Detroit People Mover: Past, Present and Uncertain Future (?): Lessons Learned

The Detroit Downtown People Mover (DPM) in the city of Detroit, Michigan was opened to public in July 1987. The DPM, which is one of the most technologically advanced transportation systems in the world, has 13 stations on a 2.9-mile route. The vehicles on the elevated single track loop system run in one direction (counter clockwise) with a total round trip time of approximately 14 minutes and 2–3 minute headways. The DPM operates seven days a week and each car accommodates 34 passengers seated and 66 standing. Daily DPM ridership was at its peak in August 1987, when an average of 14,000 patrons used DPM on a daily basis. Since then the ridership has declined to current daily patrons of around 6,000. Initial estimate of ridership was around 20,000 per day. A number of external factors have contributed the declined ridership of DPM. Some of them are absence of feeder service, mechanical problems, destruction of pathway during the demolition of Old Hudson building and closing of stations due to GM headquarter expansion. In this paper various incidents that impacted the DPM operation since 1998 will be presented and discussed. The DPM system is more than 17 years old and in need of major overhaul. This may cost as high as 20 million dollars. On one end, the future of DPM appears to be very uncertain/bleak due to funding problems, lack of vision and limited operation due to a number of downtown construction projects. On the other hand, due to change in Detroit downtown landscape, there is possibility of increased demand of DPM service. As a part of this paper, authors will present a number of means to improve future DPM operation, maintenance and ridership.