People Mover

I was an exchange student last year and went to visit my friend who was staying nearby Detroit. I didn’t know what this “People mover” was so when I asked her about it, she said it was “People remover”. I must say that our english wasn’t very good. ‘Remover’ didn’t make any sense to me so I started laughing so hard when her host mom said that it, actually, was a “mover”.

I used to ride the People Mover and the trolley when I was younger with my Grandma. I just remember being scared and not looking over the edge when we’d go over the water. But I still loved it.

Featured attraction found in many of the episodes of the indie sci-fi series InZer0 .

almost useless except for parking in a different area than the crowds are, it is still a detroit tradition. it needs some serious updating and perhaps an extension to a real mass transit system, but it’s cute.

This is a place I used to visit when I was little. My Dad used to recieve treatment for cancer at Detroits Harper hospital. I remember spending a lot of time in the hospital waiting, wondering why all of this was necessary. For an eleven year old I dealt with the whole thing pretty well. Before my Dad got too sick to leave the hospital he used to take me down to Greek town to ride the people mover. We didnt do much, other than “people watch” on the people mover. That was my first dose of a city, and Detroit is a city that has sharp contrasts compared to most cities. There was a man in the People mover station at Joe Louis arena doing caricatures. My Dad paid him like five dollars to sketch a picture of me. I still have the picture, he ended up just doing a portrait. In the end my Dad lost his battle, and my days in Detroit were no more. I guess thats the last place I really saw him, so it seems gray. But none of this has to do with the city of Detroit personally, its just exagerated memories from a time when I was just a boy.

Detroit’s sorry excuse for public transportation is worth a round-trip, even if just for laughs. It won’t take you anywhere you can’t easily walk, so it’s more fun if you think of it as an amusement park ride.

It’s a pretty convenient way to get around the downtown area of Detroit and the fare is pretty cheap. Also it’s above ground so you can have a nice view of the city unlike underground subways.

A local told me its nickname is the “People Mugger,” but I’ve never had any problems when riding it, even alone at night. A very convenient way to get around downtown, especially at night, and much cheaper than paying for parking.