Q-line street car in downtown Detroit.... what was the point of a 180 million dollar light rail shuttle? It's not for mass transit of the 40% of the Detroit population under the poverty line, or 26% without a car

It's for bar hoppers, tourists, concert and ball game attendees, and to increase the property value of the 94 locations bought up by one guy, who pushed the city of Detroit to get a street car system.

He also trademarked several names before the rail system was designed, then bought the naming rights, as well as sponsoring several stations on the route.

Why? Because Quicken Loans realized that bankrupt Detroit was the place to dominate and install a legacy for it's corporation. That, and to get rich. Well, richer.

More than $7 billion in new investment poured into 211 development projects on either side of the streetcar’s path since 2013 - the QLine commissioned study points out.

The QLine will run north from the city’s central business district past the Detroit Tigers stadium, stop at the Red Wings hockey arena, before ending at Grand Boulevard in the New Center neighborhood

And, it's clear that it can't meet the ridership numbers needed to be self sustaining. The QLine already depends on sky-high ridership estimates to break even: 5,000-8,000 passengers per day. If it achieves that total, it’d be the second most trafficked streetcar route in the U.S., Bridge reports. That's just not possible in Detroit. Not in summer, not in winter.

Progress Michigan published a brutal report on the M1 Rail that assessed the actual walkability and access of the light rail. Its conclusion? The M1 Rails serves corporations and not people.

The one possible means of attaining those numbers might be a mandate for employees of the Q Lines corporate benefactors, to use the streetcar is free passes for employees don’t seem out of the realm of possibility. Already, Quicken loans owner Dan Gilbert has scooped up parking garages (1800 parking spaces) in the New Center area, along the north end of the streetcar line.

The data points out that the rail doesn't do much as legitimate public transit for the city —it was built to raise local real estate values. It is a 3.3-mile streetcar confined to the city’s core, Detroit did nothing to help the population, or suburbs and instead joined the growing ranks of American city streetcar systems financed by developers and businesses who stand to gain from such projects.

The politicians are bought and paid for. They're using taxes from the middle and low income to serve the millionaires and political election campaign donors, real estate developers, and property managers.

"One reason this is truly problematic is that Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans, also happens to own 79 downtown properties very close to QLINE. As has been studied and stated in the quote above, transit enhances local property values. Public dollars are being used as an investment device for Dan Gilbert and a small handful of other individuals."

To Detroit boosters, it’s the potential first step in solving the city’s notoriously bad public transit.

To the rest, it's clearly 182 million dollars spent that does nothing to solve Detroit's problems; lack of job growth, lack of access to jobs, poverty, and mass municipal water shutoffs due to the lead poisoning or blood testing of lead levels being 25-30% higher than scientists believe to be a level low enough to not cause brain damage.

 High lead amounts in blood cause autism, anemia, miscarriages, hypertension, ADHD, ASPD, lower IQ, and other neuropsychological functioning such as anxiety, depression, lessened organization of thinking and behavior, reduced speech articulation, lowered language comprehension and production, reduced learning and memory efficiency, reduced fine motor skills, reduced problem solving flexibility, and poor behavioral self-control.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/05/09/qline-detroit-schedule-route/101475122/
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/05/the-streetcar-boondoggle-continues-this-time-in-detroit/526878/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lead-poisoning/symptoms-causes/dxc-20275054
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-lead-testing/#interactive-lead
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/lead-kids-blood-linked-behavioral-emotional-problems