Blue Line LRT

[mattaudio]

As someone who worked at one of those major employers, I wished the 27 and 39 were combined... Lake St/Midtown > 26th/28th > Nicollet Ave.

[John21]

Just an observation from Google maps...

I had no idea (had never really looked) that you could park so close to the stations along this line, free of hourly restrictions or anything. I knew about the free parking on Franklin, and the underutilized Lake St P&R, but hadn't really ever looked around 38th or 46th. There basically aren't any restrictions...you can park on neighboring residential streets all day long. Of course there's bus connections at those stations, but they aren't that frequent, or predictable, or protected from weather. I guess I figured on-street utilization/abuse would be high enough that adjacent streets would have "2 hour parking 6am-6pm" and/or residential permits.

I live very near the 38th Street station and we have the parking restrictions in front of my house. They also have them a block over. I see MANY of the same people every day walking from the station and hopping in their cars a block down from my place. I'm always tempted to ask where they live. Something tells me it's within a mile.

[mattaudio]

Yeah, I think it is primarily folks from the neighborhoods but too far to walk. People from the suburbs will use Ft. Snelling or 28th Ave park and rides. My wife sometimes drives to the 46th St station to avoid a transfer, but she parks and boards the 74 rather than the Blue Line.

[EOst]

The Franklin Ave. station has pretty poor maintenance: the elevators pretty much always smell like urine (and have significant vandalism, including intentional broken buttons), the ticket machines and pillars are heavily marked and vandalized, etc. I know Franklin gets a different crowd than some of the other stations, but it really does feel a bit neglected.

[mattaudio]

Is it just me, or is the Blue Line exceptionally slow through downtown south to Cedar Riverside? I'm assuming this because of the DTE interlocking and the Green Line test trains. But wow. Slow.

[IllogicalJake]

Is it just me, or is the Blue Line exceptionally slow through downtown south to Cedar Riverside? I'm assuming this because of the DTE interlocking and the Green Line test trains. But wow. Slow.

I've travelled that route a couple times over the last few days and haven't noticed it being particularly slow, personally...

[VAStationDude]

It is much better now than it's been in a couple years but still not as fast as it was pre green line construction.

[mattaudio]

It was slow when they had slow orders through the construction zone of the interlock, then it seems to have become better, and now it seems slower because of the test trains. My train out of downtown today stopped 5 times outside of stations presumably to wait for clearance to proceed.

[VAStationDude]

Ah. I've not experienced that....yet

[PhilmerPhil]

My friend just texted me this:

"The LRT driver just opened the doors on the WRONG side at a stop. This guy was leaning on the doors on that side and nearly fell out onto the tracks. Smh"

He also said the driver was being trained in.

[mattaudio]

I always figured the default side for door openings at stops would be automated, with driver overrides. They open the doors on each side manually?

[IllogicalJake]

My friend just texted me this:

"The LRT driver just opened the doors on the WRONG side at a stop. This guy was leaning on the doors on that side and nearly fell out onto the tracks. Smh"

He also said the driver was being trained in.

That's a mistake on the driver, sure, but how many signs do they have saying "Do not lean on doors," even with illustrations? One of every door, I think. How dense do you have to be to think it's okay to lean on an LRT door for comfort?

But yeah, there are more drivers in training right now than not. I've noticed some hard stops and slowness, but I expect it with the green line opening coming soon.

[David Greene]

I took the Blue Line from 46th St. to TFS on Sunday. I was coming from Highland so I parked on S. 36th Ave. (I didn't realize how close the creek is!). Anyway, I'd never approached this station from anywhere on foot and I was dismayed by the pedestrian experience. Not knowing better, I walked along the south side of 46th to Hiawatha with Julian in a stroller. Upon reaching Hiawatha I realized I had to make the following pedestrian movements:

- Cross the LRT tracks
- Walk across 46th, to the median, then to the porkchop, then to the sidewalk (three traffic crossings)
- Cross over the LRT tracks *again*
- Walk to the station
- Cross over the LRT tracks a *third time* to get to the northbound platform

I immediately decided I didn't like the prospects of all of that so I walked back the 36th and crossed 46th there. Has this station always had this ridiculous pedestrian layout? It looks like the medians have new concrete so I'm wondering if something changed in response to the accidents that have occurred at this station, maybe removing a pedestrian crossing west of the tracks. I'm also wondering if the way the bike trail crosses the tracks here hasn't been the cause of some of those accidents.

EDIT: I guess I could have avoided two track crossings by staying on the bike trail and approaching the platform from the east but that's not obvious when you're walking at street level. The construction of the space with the public plaza on the west side tends to direct pedestrians there.

