April 1, 2019: QLine well short of ridership goals and plagued by delays in Detroit

After a year of constant problems, the shiny electric streetcar that hums down Detroit’s main thoroughfare has proven more troubled than trusty.

The QLine, the privately operated streetcar that launched along 3.3 miles of Woodward Avenue last May, attracted less than half of its projected riders for several months its first year, as it was beset by traffic snarls and dwindling popularity.

The train that reaches top speeds of 30 mph averaged more than five stoppages a week, a total of 267, and was frequently operating behind schedule due to parked cars on its tracks and traffic jams near the Little Caesars Arena.

Records obtained by Bridge Magazine show the streetcar fell well short of expectations of 5,000 to 8,000 riders per day.

Daily riders averaged 2,700 from November through March, down from 4,322 per day from May to October, when four of those months rides were free of charge. The QLine began its fees of $1.50 for three-hour passes in September.

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And just 130 people in the city of more than 650,000 bought annual passes, while 741 bought monthly ones (an average of less than 100 per month) since they went on sale in September, according to M-1 Rail, the nonprofit that operates the streetcar.

“Ridership is one measure of success. It’s an important measure. It’s not the only measure,” said Dan Lijana, spokesman for the M-1 RAIL.

“The first hurdle that the QLine helped overcome was to demonstrate to the federal and state government that a large-scale transit project in Detroit could bring together the community,” Lijana said. “It did.”