Page 120 of 146

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 2nd, 2020, 1:31 pm
by dajazz
all respondents will receive a $5 Starbucks gift card.
Why not receive a free all-day (or all-weekend) transit pass?
A lot of respondents already have a monthly bus pass, and caffeine is always welcome.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 2nd, 2020, 10:17 pm
by Multimodal
A lot of respondents already have a monthly bus pass, and caffeine is always welcome.
How about a choice of a free day pass, fee weekend pass, or $5 off a monthly pass? (It would be interesting to know what percentage of riders have monthly passes.)

Or support local businesses. Much like local taxi companies missed out on ride sharing because they wouldn’t band together to have an app, it seems a shame that local businesses (start with coffee shops?) don’t have a shared loyalty card that Metro Transit could offer instead of Starbucks.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 3rd, 2020, 12:24 pm
by MattW
A lot of respondents already have a monthly bus pass, and caffeine is always welcome.
How about a choice of a free day pass, fee weekend pass, or $5 off a monthly pass? (It would be interesting to know what percentage of riders have monthly passes.)

Or support local businesses. Much like local taxi companies missed out on ride sharing because they wouldn’t band together to have an app, it seems a shame that local businesses (start with coffee shops?) don’t have a shared loyalty card that Metro Transit could offer instead of Starbucks.
Providing a reward that is related to the subject being examined is poor survey design.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 3rd, 2020, 1:35 pm
by mamundsen
A lot of respondents already have a monthly bus pass, and caffeine is always welcome.
How about a choice of a free day pass, fee weekend pass, or $5 off a monthly pass? (It would be interesting to know what percentage of riders have monthly passes.)

Or support local businesses. Much like local taxi companies missed out on ride sharing because they wouldn’t band together to have an app, it seems a shame that local businesses (start with coffee shops?) don’t have a shared loyalty card that Metro Transit could offer instead of Starbucks.

Most of us have monthly passes paid through payroll deductions. No way for Metro Transit to incentivize me with anything related to what I pay them.

Personally, I did not need a reward... but my wife appreciates the free drink.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 4th, 2020, 4:17 pm
by Vagueperson
"most of us" ?

that would be nice if true.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 5th, 2020, 6:45 pm
by Tcmetro
Metro Transit is going to be adding some service back next Saturday, 6/13/2020.

