What To Know And Where To Go In Southeast Michigan
If you listened to our recent episode on Amazon’s snub of Detroit (and you totally should), you’ll recall that the inclusion of Indianapolis among the 20 finalists for its HQ2 project was the topic of some surprise. Well, one of the reasons they made it was their efforts to develop 50 miles of Bus Rapid Transit and other improvements. So we sent our correspondent Shianne …
It's not hard to think that there is a concerted push for more QLINE routes, especially in Greater Downtown. It's important to watch because when they focus, what major funders want they often get in this town and money starts to appear. The latest hint of a new QLINE route would be from downtown to the old Michigan Central Train Station, as Matthew Maroun (the son of …
A new report from the parent organization of Detroit's streetcar says that the new QLINE streetcar service is making improvements following several opening glitches, expected growing pains and complaints from riders. M-1 Rail, the QLINE’s operating organization, has been working with the streetcar’s operator, Transdev North America, on service improvements for about a month …
[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/dailydetroithappyhour/DD-22-Happy_hour_Larson_mixdown.mp3" image="http://www.dailydetroit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/eric-larson-daily-detroit.jpg" social_gplus="false" social_linkedin="true" social_email="true" twitter_username="TheDailyDetroit" ] Downtown Detroit continues its remarkable transformation, with more and …
Free rides and service improvements are on the horizon for Detroit's streetcar. That's the word today as the QLINE has announced that riders will continue to get free fares for the remainder of the summer. Riders will be able to ride the QLINE for free until Monday, September 4. To make the balance sheet work, the Kresge Foundation has offered to cover the fares for QLINE …
At first, you hear the warm voice of Carmen Harlan. "Grand Circus Park, brought to you by Chevrolet" the recorded message assures the passengers. Next, you hear some weird, garbled digital voice finishing the sentence, telling you about the attractions at that stop. That contrast is exactly the QLINE today. We wanted to step back, let some kinks work out, and then …
The QLINE opened on May 12, and officials at M1 Rail are sharing that initial ridership for the QLINE has "exceeded ... projections." “We couldn’t be more pleased with the enthusiastic reception the QLINE received from riders during our first week,” said M-1 RAIL CEO Matt Cullen in a statement.. “We significantly exceeded our initial ridership projections. Residents of the …
Although numbers won't be out until next week, anecdotal evidence has been that the QLINE has been very busy since it launched for the public on Friday. Two of our writers used the QLINE to get to the office Friday and come back and it was still packed in the evening; on Saturday, doing interviews, almost every train for the couple of hours we were out was visually …
After years of planning, construction and testing the QLINE is a real thing. We were able to hop on the QLINE for a preview of the service, and I thought I'd share some tips and answers to questions we got during a Facebook live stream we did. Here are our twelve tips for riding the rails up and down Woodward. 1. The QLINE streetcars differ from a bus in a number of …
When you ride the Q-LINE streetcar, you're going to have free access to Wi-Fi at stations and as you ride. It's going to be provided by Rocket Fiber, a company based in Detroit. The services include network-based technology to incorporate into the QLINE main office at the Penske Technical Center and public Wi-Fi at the stations and trains. Rocket Fiber is doing …
One of the most anticipated - and debated - additions to Detroit's streets is that of the QLINE. That's the 3.3 mile long streetcar that begins service down Woodward Avenue on May 12. One of the early complaints about the QLINE online is the speed of the streetcar. End to end, it takes about 25 minutes (as timed by our riding it today). Here's the thing. It could go much …
The folks at the QLINE have released two short videos that are full of tips on how to handle the addition of the streetcar to Woodward Avenue between the Central Business District and New Center. Above we've embedded the video around driver safety. One thing to note if you haven't noticed is that the QLINE is going to have a special streetlight that will let it go forward in …
It's going to take a little while for people to get used to having a streetcar going up and down Woodward. Even though the tracks are in place, it's commonplace to see delivery trucks, people standing waiting for people, and other traffic activity people are used to doing on a road that doesn't have a streetcar. But it looks like people are going to have to learn fast. …
If you've been driving down Woodward in greater downtown Detroit, you may have noticed that there are now platforms and partial shelters sticking out of various places. They're for the QLINE, Detroit's new streetcar. On Thursday a new rendering was released for the stations for the streetcar line. They look very modern, with an information screen and a glowing light …
Detroit hasn't had a streetcar in a long, long time. More than half a century. Soon, we're going to be able to see them going down Detroit's central street once again. Word this week is that the QLINE reached an important milestone today as construction crews welded the final pieces of rail, completing installation and connection of what is 6.6 miles of track (as it's …
The second of six QLINE streetcar arrived Wednesday night, according to M1-Rail officials. Each of the three-piece cars are 66 feet long and will carry an average of 125 passengers per car at up to 35 miles per hour. They'll also have wi-fi, vertical bike racks and climate control. The QLINE will allow for station-level access for pedestrians as well as persons who use …
As we get nearer to actual service beginning on one of Detroit's most anticipated projects in a long time, the QLINE streetcar, word is coming through the Freep that the hours are going to run longer than the originally planned 10 p.m. 6 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday through Thursday 6 a.m.-midnight Friday 8 a.m.-midnight Saturday 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday Holiday hours are …
If you doubted that the QLINE/M1-Rail was going to happen, it doesn't get more real than the first streetcar being delivered. Daily Detroit was on hand in New Center as the first of six streetcars arrived near the Penske Tech Center. These are the first full-service streetcars since 1956 (that's 60 years) to hit the streets of Detroit. There was a limited trolley from …
If you drive down Woodward from about Grand Boulevard to Campus Martius, you can see the overhead lines being strung up, the rails getting completed and the stations starting to pop up. We're getting closer to QLINE becoming a reality. The latest news is that the first streetcar from Brookville Equipment Corporation is set to arrive Wednesday, two months ahead of the …
The M-1 RAIL organization has officially opened and dedicated the Penske Tech Center, which will act as the M-1 RAIL administrative headquarters and function as the maintenance and operations center for the QLINE streetcar vehicles that will run along Woodward corridor. The Penske Tech Center is located in the North End neighborhood and is sponsored by Penske Corporation. …
What goes around comes around, right? The Detroit Lions took to Twitter after the Cowboys 26-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers, and there’s definitely a little bit of schadenfreude for the Detroit Lions and they (and their fans) took that to Twitter, along with plenty of references to Kermit the Frog “sipping tea” (here’s …
