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I’ve always thought transforming it to an elevated trail would be so beneficial to the area. While this is nowhere near as large as NYC’s High LIne, I’ve walked that (old elevated train lines) and it’s wonderful. Why not use what is there and create a safe area to walk with a great view of the area.
I suspect that once they acquired the right of way, IU has saved a million dollars a year in communications cost, because they were able to run fiber optic cable along the right of way.
So even if they never run another train again, as long as the campus is split between 10th street and 16th street, they will continue to save money.
While being a solid transit proponent, I maintain that transit and transportation should be efficient and effective. To those ends, efficiency reflects operating costs versus ridership (i.e. cost per rider, cost per mile and cost per hours) but also effectiveness as related to service hours and frequency sufficient to provide a reliable and useable service.
Clearly the People Mover was a flawed system from the beginning. Very slow and not operable during strong winds, and a surprisingly bumpy ride (for no better words) — particularly shocking for the expense to construct and the fact that any rail or rubber tired fixed guideway system should be smooth, fast, and available in inclement weather.
Comparable rubber tired or cable systems operate in airports such as Cincinnati, Denver and Atlanta. However, the O’Hare Airport terminal connector is the more comparable to the defunct IU/Methodist People Mover given that it operates along an elevated guideway outside and exposed to weather. The initial system at O’Hare was rubber tired; it was rebuilt as steel wheel/steel rail. Other comparable systems that are proved, reliable, practical and operating outside include urban systems such as Vancouver SkyTrain and Dubai metro (fully automated, most elevated, some tunnel) and shorter airport systems in Phoenix (Sky Harbor Airport), Houston (Bush Airport), Seattle (SeaTac Airport), and Newark (Liberty Airport)
IU/Methodist perhaps should have better considered the designer and manufacturer before having plopped down $40 million. One asks who made this [poor] decision in manufacturer choice. Was this system the lowest cost bid? What other options were considered, Were operating and maintenance cost underestimated or did they rise significantly, and if so, why? Often, the lowest bid may not reflect the best solution. One might infer that this may well be the case for this people mover.
So unfortunate. And since the system is likely proprietary, it may be difficult and too costly from the system control and operations standpoints to retrofit another system. But the operating agreement with the manufacturer is not mentioned in this article.
The NYC High Line and the Minnesota Zoo Treetop trails are very cool and I would support the People Mover turned into a similar walkway if the People Mover went elsewhere instead just between two hospitals. Turning the People Mover into a walkway which skirts the edge of “the historic black community” doesn’t seem feasible. It would make much more sense if it passed by the Madame Walker Theatre and onward to downtown and/or the zoo. The proposed route just isn’t very exciting sightseeing-wise