https://www.metrotransit.org/minor-serv ... ay-june-13
  • Buses trips restored before 4:30 am and after 11 pm.
  • Light Rail (METRO Blue/Green Lines) to continue to operate every 20 minutes from 6 am to 9 pm. Airport shuttle will run 24 hours.
  • METRO Red Line to run Weekday (20 minute frequency) schedules.
  • METRO A & C Lines to run Saturday (10 minute frequency) schedules.
  • Northstar to operate two peak-direction round-trips on weekdays.
  • Saturday schedules: Routes 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 30, 32, 46, 63, 65, 67, 68, 80, 83, 84, 87, 219, 225, 227, 538, 539, 540, 615, 716, 722, 723, 805, 852.
  • Saturday schedules with added trips: Routes 3, 10, 14, 17, 18, 54, 62, 64, 71, 612, 724.
  • Regular weekday schedules: 25, 27, 61, 70, 75, 94, 515, 604, 717, 721, 755, 765, 801.
  • Reduced weekday schedules: 134, 141, 250, 264, 270, 294, 353, 361, 535, 553, 578, 663, 664, 667, 670, 756, 760, 761, 763, 764, 766, 768, 824, 831, 850, 865, MG 781.
  • No service: 12, 39, 53, 59, 111, 113, 114, 115, 118, 129, 133, 135, 146, 156, 223, 252, 261, 262, 263, 265, 272, 275, 288, 350, 351, 355, 364, 365, 375, 415, 417, 452, 467, 537, 542, 552, 554, 558, 579, 587, 588, 589, 643, 652, 668, 671, 672, 673, 679, 705, 758, 762, 825, 854, 860, MG 780, MG 782, MG 783, MG 785, MG 787, MG 788, MG 789.
Also there are some minor changes to a few routes:
  • Route 3: Two weekday and some selected Saturday evening trips are being cut back from the "S" (Energy Park) branch to the "E" Como/Eustis terminal.
  • Route 16: Minor time changes.
  • Route 21: Minor time changes.
  • Route 83: Minor time changes.
I also noticed some bus trips that are not coming back that Metro Transit did not mention in the service change summary, listed below. I hope that these night trips come back in the future.
  • Green Line Night Bus.
  • Route 3: 2:18 AM 3S trip from 5th St Ramp in Minneapolis to Norris/Energy Park. (Sat schedule only)
  • Route 4: 1:55 AM 4A trip from 1st St/Marquette to Bryant/38th. (Sat schedule only)
  • Route 5: 1:25 AM 5K trip from Mall of America to 44th/Fremont, 2:39 AM 5K trip from Chicago/56th to 44th/Fremont, 3:39 AM 5K trip from Chicago/56th to 44th/Fremont, 1:31 AM 5B trip from Brooklyn Center to Chicago/56th, 2:50 AM 5B trip from 8th St/Nicollet to Chicago/56th. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 6: 1:41 AM 6C trip from 27th Ave/University to Southdale via Xerxes. (Sat schedule only)
  • Route 10: 2:10 and 3:10 AM 10C trips from Nicollet/7th St to Central/41st Ave, 1:38 and 2:40 AM (1:41 and 2:41 AM Sundays) trips from Central/41st Ave to Nicollet/7th St. 3:40 AM (3:41 AM Sundays) trip from Central/41st Ave to Convention Center. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 18: 2:10 and 3:10 AM 18A trips from Nicollet/7th St to Nicollet/66th St. 2:42 AM (2:43 AM Sundays) trip from Nicollet/66th St to Nicollet/7th St. 3:42 AM (3:43 AM Sundays) trip from Nicollet/66th St to Nicollet/3rd St. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 19: 2:31 and 3:31 AM trips from Penn/44th Ave to 7th St Ramp. (Sat/Sun schedule).
  • Route 21: 1:08 AM 21A trip from Uptown to 5th St/Minnesota on the Saturday schedule. 1:19 AM 21C trip from Uptown to University/Snelling on the Sunday schedule. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 724: 1:43 AM trip from Brooklyn Center to Starlite. 3:56 AM trip from Starlite to Brooklyn Center. (Sat schedule)
I hope that Metro Transit starts a bus replacement service along the Blue and Green Lines from 4 am - 6 am and 9 pm - 1 am. It's quite ridiculous that the highest ridership lines are all of a sudden without night and early morning service.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 5th, 2020, 7:00 pm
by Bakken2016
Metro Transit is going to be adding some service back next Saturday, 6/13/2020.

