DETROIT (WXYZ) — “It’s about 1 pm, we are jumping on the People Mover to get a sense of what it's like and see if anyone else is riding it too,” explained WXYZ’s Brian Abel.
The People Mover views of Detroit are unmatched, but it can be a lonely experience. We rode the loop for around an hour or so to see how many people on this day were using it.
We came across a precious few riders during our trip. Roughly a dozen or so in that hour's time frame. But the regulars will tell you, that’s not always the case.
WXYZ’s Brian Abel asked, “Is it typically like this? What? Three people, three riders aside from us?”
“Um, on most days. If there’s something going on in the city it gets busier, but it’s usually not too packed,” said rider Tony Castle.
“What’s changed?” asked Abel.
“When Joe Louis shut down, I think it really lost a lot of the revenue,” said Castle.
Tony rides three to four times a week. Going from his west Riverfront home, out, restaurants, the gym, entertainment. So, he has a feel for the People Mover system. A system that the city wants to upgrade. $19.9 million is proposed in the city’s surplus budget for transportation. Some of that is to cover the cost of purchasing replacement cars.
“The city is asking for cash to be approved to replace these cars. Do you think it’s necessary?” asked Abel.
“If there was something physically wrong with the cars then yes. If it's just to replace them to spend the money, I know there’s stuff, places that it could be used better,” said Castle.
Other riders like Pamela, visiting from out of state, believe it's a good use of cash.
“Why?” asked Abel.
“Simple because once again it's a convenience for the workers down here, it's a convenience for people to come down here,” said Pamela. “Why wouldn’t we want to invest in making them be as suitable as possible for a reasonable amount of money.”
