Green Line LRT

[ProspectPete]

"mid block intersections Albert and Grotto). So I know that full signal priority would be tough at those major intersections, but my suggestion is that at the mid block intersections the LRT could have full priority. Might help kept moving things along"

Sorry, I made a mistake by saying mid block. I mean that there are secondary intersections approximately every 1/4 mile between Fairview and Marion in St Paul.

[Silophant]

Looks like the car won. Not terribly surprising, since, as mulad said, they waited for the tail end of rush hour, and the 94 rider missed her connection in St. Paul.

[MinnMonkey]

Rode the Green Line to work today and (from Centre Village to Cleveland and University). Including walking time, only took 5 minutes longer than driving...not bad!

Unfortunately at 8 am the trains were pretty empty and had to wait for lights at Bedford, Berry and Eustis (got off at Raymond).

[twincitizen]

Didn't help that the 94 rider had never ridden the bus before and had no idea what she was doing. They should have put her on Route 3 and had Eric Roper take the transfer to Route 94 option, instead of vice versa.

[mulad]

Yeah, that would have been better. I suppose the 8:30 start time is good for showing how LRT becomes the better option for longer trips as frequency drops off, but the bus also likely would have been delayed more on the highway if they'd gone earlier. She did note that the 94 was 5 minutes late getting to 6th & Cedar.

I'm curious what the cyclist's route was. I doubt I'm that fast. We'll see if they include his showering/change-of-clothes time in the overall trip

[mullen]

how about quality of commute. driving 94 is such a stress hassle. the train is quiet and smooth. and yea, choosing 8:30 for this "race" was a mistake.

[PhilmerPhil]

The transit users will have all their morning emails and Twitter updates completed. The biker won't have to make a stop at the gym after work. Too bad those time savings aren't going to be factored!

[mullen]

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophe ... 36161.html

[RailBaronYarr]

I'm curious what the cyclist's route was. I doubt I'm that fast. We'll see if they include his showering/change-of-clothes time in the overall trip

Couldn't a cyclist leave home about 15 minutes earlier by not having to shower before leaving? Obviously don't want to split hairs too much since changing/showering at work is probably more time consuming (and less pleasant) than at home (last Friday certainly was for me). I was also disappointed by the 8:30 start time as it seems to favor cars, and am also curious where the driver parked at the beginning/end of their journey. Many (most? I don't know) downtown car commuters don't park within a 2 minute walk of their front door.

[Silophant]

Yeah, the Strib is rather unique in having a giant private parking lot across the street. It's also basically the first thing you come to after taking the 5th St exit from 94.

It would be interesting if they did this again in a year or so, after the Green Line has been fine-tuned a bit and when the destination is a more typical, less car-friendly location.

[EOst]

The time differences are pretty small anyway. Does it matter all that much? There are very few systems like this where you can count on the train being faster (as opposed to more convenient, more sustainable, etc.) than driving. Even the subway in NYC isn't necessarily faster than a car--maybe in Manhattan, but definitely not in the outer boroughs.

[Didier]

I picked up the first train from Minneapolis at the Westgate Station and rode a few stops, and later in the day I went from Stadium Village to Union Depot.

Overall I thought it was pretty smooth. I didn't take down times, but the stop lights only seemed to be a major nuisance once you got into downtown St. Paul. Other then that, we didn't hit too many on University, and the overall speed felt pretty fast. Generally speaking it's hard to imagine a solo car trip would go much faster. The trains cruise at faster speeds, and the stoplights seemed to negate the time spent at each station.

The only hiccup was a "logjam" near downtown St. Paul -- probably the same thing talindsay mentioned a few pages back. We were stuck around Dale or Western for about five minutes. Other then that, things went smoothly.

One more observation. The Minneapolis end of the ride, really from Raymond to Target Field, is a really dense stretch with a lot of destinations. Midway is Midway. But once you get east of Midway, there's really not a lot going on until you get to St. Paul. Obviously the ridership was somewhat skewed on Day 1 with more people going end-to-end, but practically nobody got on or off at Dale, Western or Victoria. It will be interesting to see how University develops on the eastern side, but for right now it seems like the Raymond-Target Field stretch is going to be the bread and butter of the line.

[mulad]

I think a lot of folks have underestimated the complexity of the signal work for this line. I can't imagine there are many single lines out there that go for such a distance having to obey signals at every intersection (there's about 7.2 miles of it along the new tracks, plus another mile in downtown Minneapolis along the shared tracks). They cross roads that are managed by two cities, two counties, and MnDOT.

I was pretty annoyed when there was that report last month that some special equipment for St. Paul had only just arrived. There was a city traffic guy who said something like, "I don't know why people are complaining, we're still a month away from opening" -- I don't know how long it takes to get this stuff going, but I was really doubtful that a month was enough time.

[grant1simons2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUpr ... YJiYA#t=33

Just posted by metro transit

[mullen]

i wonder what percentage of these happy people i saw riding the trains this weekend would ever set foot on a bus.

[ProspectPete]

Thats a really good question.... I was wondering myself what makes LRT so much more attractive and appealing than a bus. Anyone?
I do think it will pull a lot of people who never ever wouldve ridden the bus.

[twincitizen]

I wonder what percentage of these happy people i saw riding the trains this weekend would ever set foot on a bus.

I'm sure we're all wondering that very thing. However, the thing about the Green Line is that it doesn't have Park & Rides. How many people this weekend drove to within vicinity of the line, competed for parking (possibly paid), just to ride it as a novelty? Surely, quite a few of them did just that. It's pretty easy to park just about anywhere in Frogtown or Midway, not to mention insanely cheap parking DT St. Paul. On the flip side, a lot of the people riding on Saturday probably took a bus to catch it somewhere along the line, even if not regular riders.

Fun fact I forgot to share earlier: on my single eastbound trip from Hennepin Ave to Victoria Ave, the following actual people boarded: a hipster with a bicycle, a young disabled person in an electric wheelchair, and a visually impaired person with a service dog. I was strangely upset at the guy with the bike, just because the trains were so damn packed full. I'm sure he had somewhere to be, as he was traveling alone, but it was a major PITA.

[grant1simons2]

Well from my experience, and this is going to sound stupid. But when I rode the bus to get to the station there was a lot of use of the N word and a ton of people who just put their feet on the seats and didn't respect anything. On the rail, at least the green line, it's for commuters and students and occasionally shoppers. You get less of that obnoxious crowd or the disrespect. It sounds really stupid but I think it might be why

[mullen]

this line feels more "big city" for various reasons. maybe because we have the beginning semblance of a transit system. but yes, i find the allure of the train vs bus to be interesting study.

[go4guy]

Personally, I never even think to ride the bus. But am excited to use the LRT when ever I can. And to be honest, I cannot really explain why.