[HuskyGrad]

I took the Blue Line from 46th St. to TFS on Sunday. I was coming from Highland so I parked on S. 36th Ave. (I didn't realize how close the creek is!). Anyway, I'd never approached this station from anywhere on foot and I was dismayed by the pedestrian experience. Not knowing better, I walked along the south side of 46th to Hiawatha with Julian in a stroller. Upon reaching Hiawatha I realized I had to make the following pedestrian movements:

- Cross the LRT tracks
- Walk across 46th, to the median, then to the porkchop, then to the sidewalk (three traffic crossings)
- Cross over the LRT tracks *again*
- Walk to the station
- Cross over the LRT tracks a *third time* to get to the northbound platform

I immediately decided I didn't like the prospects of all of that so I walked back the 36th and crossed 46th there. Has this station always had this ridiculous pedestrian layout? It looks like the medians have new concrete so I'm wondering if something changed in response to the accidents that have occurred at this station, maybe removing a pedestrian crossing west of the tracks. I'm also wondering if the way the bike trail crosses the tracks here hasn't been the cause of some of those accidents.

EDIT: I guess I could have avoided two track crossings by staying on the bike trail and approaching the platform from the east but that's not obvious when you're walking at street level. The construction of the space with the public plaza on the west side tends to direct pedestrians there.

You could have walked under the Oaks Station Place arch as well.

[David Greene]

You could have walked under the Oaks Station Place arch as well.

Yes, and I could have crossed 46th at 36th initially, but one has to know that ahead of time. Since I'd never walked there before I didn't and I took the visually most direct route. You can see the station from 46th. It's not at all obvious that one should walk through what looks like a parking entrance.

[Realstreets]

Why do the trains only run every hour after 12:30 AM? I think on the weekends they should run every half hour (or more) until the bars close. I often take a train downtown and have to cut the night short, which is usually fine considering I'm becoming an old man. However, this weekend I'm going to a concert and might have to leave early to make the 12:30 train... Plus, the more people we can get on the train, the less chance they will choose to drink and drive. Any thoughts on contacting Metro Transit on this issue?

[LRV Op Dude]

Why do the trains only run every hour after 12:30 AM? I think on the weekends they should run every half hour (or more) until the bars close. I often take a train downtown and have to cut the night short, which is usually fine considering I'm becoming an old man. However, this weekend I'm going to a concert and might have to leave early to make the 12:30 train... Plus, the more people we can get on the train, the less chance they will choose to drink and drive. Any thoughts on contacting Metro Transit on this issue?

I am not sure what the big deal is. You don't have to leave early because the Blue line leaves Target Field at 1213 am,1:13 am, on Friday and Saturday nights 2:13 am and 2:58 am going southbound.

[HiawathaGuy]

Why do the trains only run every hour after 12:30 AM? I think on the weekends they should run every half hour (or more) until the bars close. I often take a train downtown and have to cut the night short, which is usually fine considering I'm becoming an old man. However, this weekend I'm going to a concert and might have to leave early to make the 12:30 train... Plus, the more people we can get on the train, the less chance they will choose to drink and drive. Any thoughts on contacting Metro Transit on this issue?

I think it's also important to note that it's not Metro Transit's responsibility to make sure people don't drink and drive. From the many times I've taken the last train (drunk train) home, many of the people that are drinking are going to a car they've parked along the route or at a park & ride... so they'll still be drinking and driving, with a 30 min. train ride to help them "sober up".


I think it's also important to remember that very few rail lines run 24/7 in the US or Canada. The Blue Line and the soon to be Green Line will actually have better late night hours than most any rail system in North America. For instance, Montreal's system ends around midnight and starts back up around 5am, and they have the 3rd busiest system in North America (behind NYC & Mexico City) with 1,240,000+ daily riders. Compared to the Blue Line's maybe 30,000+ daily riders.

Just trying to keep it real, since our little rail system has much better operational times than most...

[Chava]

Bars close at 1am here? Give me a late night diner or food option while I wait for train service to begin again, and I am happy camper.

Will they be running later trains for the 4am close time during All Star weekend?

[HiawathaGuy]

Bars close at 1am here? Give me a late night diner or food option while I wait for train service to begin again, and I am happy camper.

Will they be running later trains for the 4am close time during All Star weekend?

Bar time is 2am.

And as LRV Op Dude pointed out, trains depart Target Field Station on Fri/Sat nights at: 11:43, 12:13, 1:13, 2:13, & 2:58... then the line, as always, starts back up again at 4:02. Weeknights it's: 11:43, 12:13 & 1:13, then starting back up at 4:02.

It'll be interesting to see if the proposed late night hourly service on the green line extends to the blue line as well.
Either way, on Fri/Sat nights, it's essentially there already.