https://www.metrotransit.org/minor-serv ... ay-june-13
  • Buses trips restored before 4:30 am and after 11 pm.
  • Light Rail (METRO Blue/Green Lines) to continue to operate every 20 minutes from 6 am to 9 pm. Airport shuttle will run 24 hours.
  • METRO Red Line to run Weekday (20 minute frequency) schedules.
  • METRO A & C Lines to run Saturday (10 minute frequency) schedules.
  • Northstar to operate two peak-direction round-trips on weekdays.
  • Saturday schedules: Routes 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 30, 32, 46, 63, 65, 67, 68, 80, 83, 84, 87, 219, 225, 227, 538, 539, 540, 615, 716, 722, 723, 805, 852.
  • Saturday schedules with added trips: Routes 3, 10, 14, 17, 18, 54, 62, 64, 71, 612, 724.
  • Regular weekday schedules: 25, 27, 61, 70, 75, 94, 515, 604, 717, 721, 755, 765, 801.
  • Reduced weekday schedules: 134, 141, 250, 264, 270, 294, 353, 361, 535, 553, 578, 663, 664, 667, 670, 756, 760, 761, 763, 764, 766, 768, 824, 831, 850, 865, MG 781.
  • No service: 12, 39, 53, 59, 111, 113, 114, 115, 118, 129, 133, 135, 146, 156, 223, 252, 261, 262, 263, 265, 272, 275, 288, 350, 351, 355, 364, 365, 375, 415, 417, 452, 467, 537, 542, 552, 554, 558, 579, 587, 588, 589, 643, 652, 668, 671, 672, 673, 679, 705, 758, 762, 825, 854, 860, MG 780, MG 782, MG 783, MG 785, MG 787, MG 788, MG 789.
Also there are some minor changes to a few routes:
  • Route 3: Two weekday and some selected Saturday evening trips are being cut back from the "S" (Energy Park) branch to the "E" Como/Eustis terminal.
  • Route 16: Minor time changes.
  • Route 21: Minor time changes.
  • Route 83: Minor time changes.
I also noticed some bus trips that are not coming back that Metro Transit did not mention in the service change summary, listed below. I hope that these night trips come back in the future.
  • Green Line Night Bus.
  • Route 3: 2:18 AM 3S trip from 5th St Ramp in Minneapolis to Norris/Energy Park. (Sat schedule only)
  • Route 4: 1:55 AM 4A trip from 1st St/Marquette to Bryant/38th. (Sat schedule only)
  • Route 5: 1:25 AM 5K trip from Mall of America to 44th/Fremont, 2:39 AM 5K trip from Chicago/56th to 44th/Fremont, 3:39 AM 5K trip from Chicago/56th to 44th/Fremont, 1:31 AM 5B trip from Brooklyn Center to Chicago/56th, 2:50 AM 5B trip from 8th St/Nicollet to Chicago/56th. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 6: 1:41 AM 6C trip from 27th Ave/University to Southdale via Xerxes. (Sat schedule only)
  • Route 10: 2:10 and 3:10 AM 10C trips from Nicollet/7th St to Central/41st Ave, 1:38 and 2:40 AM (1:41 and 2:41 AM Sundays) trips from Central/41st Ave to Nicollet/7th St. 3:40 AM (3:41 AM Sundays) trip from Central/41st Ave to Convention Center. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 18: 2:10 and 3:10 AM 18A trips from Nicollet/7th St to Nicollet/66th St. 2:42 AM (2:43 AM Sundays) trip from Nicollet/66th St to Nicollet/7th St. 3:42 AM (3:43 AM Sundays) trip from Nicollet/66th St to Nicollet/3rd St. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 19: 2:31 and 3:31 AM trips from Penn/44th Ave to 7th St Ramp. (Sat/Sun schedule).
  • Route 21: 1:08 AM 21A trip from Uptown to 5th St/Minnesota on the Saturday schedule. 1:19 AM 21C trip from Uptown to University/Snelling on the Sunday schedule. (Sat/Sun schedule)
  • Route 724: 1:43 AM trip from Brooklyn Center to Starlite. 3:56 AM trip from Starlite to Brooklyn Center. (Sat schedule)
I hope that Metro Transit starts a bus replacement service along the Blue and Green Lines from 4 am - 6 am and 9 pm - 1 am. It's quite ridiculous that the highest ridership lines are all of a sudden without night and early morning service.
The Green Line overnight bus is over completely, they can’t justify running it anymore with the ridership. Also the reason the LRT is in such limited schedules is due to operator availability.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 6th, 2020, 7:59 am
by Tcmetro
Metropolitan Council has posted the applications for the 2020 Regional Solicitation online. These projects will be scored and only a select few will be funded. Evaluations of proposals should start soon, as the application period has closed.

https://metrocouncil.org/Transportation ... urce=child

Relevant to public transit, here are the applications:

