Transit Center to be Constructed

[rbdetsport]

Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick announced that the new Detroit

Department of Transportation (DDOT) transit center to be constructed in

downtown Detroit will be named in honor of the late Rosa Parks.

The groundbreaking ceremony and unveiling of the project will occur on

Friday, November 4, at 10 a.m. downtown Detroit at Hurst Park on Cass,

south of Bagley and north of Michigan, adjacent to the Michigan Avenue

and Times Square People Mover stations.

"This center is a part of our efforts to make services

better and more efficient for our customers who use public transit in

Detroit,"

said Mayor Kilpatrick. "It's especially fitting that we name it in

honor of this great civil rights pioneer, because her legacy began on a

public bus.

By naming the center after Rosa Parks, we honor her courage and

commitment to equality and freedom."

The transit center will include a climate-controlled indoor waiting

area, a customer information center and cashier, covered outdoor

waiting areas, public restrooms, taxi stands and retail services. Real

time arrival and departure times will be displayed on LED signage at

each bus bay and centralized within the transit station. The center

will be handicapped accessible with wheelchair ramps and an elevator.

The offices of DDOT's transit police will also be located at the center.

"The Rosa Parks Transit Center will be unlike any other transit center

Detroiters have seen," said DDOT Director Norman White. "It is the

first time customers will be able to connect with other DDOT, SMART and

Transit Windsor buses as well as the People Mover all at one location.

Transit users will have a comfortable, passenger friendly environment

in which to wait while changing buses."

White said the ease of connections with other transit options would

help to sustain existing DDOT ridership, which in September 2005 was up

to 130,000 daily passengers. DDOT also hopes it will attract new

passengers seeking alternatives to driving their vehicles.

"The downtown transit center is an extension of the service

improvements DDOT instituted last April," said White. "We streamlined

our schedules and tailored our routes to make them more

customer-focused. We have added 180 new buses to the fleet, which has

improved the on-time record. The transit center is just another way we

are making transit better locally and regionally." White said the

center will also strengthen DDOT's ability to interface with any future

regional transit plan.

The center will replace the temporary Capital Park location. The design

includes space to accommodate the downtown routes that are currently at

Capitol Park, about 16-18 buses at one time.

The 25,000 square-foot facility will be constructed at Hurst Park and

will comprise two city blocks bounded by Grand River on the north,

Michigan Avenue on the south, Park Place on the east and Cass Avenue

and Times Square Street on the west. The estimated project cost of $15

million will be funded by federal and state dollars. No city funds are

required for the project.

The Rosa Parks Transit Center is in close proximity to the

financial and civic center districts with routes and service to

Greektown and the entertainment districts. Construction will take

approximately 12-18 months to complete.

This could be great. I am glad the People Mover station is included in the project. Fianlly, the people mover can be connected to another part of the transit system. Hopefully that commuter rail to Ann Arbor can maybe start from here instead. Who knows, maybe we could get a light rail system out of this. I know I am being very very optimistic, but this project could lead to so many great things.

[Zissou]

Is this the same project that i remember from a few months ago that is placed on somewhat of a triangular lot with a structure that would resemble Chene Park?

[RustTown]

Yes, though, I never saw a rendering.

[Zissou]

It looked like an interesting structure.

[Jin Kim]

Does anyone know if they plan on keeping now dead "Peace Tree" that was planted by Yoko Ono a few years back in the park?

My work is across Grand River from this location. So I do have keen interest on what'll happen there. It would be great if they could keep some of the park intact, but I have a feeling that it will not.

I also have not seen any rendering, yet. Is there one available online?

[Allan]

So the Peace Tree finally kicked the bucket? It was barely hanging on the last time I saw it (last fall). It's sad...we couldn't even keep it alive. Whether or not they will keep the tree remains to be seen. My guess would be no.

I still object to covering the park with all that concrete & asphalt. Can't they use the parking lot right across the street from it?

There is a rendering floating around...I don't know where it is. I will have to try & find it.

[Zissou]

The rendering has been eluding me. If anyone can find it it will probably be Allan.

[rbdetsport]

I couldn't find it, but I will keep trying to find it. I remember it looking like a circus tent. Likewise of what it looks like, I am glad to here about this because I think this will increase ridership on the People Mover.

[Michi]

If you ever saw the transit station in Grand Rapids, it is a complete ripoff of that. Pretty uncreative and boring. It will be a giant tent over there.

