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I was on the southbound QLine platform at Woodward and Ferry in Midtown Detroit about a week ago, wondering why there was only one tiny overhead space heater, about a foot long, warming one person.
The rest of us stood in the cold.
A few minutes is no big deal. But 10 or 15 minutes in arctic temperatures is not so great. It was about 18 degrees, but it seemed colder. Other times the temperature has been in the single digits.
Some people will accuse me of being a wimp. They'll point out that people who wait for buses in the city have no heaters and sometimes no shelters.
Still, as I stood on the platform, I asked the guy staying toasty warm under the heater why there was only one tiny one. He speculated that the system can't afford a bigger unit or multiple heaters.
I've got a yearly pass for the QLine, so I'm all in.
But it would make sense to have bigger heaters or more of them. That's what I would do if I were interested in upping ridership in the winter months.
I asked Dan Lajina, spokesman for the M-1 Rail authority that runs the streetcars, to comment. He responds by email:
Heaters at outdoor public transit stations are a premier amenity for riders. We will evaluate the use and efficiency for the heaters as we do for all aspects of operations.
With 15-minute headway times between streetcars, we’ve found most riders pleased by the heating provided.
You can't include me among "most riders."