Transit Expansion
  • SW Transit - 494 Prime expansion. $7 million project to purchase 15 buses (10 electric/5 regular) and operate an on-demand service between Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Plymouth, and Maple Grove.
  • Metro Transit - Route 274. $1.7 million project to operate new route with four round trips between Stillwater and Minneapolis.
  • Metro Transit - Route 54. $2.2 million project to improve weekday off-peak frequency to 10 mins between MOA and Downtown St Paul.
  • Metro Transit - Route 17. $3.1 million project to improve route to high frequency (15 min) standards between Downtown Minneapolis and Blake Rd Green Line on weekdays and Saturdays.
  • Metro Transit - Route 219. $2.2 million project to improve weekday frequency to 20 mins.
  • Metro Transit - Route 23. $3.8 million project to improve weekday and Saturday frequency to 20 mins.
  • Metro Transit - Route 757. $5.8 million project to operate a new route along Hwy 55 from Dunkirk Lane to Downtown Minneapolis. Weekday peak and midday service, every 30 minutes.
  • Southwest Transit - Golden Triangle Mobility Hub. $5.1 million project to build a bus station at Washington and Valley View, purchase 5 buses (for SW Prime expansion it looks like), and 3 cars for a carsharing service. It looks like the mobility hub would be used as a connecting point between SW Prime, MVTA Route 498 (the Shakopee-Eden Prairie bus route), a new SW Transit service to MOA, the American Blvd arterial BRT, an autonomous mobility service, carsharing, bikesharing, and scooter sharing.
  • MVTA - Route 436. $2.3 million to purchase 1 bus and expand Route 436 to operate between 46th St Blue Line, Viking Lakes, and Eagan Transit Station.
  • Washington County - Woodbury/494 Gold Line Park and Ride. $15.2 million project to build a 380-space parking ramp at the Gold Line terminal in Woodbury.
Transit Modernization
  • SW Transit - SW Village Station. $6.1 million project to build a solar array at SW Village Station.
  • Dakota County - 140th St Red Line. $3 million project to build a pedestrian bridge at 140th St and Cedar.
  • Dakota County - 147th St Red Line. $4.8 million project to build a skyway at the 147th St Red Line station.
  • MVTA - Burnsville Bus Garage - N/A - File seems to be corrupted.
  • MVTA - Burnsville Station. $820K project to add an elevator to the parking deck.
  • SW Transit - East Creek Station. $554K project to implement signal priority to improve bus travel times and reduce traffic backups when cars are leaving after a bus drops off passengers.
  • MVTA - Eagan Station. $550K project to add an elevator.
  • Metro Transit - Fareboxes. $8.8 million project to replace aged fareboxes.
  • Metro Transit - Downtown St Paul Stations. $10.5 million to build 9 BRT stations supporting the Gold Line, B Line, and Rush Line.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 6th, 2020, 8:25 am
by alexschief
The #23 bus should be a lot more frequent than every 20 minutes, but it's a good start that Metro Transit wants to invest in it.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 7th, 2020, 3:50 pm
by DanPatchToget
My thoughts on some of these proposals:

SW Transit - 494 Prime expansion: Makes sense to me. It's pretty clear from past experiences that local bus routes in that area will get little if any ridership. I wonder how long it would take and how much would it be for me to go from Eden Prairie to Maple Grove. If I'm not in a hurry and the price is right I'd take it instead of driving to Arbor Lakes to visit my friend.

Metro Transit - Route 219 and Metro Transit - Route 23: How is it that a lightly used suburban local route might get the same frequency as a much busier urban crosstown route? I would be interested in seeing the exact ridership data for these routes.

Metro Transit - Route 757: Not sure if this would do well. Would it operate on Highway 55 the whole time with bus stops on the shoulder, or operate off the highway to directly serve certain areas? Seems like it would make more sense to have a Southwest Prime-like service along the Highway 55 Corridor.

Southwest Transit - Golden Triangle Mobility Hub: Why would they not put it next to the Golden Triangle Station? Putting it at a random street intersection makes absolutely no sense and I really hope this doesn't get funded. I can't see Route 498 performing well pre-pandemic and I won't hold my breath on it coming back post-pandemic. American Blvd aBRT is a far way off and the current proposal is severely flawed, and I don't see SW Transit service to the MoA working out unless it's Prime. Put this "mobility hub" next to the light rail station and then we'll talk.

Washington County - Woodbury/494 Gold Line Park and Ride: No more parking ramps. There's plenty of existing surface lots in the suburbs to use for a park & ride.

Dakota County - 140th St Red Line and 147th St Red Line: No and no. There's a lot of other places that deserve a pedestrian bridge or skyway more than lightly-used bus stations served by something that pretends to be BRT.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 7th, 2020, 4:19 pm
by Tcmetro
I don't know if the 494 Prime is a good idea. It seems like public transit works so poorly in the corridor that they have to imitate Uber/Lyft but only stop at some job centers. I think it needs to be thought out a little more, it looks like it fails to access residential areas well.

From what I understand the 219 has been a pretty strong performing route. A few years ago it was upgraded from 60 minutes to 30 minutes frequency, so I could see the demand increasing when the Gold Line and Rush Line open. The 219 serves a lot of lower-income apartment buildings and mobile home parks and also connects to Century College. I think the 23 should become a 15-minute route, but 20 minutes is not terrible.

