The QLine streetcar in Detroit will resume operations in late summer.
Operations of the 3.3-mile streetcar line have been suspended since March 29 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
M-1 Rail, which operates the service, said the resumption of service will hinge on such factors as COVID-19 virus containment, return to office work for major employers along the route, stores and restaurants reopening without restrictions, and the resumption of attendance at sporting and entertainment events.
Free rides on Detroit’s QLINE streetcar system are being extended through June 30.
The 3.3-mile line opened on May 12 and ridership has averaged 8,300 on Friday through Sunday and 5,120 on Monday through Thursday.
The system has also had some teething problems, including long waits.
Thus far only four of the system’s Brookville articulated streetcars have been operating, leading to waiting times as long as 45 minutes. The average wait time is scheduled to be 20 minutes.
M-1 Rail Chief Executive Officer Matt Cullen said delaying collecting fares “will help integrate the streetcar into daily commutes and provide the necessary time for educating the riding public about riding the system.”
M-1 Rail, which operates the streetcar network, also said extending the introductory period will allow a refinement of operations to accommodate demand.
Street teams will be assigned to station stops to assist riders in navigating the system and connecting to their destinations.
The QLine runs down Woodward Avenue between downtown Detroit and the New Center business district.
The Detroit QLINE began revenue service last week over a 3.3-mile route that cost $180 million to develop.
It was the first streetcar service in Detroit since April 8, 1956.
To celebrate the opening of the streetcar service, Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation are offering $5 one-way fares ($2.50 for children ages 2 to 12) from Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Royal Oak, Troy, and Pontiac to the Detroit station, a half block from the Baltimore Street Q Line stop near the Penske Tech Center maintenance facility in New Center.
The offer is available through May 21.
Merchants along the streetcar line offered special discounts this past weekend. Passengers were able to ride the streetcars for free.
The QLINE uses cars built by Pennsylvania-based Brookville Equipment Corporation that run on batteries at the ends of the routes and draw power from overhead wires in the middle of the system.
The streetcars run between Detroit’s New Center business area and the downtown riverfront district.
Pennsylvania-based Brookville Equipment said this week it has delivered the fifth and sixth off-wire-capable Liberty Streetcars to the Detroit-based QLINE system “ahead of contractual delivery dates and prior to the QLINE’s recently announced May 12 start of revenue service.”
The cars were built in Brookville, Pennsylvania, and will operate on a 6.6-mile loop on Woodward Avenue without catenary for 60 percent of the route.
Other features of the nearly 67-foot long cars are a 70 percent-plus low-floor area, station-level passenger boarding, and the capability to transport up to 125 passengers.
“Throughout the project, our deliveries occurred [on] an average of 57 days ahead of their contractual dates, beginning with the pilot vehicle’s arrival in September 2016,” Brookville said in a news release “Since that time, the streetcars have been gradually undergoing testing in preparation for the forthcoming line opening.”
Brookville also has delivered Liberty Streetcars to Dallas Area Rapid Transit and is under contract with the City of Oklahoma City and the City of Milwaukee for the production of similar vehicles.
The first streetcar arrived in Detroit on Wednesday.
“Receiving the first QLINE streetcar at this time will provide M-1 RAIL a greater opportunity to help Detroiters acclimate to the idea of sharing the road with a streetcar, and give us additional time for driver training,” said M-1 Rail Chief of Operations Paul Childs in a statement.
The car was built by Pennsylvania-based Brookville Equipment Corporation and arrived nearly two months ahead of initial projections, M-1 Rail officials said in a news release.
The three-piece QLINE streetcars are 66 feet in length and have a capacity of 125 passengers per car.
QLINE streetcars will share the road with vehicular traffic and have a top speed of 35 mph. Each car will offer Wi-Fi access, vertical bike racks, and heating and cooling systems.
QLINE expects to begin revenue service in spring 2017.
Track testing of the Detroit QLINE streetcar route because last week using a motorized inspection car.
Detroit M-1 Rail, which will operate the 3.3-mile line along Woodward Avenue, said the speeder checked for obstructions and reviewed the physical dimensions of infrastructure to ensure proper maintenance of traffic.
M-1 Rail said installation of the overhead catenary system is 60 percent complete and that 85 percent of the poles have been installed.
Track installation is 83 percent complete. Revenue service is expected to begin in early 2017.
Quicken Loans already has its name on a sports arena in Cleveland and now the Michigan-based company will soon see its name on the Detroit streetcar line.
The finance company and M-1 Rail announced last week that the streetcar system will be known as the QLINE and cars will feature a stylized “Q” logo that they said “symbolizes the connectivity accomplished through the rail line.”
Quicken Loans received the naming rights to the streetcar line last May due to its financial support for the project. The companies will also be one of 20 station sponsors.
“The launch of this modern streetcar marks a monumental moment in the development of Detroit in the 21st Century,” said Quicken Loans President and Chief Marketing Officer Jay Farner in a statement. “Quicken Loans is proud to play our part in the beginning stages of modernizing the transit system in our burgeoning urban core.”
The QLINE is expected to be completed late this year. The first streetcar will be delivered during the fourth quarter.
Cars will operate at a top speed of 35 mph over a 3.3-mile route from Congress Street in downtown Detroit to West Grand Boulevard. Construction began in 2014.
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