I have lived in Detroit for over a year and a half, but last week was my first time taking the People Mover. The People Mover is an automated light rail system that covers a 3 mile loop of downtown Detroit. I took the People Mover to a networking event to avoid moving my car, finding street parking, and driving back to pay for the garage parking before the Red Wings game.

Station map

My trip from the Joe Louis Arena to Broadway took less than 10 minutes, which was great. But factoring in that it was my first experience and I missed the staircase and ramps to go up to the platform entirely, it probably would have taken me less time to walk the mile in between work and the Madison Building. I was also trudging up the ramp in heels because I didn’t find an elevator on the street level – and it was a lot of ramps.

My trip from Broadway back to Joe Louis was longer since the trains only go one way. So if you’re at stop 10 (Joe Louis) and have to get to stop 3 (Broadway), it’s 5 stops but to go from Broadway back to Joe Louis it’s 7 stops.

Below are the pros and cons of my experience with the People Mover.

Pros:                          
Clean
No wait
Not crowded
Inexpensive
Above ground views of the city

Cons:
Limited distance
Lack of attendants to answer questions
No map on the train
Only goes one direction

My lists were almost even so I decided to do some research to see what people think of the People Mover and it seems like it’s pretty widely disliked, or considered useless.

Since it’s construction in 1985, the People Mover has been considered a failure or a “transit disaster” as an archived article states. It was over budget and behind schedule, and even then it was predicted that many people wouldn’t ride it. One optimistic person said it was “better than the New York subways”, echoing my pro about the above ground views of the city, but everyone else seems to disagree. An article from 2014 said that every ride taken on the People Mover costs the Detroit Transportation Corporation just under $4 but only costs riders $.75, which accounts for a loss of nearly $3.

The People Mover is great for moving about downtown, but offers visitors and residents extremely limited transportation. It was never supposed to be a stand-alone system, but efforts for more public transportation have been unsuccessful despite many years of trying with the exception of the M-1 rail, which will cover another 3 mile stretch in the downtown area. Just this year an extensive public transportation bill that moved beyond the downtown area did not pass. To read more about the transit bill and another fellow’s thoughts, check out Cassi Meitl’s blog!