The 757 line kind of reminds me of the 535. A limited-stop bus route that could become BRT someday. It'll be interesting to see if this line (if implemented) can attract ridership.

Agree completely on the Golden Triangle station. It's 3/4 mile to the new Green Line station and doesn't make much sense to me.

Also agree about the Woodbury park and ride. Met Council owns the movie theater parking lot down the street that serves as the current park and ride. Not sold on the need for a new ramp.

Walkability should have been considered when the Red Line was built. Instead they went with a mega widening and are surprised that few want to walk to a bus route on a 6+ lane highway.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 11th, 2020, 6:37 pm
by alexschief
The House Transportation Committee toured the Lake and Chicago corridors today on the initiative of Rep. Torkelson (R-Hanska). It's encouraging that a Republican legislator was behind this tour, because the B and D Line projects absolutely have to make it into this year's bonding bill to avoid further delay.

The D Line will replace the metro's busiest bus (#5) and the B Line will replace the metro's second busiest (#21). If that wasn't enough of a reason to support these projects, the protests, riots, and arson of the past two weeks has added even more urgency to these projects. George Floyd was murdered along the future D Line route, and the worst of the unrest happened along the #21 route. Improving access along these two corridors is critical to their recovery, and these two routes (including the Emerson/Fremont corridor in North Minneapolis and the Selby corridor in Western St. Paul) will provide improved access for residents of some of the metro's poorest neighborhoods.

The GOP did not include these projects in their draft bonding bill, but after the past two weeks, it needs to be written at the top of the special session draft in permanent marker.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 14th, 2020, 10:07 am
by Multimodal
To support startup firms trying to privatize transit, I can see Republicans supporting micromobility or self-driving cars/Uber.

It would be a fantastic change of heart to see them support BRT or LRT.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 22nd, 2020, 8:17 pm
by Silophant

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 22nd, 2020, 9:08 pm
by DanPatchToget
This looks like big news, but what does "white paper" mean?

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 22nd, 2020, 9:45 pm
by Anondson
White paper is a general term in many fields for something like an authoritative report on complex issues. Something of a document from informed experts in a specific field that might be used by decision makers to set policy.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 23rd, 2020, 6:44 am
by Silophant
Right. So this document wouldn't say "we're going to end transit fares on X date", it would be more about running models and reporting different projected outcomes, like "with no fares and existing levels of funding, we would have to cut service levels back to X" or "with no fares, funding would have to increase by $XXM/yr to maintain existing levels of service" or, hopefully, some scenarios in between.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 23rd, 2020, 10:00 am
by alexschief
The UMN's Accessibility Observatory has a new paper out that compares the expected improvements to access as a result of funded and planned MSP transit projects.

The paper has some neat maps that show where the accessibility gains are the greatest. It's important to mention that the population being studied here is the population of workers who live in the given geographies, and so an area may show up as substantially gaining in access but if few workers actually live there, then the cumulative gains are muted. The paper has a number of tables that take this into account and weight for population.

Image Image

The most interesting to me about this research is how the SWLRT and D Line projects stand out as significantly improving access. Yet they do so for different reasons. SWLRT obviously has huge accessibility gains because there is not currently transit running in this area, so the addition of high frequency transit is like going from standing to sprinting. Because the SWLRT also closely tracks the route of an actual rich corridor of jobs in the metro, it scores even more highly.

In contrast, the D Line stands out because of the improvements in speed and frequency from the existing (and extremely busy) #5 bus. The D Line will include an additional two buses per hour, cutting average waiting time by two and a half minutes, and will travel 20% or more faster, based on experience with other aBRT routes.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: June 24th, 2020, 6:00 pm
by DanPatchToget
15-minute frequency on both light rail lines coming June 27th. There will also be service increases on the following routes: 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18, 21, 22, 54, 63, 68, 74, 612 and 724.

Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Posted: July 9th, 2020, 5:43 pm
by Silophant
The POGO committee approved a grant application to NACTO today to help with bus lanes. Apparently the original plan for 2020 was to pilot a corridor in North, a corridor in Northeast, and a corridor downtown, but post-COVID they've pivoted to permanent(!) implementation on two(?) east-west spines downtown. Presumably 7th/8th is one of them, but I'm not sure what the second spine would be, unless they're counting the streets separately.