This is the best that I could find:

I like it. Just not in Detroit.

[Ramcharger]

Considering the city isn

[Zissou]

I think it will be nice. It will help break up the dreariness that the west side of downtown can sometimes have.

[RustTown]

I, too, am heartened by the design. It could have easily been something much more plain, or some half-baked PoMo design.

[tapezord]

If you ever saw the transit station in Grand Rapids, it is a complete ripoff of that. Pretty uncreative and boring. It will be a giant tent over there.

This is the best that I could find:

I like it. Just not in Detroit.

i suppose its better than the old transit hub... a collection of bus shelters bunched together. I remeber driving through cadillac square and thinking to myself that it looked like something that I might have made using legos back in the day.

Does anyone know about the connectivity between the bus portion and the DPM?

[tapezord]

Hopefully that commuter rail to Ann Arbor can maybe start from here instead. Who knows, maybe we could get a light rail system out of this. I know I am being very very optimistic, but this project could lead to so many great things.

Reading through all of the documenst (and by reading I mean a cursory glance) I really have to questions how these planners intend on running commuter rail downtown on road right of ways (ROW). It is one thing to run a LRT vehicle on the Michigan Avenue ROW, but to run a diesel locomotive or DMU with multiple 84 passenger coaches is rediculous.

If you see commuter rail (and from the public meetings and my somewhat less-than expert opinion) I can almost guarantee that you will see a terminus at one of the 3 locations discussed in the AA-DET rail thread (new center, joe louis garage or river east).

that is of course if this actually happens... fingers crossed!

[RustTown]

Tapezord, if the location is indeed Times Square (or whatever the name of the park is), then it will be connected directly to the Times Square People Mover station. I can't imagine them building this new center and not connecting it to the People Mover. I wish plans were more clear.

[tapezord]

Tapezord, if the location is indeed Times Square (or whatever the name of the park is), then it will be connected directly to the Times Square People Mover station. I can't imagine them building this new center and not connecting it to the People Mover. I wish plans were more clear.

just rememeber we are talking about:

a. detroit

b. transit in detroit

logic does not always prevail in this argument

[Jin Kim]

People Mover is not really all that useful for someone who's trying to get around downtown. Even with the improved frequency of the trains since they completed the new Ren Cen station, it's more or less just as quick to walk rather than to take the People Mover.

I work right next to the Time Square station and often go into downtown for lunch, client meetings, etc. Nowadays, the only time I even consider taking the People Mover is when I'm going to Greektown for lunch - basically on the other side of downtown. Even then, I've been walking there more lately.

I mean, lets face it.. Time Square to Greektown is what.. like a quarter mile?

[RustTown]

Still, no transit station should be built downtown without having connections to the People Mover. Regardless of it's current state, it wouldn't be wise to have have a downtown transit hub and not connect all of the transit links downtown. If I remember right, the Times Square station is the main people mover station in that it contains all of the maintenance sheds for the system.

[rbdetsport]

Still, no transit station should be built downtown without having connections to the People Mover. Regardless of it's current state, it wouldn't be wise to have have a downtown transit hub and not connect all of the transit links downtown. If I remember right, the Times Square station is the main people mover station in that it contains all of the maintenance sheds for the system.

Doesn't the plan say it will be connected to the people mover? I thought I got that out of the article.

[Michi]

Well, if nothing else, it is "connected" in that it is immediately adjacent to the station. Kinda like the concept of how Riverfront Towers is connected to the PM only you have to go through tubes, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, elevators, escalators, and everything in between to make the connection. I kidd, but maybe that is what they meant by connection.

[tapezord]

you have to go through tubes, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, elevators, escalators, and everything in between to make the connection. .

you forgot about the small gondola section

(the lesser known brother to the stupid freedom gondola mostrosity)

[Michi]

D'OH! I knew I was missing something. Maybe someday, they'll just replace that mess with an orb thingy.

[Zissou]

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/DSR-2-DOT/message/1422

Transit Center renderings. Enjoy.

[rbdetsport]

Now how did you find that? LOL!!!!! I like the rendering. It opens up the complex to the street more so than many buildings in Detroit. It does in fact look as if it will be connected to the people mover, judging bye how big it is.

[RustTown]

I like it, but I'm even more interested to know why they filled the rendering with buildings that don't even exist in Detroit.