The Eclipse

[PhilmerPhil]

Sure, some of the businesses couldn't survive downtown without their parking, but maybe that's because they're terrible bars and restaurants that people living in walk/bike/transit distance generally find repulsive. Sneaky Pete's anyone?

With more and more people moving into the city, I would hope that we see a shift in downtown businesses that don't necessarily cater to the drive in crowd.

[FISHMANPET]

And if we envision a time where downtown parking will be scarce, I don't think it will be hard to imagine quite a few more people within easy bike/walk/transit distance from downtown to patronize those businesses.

[bandar_seri_begawan]

Travel time includes time not spent on the freeway. And you're assuming no traffic. And 8 minutes only gets you to the edge of SLP or GV, where the 14/17/12 and various express buses all get you downtown pretty easily.

Driving to a downtown parking ramp

And buses have to wait in traffic too.

Edit: (can't link to Metro Transit trip planner) the best trip from that SLP address to downtown was 34 minutes. I love public transportation but to act like it's even in the same realm of convenience as driving (in Minneapolis) is just silly.

[ECtransplant]

But those express routes may not get you anywhere near your destination. So you either have to transfer or walk a long distance.

Downtown is pretty small. You can easily walk from one end of downtown to the other if you had to, but all the buses have multiple stops downtown anyway.

[ECtransplant]

Driving to a downtown parking ramp

And buses have to wait in traffic too.

Edit: (can't link to Metro Transit trip planner) the best trip from that SLP address to downtown was 34 minutes. I love public transportation but to act like it's even in the same realm of convenience as driving (in Minneapolis) is just silly.

The 667 or 668 take 20 minutes to make the same trip. Buses can pass the traffic in the shoulder and you can read, sleep, email, etc. while on the bus -- things you shouldn't be doing while driving.

[go4guy]

I don't live downtown and I can easily get there without driving. I reject your premise. You know those miles of land of land between the downtown core and beltway? People actually live there!

I know people do. I am one of them. In fact, I am close enough where I live right by the Beltline. That is pretty dang close to downtown. And yet, for me, it is much easier and quicker to drive downtown.

[bandar_seri_begawan]

Yeah but those are commuter routes. I want a trip right now that gets me from SLP to downtown. And if that's what I want then it's 10 minutes by car or 34 minutes by bus.

[ECtransplant]

I was responding to the quoted "best trip" time, which is 20 minutes, not 34. Obviously, the bus options will vary at different times during the day.

[Tcmetro]

To be realistic Metro Transit service is pretty bad for choice riders who want to use buses outside of downtown commuting at peak hours. Buses poorly serve the suburbs, are infrequent, and especially the Nicollet Mall routes, crawl to a slow in downtown.

The SLP example is actually not that good of an example of transit. The 12 bus runs every 30 minutes, and during non-peak hours requires a connection to the 6 at Uptown. The 17 also runs every 30 minutes, and uses Hennepin-24th-Nicollet, which is even slower than just taking Hennepin. Then there is the 9, which also runs every 30 minutes, but has worse night service.

So an example scenario of someone in SLP taking a bus from Excelsior Bl to Downtown during peak hours would be; walk 5 min to bus stop, wait 5 min for bus, take bus for 15 min to Uptown, wait 5 min for connection, take 15 min ride to downtown, walk 5 min to destination. That's already a 50 minute trip. To drive and park in the ramp would take maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

We are talking about choice riders who have the money to spend to drive and pay for parking. They aren't going to waste their time taking buses. If you take the 12 during non-peak hours you will likely see that the majority of the riders are commuting from the low-income neighborhoods in SLP and Hopkins or going to/from the jobs in the retail and industrial parks. You likely won't see someone going out to dinner or going to the Guthrie.

[woofner]

Agreed, driving is by far the fastest way to get from anywhere to anywhere in this city. Partially this is because of the ample availability of parking downtown, so is an argument for firm parking maximums. I think it's an even stronger argument to shift spending from roads to transit, interesting that Minneapolis is willing to spend general fund money on roads but not transit and reluctantly on bikes.

[uptowncarag]

There are plenty of great ways to get downtown that don't involve driving.

I live in uptown and I won't go downtown unless I can drive.

[FISHMANPET]

There are plenty of great ways to get downtown that don't involve driving.

I live in uptown and I won't go downtown unless I can drive.

I'm not going to disagree with this or similar sentiments, but since we're talking about the future, I would hope that by then there are better transit options. I can get downtown from Seward in about 10 minutes, so I very rarely drive downtown.

[mattaudio]

So. How about that Eclipse project?

[TommyT]

So. How about that Eclipse project?

If I could "like" this I would

[Archiapolis]

So. How about that Eclipse project?

Hard to talk about when seemingly embargoed subjects include:

Parking count
Massing
Rendering
Exterior Materials

[min-chi-cbus]

So. How about that Eclipse project?

If I could "like" this I would

If I could "meh" this I would.

[kregger22]

Is this in any sort of approval process?

[twincitizen]

Only one way to find out, contact the city planner assigned to the case (usually listed on the Planning Commission agenda page or in the staff report)

Here ya go: [email protected]

[kregger22]

^^^^Thank you. I have sent her an e-mail.

[kregger22]

I received a response from Janelle Widmeier, Senior MPLCity Planner, on the status of this project:

"No applications have been submitted for this project. I haven’t received any updates since it was discussed at the March 6th Planning Commission Committee of the Whole meeting."