urbanMSP

I assume it'll depended whether the current administration will try to spin it as "blue state returning the money the stole" and want the money back or "look how even make state governments more efficient" and wave the amount because I'm 90% certain the MN GOP are banking on the later.
If they do ...

I think I remember someone saying the city wants to market itself towards single vehicle families, families who would normally have 2 or 3 cars anywhere else but can get around fine in the city with just one.
I don't know If whoever said this is actually involved with planing or is just assuming ...

Someone who actually remembers this stuff probably should chime in but from what I've heard 2nd hand from older coworkers, Ventura was all for it and if he had a 2nd term it probably would of gotten to St. Cloud. But Pawlenty didn't want it at first and only changed his mind after mndot proposed a ...

https://x.com/callaghanpeter/status/1894072363567681587?s=46

They just announced they are planning to transition to bus service in the Northstar Corridor.


Again gonna take this with a bucket of salt because how many studies have there been to shake up the status quo in the 2ish decades since ...

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/state-legislator-seeks-to-kill-twin-cities-northstar-commuter-rail/
Looks like it's the annual empty threat to "kill Northstar" again
I swear there has been an attempt even year or so and I take them as seriously as when someone pushes a bill to ...

That reminds me of something a little baffling, apparently it costs so much to build new transmission wires because of nimbyism there's a idea that it's cheaper to throw a battery on a flatbed and and send it via train.

Although this was pitched by a startup and we all know many startup rail ...

Just checking there are no land bridges/wildlife overpasses in the state right?
Only asking because last year when I was visiting relatives down south we stopped by a 150 ft wide land bridge they turned into a little nature park/walking trail and while the sound of the highway was still present it ...

Remind me how long was it for both the green and blue lines to go from "construction is finish" too "the line is officially open" because I can think of a few horror stories about some lines that where fully built, but took 3+ years to start service because of some issue found while testing.

I used to have several older coworkers who used to tell me a place called Boston garden used to be the best restaurant on mainstreet but never recovered after the main cook passed away. I think last time I checked there's 15 restaurants, 2 of which are the only chains. But I do have a suspicion some ...

There was a Sam's club which as a broke middle and high schooler with no car fed me and several friends for multiple summer vacations. Now iirc it's just some offices.
But if I had to bet why Louisiana exists, probably politics where there was an unspoken agreement that SLP gets 3 stations or was ...

At this point I kind wonder which has more passengers
Northstar with it's 4 round trip weekday only schedule
or Borealis/Empire builder's daily schedule only counting stops between St. Paul, Redwing, and Winona.

I was trying to joke a bit with the "at this rate" part, but I'm still curious where things will stand 10 years from now because the way I see the sprawl we have isn't as uniformly spread out but clumps along they major highways and interstates because outside of 494/694 we don't have any massive ...

I think a follow up question would be where does the MSP region spawl end and greater/rural MN begin because a decade ago I wouldn't even consider some of southern suburbs apart of the region
At this rate, in 10 years we might be talking about how sprawling St Cloud is as a suburb or how Faribault ...

I personally don't think it's not as bad as other places in the US, went to visit family in Denver and Texas last year and man was it sprawling(side note a few of them came up where a little surprised to how many trees we had because there used more unobstructed sprawl) but we definitely could do ...

Pretty sure most class IIs are private and technically no share holders to please, but then again BNSF is private and still just as bad as the other class Is.
If I had to guess, a nationalized rail system would probably look a little like the inland water way system then the highway system because ...

I do hope when ever Amtrak release it's full year end report they give passenger numbers for each station because I can't be the only one how sees the "numbers are inflated because they removed a Hiawatha" argument

Anyone got a timetable to what the travel time will be because if the gold line ends up faster then the green line between Minneapolis and St Paul that's gonna be a little funny


I mean, it's an express service traveling at near-freeway speeds in a grade separated trench, so of course it's ...

Anyone got a timetable to what the travel time will be because if the gold line ends up faster then the green line between Minneapolis and St Paul that's gonna be a little funny

iirc they might be using a ford e450 cutaway for most of the mini buses which weigh at least (GCWR) 22,000 lbs and can be configured to sit between 14-24 people, so depending how they set things up they could just barely be on the line.

Out of curiosity does anyone know if the buses the opt outs use for dial services and the ones metro use for mobility requires a CDL?
Saw that one transit provider out west started using those little electric buses mvta tested 2 years ago precisely because they don't require one for drivers.