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DETROIT – The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan officially took control of the QLINE on Tuesday. The 3.3-mile streetcar line that runs along Woodward Avenue in Detroit is now a fully public piece of regional transit.
In a 22-page final report, M-1 Rail, the nonprofit entity that is turning over control of the system that launched in 2017, describes the journey to this point and what backers believe lies ahead.
M-1 Rail CEO Matt Cullen said: “The region will look back on this project as a major inflection point when people started to say, ‘You know, what? Transit works.’
RTA Executive Director Ben Stupka explained during the RTA board’s vote last month to take over the system that the QLINE had always been envisioned as part of a larger local transportation system. It “serves as a linchpin for potential future investments,” he said at the time.
The QLINE has had its share of critics over the years, but improvements, including the addition of a dedicated transit lane outside Little Caesars Arena, have helped alter the narrative. A survey this spring found that 85% of the 700 riders surveyed waited less than 15 minutes and 78% were satisfied with the trip.
The system, which secured $5 million in annual funding from the state of Michigan in 2022, hit a milestone last year of more than 1 million riders, and for 2024 is reporting 3,185 riders daily, which is up from 2,765 in 2023 and 1,720 in 2022. During this year’s NFL draft in Detroit, where the system was running a slightly shorter route because of the event footprint, “QLINE moved 68,377 people over the course of 72 hours,” according to the report. The size of the crowds, however, also meant lengthy wait times and packed trains.
Read the rest of the story at Detroit Free Press
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