The Detroit People Mover and the Promise of Non-Essential Transit

It’s well after seven p.m., and the evening sunlight has long since faded from the windows of the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit, but Darryl Phillips’ face still brightens up the whole room.

Darryl Phillips: Oh, yeah, I’m a big — I love any public transit, but like, rail is like the best. Of course, everyone knows that. 

Phillips is a marketing coordinator and a master’s student in urban studies and planning at Wayne State University. He lives in an apartment complex in the heart of the city’s financial district, with direct access to one of Detroit’s most unusual forms of public transportation: the People Mover.

Phillips: Whenever it’s working, whether I need to use it or not, I like to just go on there and ride around or read a book…. like, it’s not super useful, but when– when I need to, yeah, I use it a lot.

So what is the People Mover, and what use does the city of Detroit have for a public transit system that isn’t “super useful?” 

The People Mover is a one-track, elevated, autonomous train that has been in operation for the past 37 years. Built through a grant from the federal government via the Urban and Mass Transportation Administration, it was intended as a demonstration of the potential for a comprehensive public transit network across the city. 

But the People Mover was a lightning rod for criticism before service even began. Construction struggled through delays and came in 73 million dollars over budget. City Councilman Mel Ravitz said that he wished it had never been built in the first place. The UMTA even threatened to withhold the funding it had awarded to the city before Mayor Coleman A. Young personally vouched for the project’s long-term economic benefits. The LA Times reveled in Detroit’s misery, labeling the People Mover “a huge boondoggle and a classic example of government bureaucracy run rampant.” 

The first driverless train finally left the station in July of 1987. Public interest in the People Mover initially generated moderate ridership, but the novelty gradually wore off. An average of 14,000 passengers rode the train per day in the ‘80s, but that number ebbed to 6,000 by 2012. So far in 2024, daily ridership has averaged around 4,700 people — about 1.6% of the system’s full capacity. 

Phillips conceded that the People Mover has limited use as a form of public transit. With just a single track, trains can only circulate in one direction, and the entire loop is located downtown, with no connections to any of Detroit’s primary residential areas.

But in spite of its limitations, Phillips is still a People Mover appreciator — dedicated enough to tack on an extra three hours to one of his workdays in order to attend a focus group organized by the Detroit Transportation Corporation to solicit feedback on the system’s services.

Robert Cramer cracked open his first Diet Pepsi of the evening, and welcomed everyone to the focus group. The General Manager of the DTC had prepared a slide presentation to provide the 22 attendees with updates on the People Mover’s pause in operations for track improvements, as well as the purchase of additional train cars.

He only managed to get to the second slide before hands sprung up across the conference room. For the next hour, Cramer and the rest of the People Mover staff fielded questions that touched on a wide range of topics: from lighting levels inside the cars to necessary repairs to escalators and elevators, matters as simple as inadequate signage all the way to the feasibility of system expansion. 

Cramer and his staff listened intently to every comment and concern, called on individuals by name, and brought a few moments of levity to an otherwise earnest meeting. For Cramer, this combination of sincerity and humor is consistent with the identity of the People Mover itself. No, it’s not essential public transit for the city, but Cramer said that the system’s unique character actually offers more for the people of Detroit than some other forms of transportation.

Robert Cramer: I think we can also embrace the weirdness, quirkiness, uniqueness, and the benefit that that brings to downtown and the city and the region.

In the last few years, the Detroit Transportation Corporation has leaned into the novelty of the People Mover in an effort to boost ridership. Stations regularly host pop-up events that are free for the whole community, ranging from DJ sets to pilates, and have “wrapped” trains to repurpose them as billboards that spread awareness of charitable causes. The DTC partnered with a local waste management company to make the People Mover entirely free to ride in 2024. Cramer had hoped to see a fifty percent increase in ridership as a result of this policy. So far, it’s up by 120 percent. During the focus group, Cramer also announced that as long as he had any say in the matter, People Mover fares would remain free in perpetuity.

Cramer’s declaration rippled through the conference room, raising eyebrows and spirits. Sensing an opportunity, Cramer thanked everyone who was in attendance that day and implored them to consider one question: were they prepared to be a People Mover champion?

Darryl Phillips said that he was. For him, the People Mover ought to be a point of pride for Detroit, an asset that complicates the caricature of a faltering, car-centered, has-been of a town.

Phillips: Detroit has so much to be proud of. There’s so much history here, and to be able to take the things that we do have, make them great and share it with as many people that visit the city or live in the city or commute in and out of work. I think that’s a powerful message that would relieve some of the stigma that follows Detroit. 

Cramer was pleased with the evening’s conversation. He viewed it as proof of the community’s belief in the People Mover’s potential to transcend the conventions of public transit and become an engine for continued development in downtown Detroit. 

Cramer: Because of the uniqueness of our system and the location we’re in and all the other great effort kind of pushing the city and downtown of the region all in the same positive direction, that- that’s something that we can add to while we’re also moving people around.

The People Mover is set to resume operations before the end of November, with the one– millionth ride of the year estimated to occur not long after Thanksgiving. Cramer hinted at the possibility of a celebration to mark the milestone — A silent disco? Laser tag? Confetti cannons? — but would not reveal any further details. He’s already busy planning for a higher number next year.

^{This story was updated on January 27th, 2025 to correct the name of the Detroit Transportation Corporation and incorporate information they provided on their ridership in 2024.}