

Post Number: 3355
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.103.104.93
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 12:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

DETROIT -- People who drive between Ann Arbor and Detroit would use public transportation as long as the ride were as quick as a car, the stations were convenient to their homes and workplaces and the service operated on a reliable schedule.




That phrase,"as long as", is the key here. Can the task force design a system that meets those requirements?
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Ilovedetroit
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Username: Ilovedetroit

Post Number: 1937
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 63.149.5.130
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 12:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If I could park downtown and take light rail to the air port I would be sooooooooooo happy!
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E_hemingway
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Username: E_hemingway

Post Number: 438
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.42.176.123
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 1:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think Transit Riders United's plan is the best I have seen so far.

http://www.detroittransit.org/ Ann%20Arbor%20Detroit.pdf

Ahhhhhh... Dreams...
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Drm
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Username: Drm

Post Number: 784
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.250.43.48
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 3:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The #3 option is similar to some of Boston's Green Line T routes. These are far slower than a car and have to stop for traffic lights, turning vehicles, etc. You really need a dedicated right-of-way if you want any kind of speed.
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Danindc
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Username: Danindc

Post Number: 1150
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 67.100.158.10
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 3:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Considering the distance covered by the route, commuter rail (#4) probably makes the most sense. It would definitely have the highest cost recovery versus other modes.
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Upinottawa
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Username: Upinottawa

Post Number: 100
Registered: 09-2005
Posted From: 198.103.184.76
Posted on Monday, January 09, 2006 - 3:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I am no urban planner, but commuter (heavy) rail makes sense on the Ann Arbour to Detroit line. However, commuter lines usually run most frequently during rush hours and run less frequently (or not at all) during non-peak hours.

I think a separate DTW to downtown line (either LRT or BRT) is required to provide more frequent (every 20 or 30 minutes) service all day long. In Ottawa we have bus rapid transit every 15 to 30 minutes from downtown to the airport and back (runs to 3:00am – and this is sleepy-town Ottawa). It costs $2.00 CDN if you use tickets. I once had to pay $50 US to take a cab from Metro to Windsor (the Robert Q is cheaper at around $30 CDN).

The transit options from Metro Airport are either expensive or embarrassingly bad (poor bus service). For most tourists getting from the airport to their hotel likely involves renting a car or an expensive cab ride. If there were a better way (LRT or BRT) the area would draw more students.

If I was a reporter from out of town, the first thing I would notice is the lack of transit to and from the airport.

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