For our second challenge of the 2024-2025 program year, we partnered with the Detroit People Mover (DPM), an enhanced public transit service which provides transportation that affects not only the image of the city but also plays a role in the attraction of conventions and tourism, businesses and entertainment to downtown Detroit. Teams of Fellows created recommendations and tangible work products to build awareness about and increase new ridership by Detroit residents. Fellows worked alongside Detroit People Mover staff – Robert Cramer, Madonna VanFossen, Ericka Alexander, Tony Vinson, Chrishaun Stanton and Tiauna West – as well as engaged with stakeholders from across Detroit neighborhoods. Learn more about the project from the Fellow perspective!
School Ridership Engagement Team
Fellow Team (L to R): Reu’el Jubilee, Eman Azrak, Claudia Flores, , Ayla Hoermann, Tatiana Hull, D’Angelo Robinson
Working together as the School Ridership Engagement team with the Detroit People Mover was such a wonderful experience. Through Detroit school outreach, we were able to connect the nostalgia created by DPM over 37 years to future generations by bridging the gap between local schools and the DPM. Our team’s design thinking question was “How might we engage schools in Detroit neighborhoods to increase awareness of and get more new riders on the People Mover?” Going into the project, we were looking forward to hearing what Detroit residents had to say. They like the ride, they love the view, they love seeing the Detroit river, and the idea of going on the People Mover is all around exciting.
We also heard from our stakeholders that there are many students who don’t or can’t get downtown, and just don’t know about the People Mover. With many students further away from downtown, we were able to re-evaluate our approach for this project and find new ways to show students what the People Mover is and that it’s there for them. As one of our stakeholders, Rose Love, said, “If the People Mover wants students to come to the People Mover, then the People Mover needs to “go where they’re at.” With that in mind, our group set our focus on creating deliverables to connect and excite Detroit students about the People Mover through their academic and extracurricular opportunities, and find ways to bring the People Mover to any school and student in Detroit.
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