Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[VAStationDude]

My westbound 54 bus had automated stop announcements as did the 21 before my bus.

[mulad]

I think there were automated announcements on a 54 I took on Wednesday or Thursday morning, though most of the buses I've been on since then have been older high-floor models which I assume won't be upgraded (though who knows..).

[Tcmetro]

In response to twincitizen, I suppose I could have iterated my point better. Basically, we have the bones for a better HFN, we just need to make some small investments and we could have a really decent HFN.

About automated announcements, they are apparently rolling out right now to all the bus routes. I don't think that the high-floor buses are going to get them, as those will all be retired later this year or perhaps during 2016. We also will have 15 high-floor articulated buses that will linger on until 2018.

[Silophant]

mulad and VAStationDude remind me that I took a 6 on Friday night that had the automated announcements. Does anyone know what's the threshold for "a major transfer point"?

[Andrew_F]

I would however be interested in pinching and pulling at the fringes of those qualifiers, to see if you could get a bigger network with a 6:30-6:30 window of service, instead of 6am-7pm, or by easing or eliminating the Saturday requirement. What if the Saturday requirement was 30-minutes?? I think it's kinda dumb to advertise a "network" of high-freq bus routes (therefore heavily-used), but then remove routes from inclusion in this network because they don't run every 15 minutes on a day with markedly lower ridership (Sat) than weekdays, when most people aren't riding.

tl,dr: the Saturday qualification should be eased to 20 or 30 minute headways, if it means the Hi-Freq network is actually much more extensive than we believe it to be.

Does that make sense?

I'm not sure I agree that there's wisdom in trying to ease the hi-freq inclusion requirements. What is the end goal of that?

In my mind, the purpose of the hi-freq distinction is to say "yes, you can use this route to take an unplanned trip and count on being able to get back without unreasonable inconvenience." I don't have any data for this, but I would guess that more irregular and spontaneous trips take place on Saturdays than weekdays, or that they are at least comparable, despite lower overall ridership (ie, I am guessing most if not all of the ridership difference consists of commuters)-- which I think makes Saturday service levels just as important or perhaps even more important than weekday levels. If the real goal is trying to build a valuable and useful brand that is recognizable among the public as being truly reliable for unplanned trips, we ought to be increasing the requirements to better differentiate, not diluting the brand.

[twincitizen]

I agree, but my entire comment was based on existing financial constraints, no theoretical improvements to frequency. I'm saying it's a somewhat useful brand, but perhaps there are routes (or segments) that are being excluded by a very narrow margin. What benefit is there to excluding a route that *barely* doesn't qualify? Like let's say a nice long chunk of the Route 4 runs on 15-minute headways, but the 15-minute service ends at 6:30pm instead of 7pm. Who benefits by excluding it from the hi-frequency map?

[mattaudio]

If anything, there could be a Hi-Freq-Lite brand... an asterisk... Hi-Freq M-F 6-6. But even that would require caution.
The last thing we'd need is to do for buses what Red Line did for METRO.

[mulad]

Those same routes would be the easiest/cheapest ones to upgrade to Hi-Frequency status, though, and that's probably the preferable alternative for most riders. Route 3 out to Como/Raymond/Cleveland is one good candidate off the top of my head -- I think it had briefly been in the Hi-Frequency Network when it started, but now falls a bit short.

There should be some other maps, though, such as routes that run late into the evening (9 pm and beyond), and Saturday/Sunday routes.

[MNdible]

I've often thought that the reason that the 4 isn't bumped up to Hi Frequency (which could be done for the cost of a couple of more trips per day, trips which would probably generate decent ridership) is that it would make the map look geographically imbalanced -- too many Hi Frequency routes serving the Wedge/Whittier area compared to other parts of the city.

Sometimes perception drives decisions like these.

[RailBaronYarr]

^If so (even if only a contributing factor), that's too bad. The Wedge/Whittier, even CARAG & Lyndale, are among the densest in the city. From a political standpoint, Whittier & Lyndale have median HH incomes equivalent or lower than many areas east of 35W (or big parts of NE). I wonder how bad the outcry would really be (especially if a few on-the-margins routes in other parts of the city were elevated to high-freq as well)?

[xandrex]

^Even if HH incomes are lower, I was how many of those are "transitionary" low incomes. There isn't a lot of sympathy for the "hipsters" who have moved into Whittier and Stevens Square. As far as some people see it, they might make $30K now, but they're on their way to cushy six-figure HH incomes and in the mean time, they've got mommy and daddy to help them out if the paycheck comes up short.

[twincitizen]

Anyone going to this thing at Amsterdam Bar tomorrow?
http://citizensleague.org/events/policy ... nd-beyond/

At the next Policy and a Pint®: Buses, Bikes and Beyond, Steve Policy and a PintSeel (89.3 The Current) will host a discussion about how our region is adapting to the changing needs and desires of residents in both urban and rural areas with regards to mass transit, ride share, biking culture and that mainstay of American transportation: the mighty car.

Steve Seel will talk with panelists Charlie Zelle, Commissioner at Minnesota Department of Transportation, Rita Albrecht, mayor of Bemidji, and John Doan, Director – Housing, Community Works and Transit at Hennepin County.

[Nick]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

https://twitter.com/nickmagrino/status/ ... 9475751936

[acs]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

https://twitter.com/nickmagrino/status/ ... 9475751936

What witchcraft is this??!! This is impossible! Damn you photoshop for deceiving us.

[FISHMANPET]

For reference, they're not being shown on NexTrip yet, which is actually way more useful to me than in station announcements.

If it weren't for ~10 minute frequencies I'd be super mad, because leaving work to catch a train is just me rolling the dice every time.

[Silophant]

Yeah, I noticed as I walked by, excitedly tweeted a picture, then checked the website and had my hopes dashed. Still, progress.

[HuskyGrad]

Finally. Arrival times have been added to the displays at light rail stations.


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[FISHMANPET]

(Stadium Village Station)

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[FISHMANPET]

Downtown East has info. Expect one more update from Lake St Station (hello stalkers)

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[FISHMANPET]

Final update of the night, from, as promised, Lake St.

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