Light rail: A forever fantasy in Detroit area???

Will someone please help me to understand that whenever people talk about a full light rail system in Detroit, Michigan and the metro area, all I hear is how we need to expand the bus system? If I’m not mistaken, Detroit faces a multi-billion dollar renovating of it’s main traffic artery I-94 (not the mention the countless antiquated and just busted main roads in the city). So what’s all this more buses talk when they frequently face the same problems that cars face?

Those that live in cities with working light rail, how is it working out? We desperately need something here in the Detroit metro area to alleviate traffic and get people to where they want and need to be. I’m excluding Chicago’s and New York’s working rail and subway systems since it isn’t even fair to compare them to Detroit right now. Is your system a raised light rail system? Is it reliable? Etc.

Or if you just want to offer a general opinion on mass transit, let it rip in the comments.

UPDATE!

This article on the Light Rail Now site about Detroit’s sprawl pretty much echoes my thoughts:

If the source of enduring prosperity was more cars, more highways, more parking lots, and more suburban sprawl, then Detroit and its suburbs should be like Paris. Detroit, after all, built the inventions that produced sprawl. It remains the center of the American auto industry, constructed the first concrete freeway, opened the first suburban shopping mall, and designed some of the first cul-de-sac subdivisions. Detroit’s suburbs are gobbling up land at a pace six to eight times more quickly than population growth, faster than almost any other major American metropolitan region.

But a wellspring of opportunity? Hardly. In measures big and small Detroit and its suburbs are in deepening trouble. The city’s population, now around 900,000, is half of what it was in 1950. The seven-county region is home to 4.8 million people, just 100,000 more than in 1970. The Detroit area is the slowest growing of any of the nation’s 10 largest metropolitan regions, and the most economically and racially segregated.

On point! Please read the whole article. Very good in my lil’ ol’ opinion.

4 Responses to “Light rail: A forever fantasy in Detroit area???”

1. Marcy says:

   November 9, 2005 at 12:39 pm

   It’s amazing how evil everyone has become in SE Michigan when it comes to mass transit. The old ‘burbs and exurbs have declared war on Detroit. as the article says, it’s killing the entire area.
2. Purple Avenger says:

   November 9, 2005 at 6:29 pm

   Seriously, would any rational person trust the current Detroit city administration with handling a large chunk of change to fix it?
3. T-Steel says:

   November 9, 2005 at 11:40 pm

   The answer to your question PA:

   NOPE!

   I see such tough times ahead for Detroit and the metro area.
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