urbanMSP

I don't see the A word, but it was still the bus that did the hitting.

They used the A word on the "Stream" listing of the collision on the homepage.

But, in case you are longing for the A word... here it is on a public interest piece about a retiring bus driver.
http://www.startribune.com/metro-transi ... 312583561/

Metro Transit ridership up, but still lagging behind 2015 goals
http://www.startribune.com/metro-transi ... 317588081/

Interesting to see that bus ridership is down 10% over the same 6 months last year. That's quite a drop!
Nice to see the Blue & Green lines both tallying up over 5 million riders each for the first 6 months.

Entirely attributable to the shift in ridership from buses to rail when the Green Line started.

Entirely attributable to the shift in ridership from buses to rail when the Green Line started.

If that's true, then why are the numbers still lagging overall?

They're off from the target ridership by about 0.4%, which I would call indistinguishable from noise. Don't completely ignore it, but don't fret that the sky is falling either. Just keep on working to improve the system.

Entirely attributable to the shift in ridership from buses to rail when the Green Line started.

If that's true, then why are the numbers still lagging overall?

Don't forget that gas prices bottomed out at $2/gal in January and have held in the mid $2.XX range all year. While there's been an uptick more recently, I think we're still on track for the lowest average summer gas prices in years (since '09 or '10 in the throes of the recession). Looks like prices were nearly $1 higher last year at this time. It's also been forecast that prices would remain low all this year and fall back towards $2 again in the fall... probably not a good outlook for "choice rider" ridership numbers the rest of this year.

If that's true, then why are the numbers still lagging overall?

Remember, ridership increased by about 6%. The numbers are lagging behind projections, which are, last I checked, just projections.

Don't forget that gas prices bottomed out at $2/gal in January and have held in the mid $2.XX range all year. While there's been an uptick more recently, I think we're still on track for the lowest average summer gas prices in years (since '09 or '10 in the throes of the recession). Looks like prices were nearly $1 higher last year at this time. It's also been forecast that prices would remain low all this year and fall back towards $2 again in the fall... probably not a good outlook for "choice rider" ridership numbers the rest of this year.

An analyst the NPR was quoting fairly recently was also projecting many states (Minnesota included, I believe) to potentially dip below $2/gallon by end of summer/early fall. That definitely doesn't bode well for transit numbers.

Question for those of you that have Metro Transit Go To Cards. Have you had Card Errors lately when trying to scan? Do you also have upgraded credit cards with chips in them? Ever since I got a few replacement credit cards with chips, I can't hold up my whole wallet to the readers like I used to. Now I have to take out the card and only hold that up. Just wondering if anyone else is having a similar experience or has an idea if I could be correct in my assumption of what's causing the issue.

Yes, I've had that problem at some readers. I think some talk on a completely different frequency than the credit cards and don't see them at all, but others do.

I have a bifold wallet with places for cards on each of the two halves, so I've put my Go-To card in one side and my NFC credit card in the other, and flip open my wallet to only have one side touch the reader.

According to the U's Parking and Transportation services website, "new shuttle routes start August 31!" Details are coming soon.

I have a bifold wallet with places for cards on each of the two halves, so I've put my Go-To card in one side and my NFC credit card in the other, and flip open my wallet to only have one side touch the reader.

That's basically what I do. My Go-To card and my work ID badge don't interfere with each other, so they live in one half, and my NFC credit cards and Car2Go card live in the other half. Works almost all the time.

Question for those of you that have Metro Transit Go To Cards. Have you had Card Errors lately when trying to scan? Do you also have upgraded credit cards with chips in them? Ever since I got a few replacement credit cards with chips, I can't hold up my whole wallet to the readers like I used to. Now I have to take out the card and only hold that up. Just wondering if anyone else is having a similar experience or has an idea if I could be correct in my assumption of what's causing the issue.

I'll randomly have issues, which have happened occasionally for many years. I keep my Metropass alongside several other cards, and assumed it's because of that. If I get the error message, I just try again until it works. My new chip cards haven't seemed to make it any worse though.

Thanks for the feedback. I have tried the open bifold and had no luck. Looks like I just have to pull the card out.

Question for those of you that have Metro Transit Go To Cards. Have you had Card Errors lately when trying to scan? Do you also have upgraded credit cards with chips in them? Ever since I got a few replacement credit cards with chips, I can't hold up my whole wallet to the readers like I used to. Now I have to take out the card and only hold that up. Just wondering if anyone else is having a similar experience or has an idea if I could be correct in my assumption of what's causing the issue.

I've had an issue with this, but mostly with my Car2Go card (I assume it's this since none of my other cards have NFC to my knowledge). My wallet isn't so much a wallet and more a card holder with a very small slot for some folded bills. I've found the best way to keep my Go To card working is to have it closer to the reader than the other cards.

I've also found holding my wallet at an angle to the reader, with only one end touching/near the reader while the other side is further away, helps immensely.

Starting August 31, the Campus Shuttles will be restructured. A full explanation of the new routes can be found here:
http://www1.umn.edu/pts/bus/index.html

However, they don't have maps of the new routes yet, so I made one:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

I'll try to summarize the changes by route:

Campus Connector: Oak & Washington Stop moved N to University Ave. Eastbound in Mpls is the same aside from that. Westbound in Minneapolis, it now runs along 4th Street and turns left (south) on 15th. Then it hits The Circle and Appleby Hall (yay!) before crossing the river on Washington. It's like a hybrid of the Washington Ave Circulator and the current Connector. In Saint Paul, it now turns around at the Student center and goes back down Buford. Its frequency and span are similar to current*.

East Bank Circulator: Eliminated

Washington Ave Bridge Circulator: Eliminated

Saint Paul Circulator: Unchanged

University Ave Circulator: Starts at Northrop Mall stop, goes to West Bank and follows the current Washington Avenue Bridge Circulator route until the Circle. It keeps going east on Universtiy and then turns right (south) on Oak, and then turns right (west) on Washington. Runs 7 days/week every 10-15 minutes during the week and every 20 on weekends.

4th Street Circulator: Starts at Coffman and goes east on Washington. Turns left (north) on Oak, left (west) on 4th. It continues on 4th until it turns left (south) on 10th Ave and crosses the river. Then does a reverse Washington Avenue Bridge Circulator and hits Blegen at the same stop as the Connector. Runs weekdays from 7-6:30 every 15 minutes.

Stadium Superblock Circulator: Starts at MacNamara and follows the current East Bank Circulator route until it turns left (east) on Fulton instead of right. This part I'm not super clear on, but I'm guessing it goes east on Fulton, left on Huron. Then it continues onto 23rd Ave, left on 6th, left on Walnut, and left on Oak. It runs on weekdays 7-5:30 every 15 minutes.

Overall span of service: Last year, the U piloted running Campus Connectors and East Bank/Weekend Circulators until 2am every day. This has now been adjusted so that the Campus Connector and University Ave Circulator will run until 12:15 am Sunday through Wednesday and until 2am Thursday through Saturday.

A Strib article about how accessible our transit system is to tourists.

Anecdotally, I'll note that we are not alone in having this problem -- very few American cities do a good job of this. Also, Metro Transit's generous and flexible transfer policy is a big help, and the $6 day pass is a pretty good deal for a tourist making multiple trips a day by transit. There have been a number of cities where I've wished there was such an option.

A Strib article about how accessible our transit system is to tourists.

Anecdotally, I'll note that we are not alone in having this problem -- very few American cities do a good job of this. Also, Metro Transit's generous and flexible transfer policy is a big help, and the $6 day pass is a pretty good deal for a tourist making multiple trips a day by transit. There have been a number of cities where I've wished there was such an option.

I agree completely! Visiting Seattle and Vancouver in June, relying on transit only, we quickly discovered how things are a lot more expensive than our system here. Like $3 for a one-way airport-Downtown LRT ride cost, no transfers. Although (after reading the website - the fare machines were not intuitive - the day pass is $6, but only works for the light rail. Our system is very seamless, I like that.

I find that when I travel Rail systems tend to be very tourist friendly but bus systems do not. I can easily hop any train for some reason, knowing where it goes and the maps are so good at showing you visually, but only once, in Ireland have I attempted a bus... and there was a steep learning curve. Being out system is mostly bus at this point it would be easy to assume its not that great for tourists to get around.