Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

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planetxan
Block E
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby planetxan » December 20th, 2015, 4:39 pm

Not this season, but the few prior, it was a free ride to every Timberwolves game. I just had to show my game ticket when transit cops were going through the train or to the driver when I got on the bus.
With the Wolves new, maddening "e-ticket" policy free transit rides now is impossible. I guess if Metro Transit ever did QR readers it migh be possible.
Yuk. I went to the Flash Seats site that does their ticketing. You can use an app or use a credit card. Either way you have to register to buy a ticket and if you want to give it to someone else they have to be registered. Then when you get to the arena they scan your credit card and a slip is printed out so you can find your seat. I assume if you use the app you don't need anything printed out. (nope, i'm wrong, they do print something out - https://youtu.be/0q5GsDjSyk4 - ridiculous. Look at the comments, others agree.) Overall a pretty complicated way to simplify tickets. Everyone's just got to use an app. So trendy. Sometimes a smart phone is not the best tool for the job.

Tickets with nfc chips (or embedded into your Go-To card) will let people in in a third of second - https://youtu.be/IIsqkCgCT9g - and they're harder to counterfeit. Maybe Metro Transit needs to get into the events ticket business.

Other teams still use tickets - Vikings, Gophers, Twins - apps have a limited use.
(btw, I counted 47 people passing through 6 turnstiles in less than a minute with no attendant in the second video. One woman just couldn't figure it out.)

John21
Rice Park
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby John21 » December 20th, 2015, 6:47 pm

They used to scan your ticket. Now they scan your phone. What's the big deal?

planetxan
Block E
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby planetxan » December 20th, 2015, 7:08 pm

They used to scan your ticket. Now they scan your phone. What's the big deal?
They scan your phone then have to print a receipt that has your seat info, or they swipe your credit card and print the same thing. It is not ticketless, and it takes a long time and a lot of people to do it. A chip would save time and money and leverage Metro Transits technology and infrastructure, while making it easier for people to use or even be aware of transit and allow Metro Transit to get more accurate numbers than they would get by showing tickets or printouts for transit fare.

Metro Transit has an incredible technology infrastructure that is enormously underutilized.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby FISHMANPET » December 20th, 2015, 10:37 pm

Chicago's new Ventra system uses standard NFC. I can pay with Apple Pay or Android Pay by just touching the phone to the reader. You can also use a credit or debit card if it has wireless pay (those cards don't seem very common though). And if you buy a paper ticket at an El station, that's NFC too. So the chips are cheap enough that you can put them in disposable cards now. Very impressive.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

planetxan
Block E
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby planetxan » December 21st, 2015, 7:19 pm

Chicago's new Ventra system uses standard NFC. I can pay with Apple Pay or Android Pay by just touching the phone to the reader. You can also use a credit or debit card if it has wireless pay (those cards don't seem very common though). And if you buy a paper ticket at an El station, that's NFC too. So the chips are cheap enough that you can put them in disposable cards now. Very impressive.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Yes, they're cheap and disposable. The problem with Apple/Android pay and credit cards is that they are expensive transactions since Visa or MasterCard clears the payment. With a Go To card Metro Transit is its own clearing system. That's why transit companies starting using these systems to begin with.

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Tiller
Foshay Tower
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Tiller » December 23rd, 2015, 2:00 am

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... ety-alarms

Blah, blah, blah, some stats and stuff, and also the likely cause:
Damian Goebel, a spokesman for St. Paul Smart Trips, a transit advocacy group, said the number of recent fatal accidents and serious-injury collisions appears to be a coincidence.

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Sacrelicio
Union Depot
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Sacrelicio » December 23rd, 2015, 12:42 pm

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... ety-alarms

Blah, blah, blah, some stats and stuff, and also the likely cause:
Damian Goebel, a spokesman for St. Paul Smart Trips, a transit advocacy group, said the number of recent fatal accidents and serious-injury collisions appears to be a coincidence.
Just don't get why people are always so concerned about light rail accidents when car traffic kills and injures far more people.

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Nathan
Capella Tower
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Nathan » January 4th, 2016, 5:55 pm

It would be nice if there were a "deaths per person per trip" type of statistic to compare which modes of transportation actually cause more problems... If every auto death was covered like every lrt death... would there be time for other news?

RailBaronYarr
Capella Tower
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby RailBaronYarr » January 4th, 2016, 6:59 pm


QuietBlue
Target Field
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby QuietBlue » January 7th, 2016, 9:33 am

It would be nice if there were a "deaths per person per trip" type of statistic to compare which modes of transportation actually cause more problems... If every auto death was covered like every lrt death... would there be time for other news?
In general, I agree, but the 46th Street station situation is a serious problem.

RailBaronYarr
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby RailBaronYarr » January 7th, 2016, 10:21 am

In general LRT is far more dangerous per passenger trip for pedestrians than driving across the country, not just here. We can (and should) make the case that since passengers who ride LRT make many trips *not* on LRT (walking/biking for probably 50% of trips as opposed to driving for every trip), transit as a complementary travel solution in urban environments might still yield lower non-occupant death rates. But we're talking about a 9x gap. Even if you remove all the highway/interstate passenger trips from the car number, effectively making a more fair comparison of car travel on streets where people might be out biking and walking about, the gap is still 6.7x higher LRT vs cars. Buses are 1.4x more dangerous for non-occupants in that same calculation.

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FISHMANPET
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby FISHMANPET » January 20th, 2016, 10:15 am

Anybody know what the "mechanical difficulties" were downtown that caused the rail disruption this morning?

Silophant
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby Silophant » January 20th, 2016, 10:23 am

Strib article says it was a downed catenary wire.
Joey Senkyr
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mulad
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby mulad » January 20th, 2016, 4:45 pm

F&C's transit blog summarized a presentation to the Transportation Committee with ridership figures from 2015:

http://finance-commerce.com/transit/201 ... -for-2015/

Total ridership for the year: Up from 84.5 million in 2014 to 85.8 million in 2015
Blue Line: Rebounding significantly from 2014 by over 1 million riders to 10.6 million, or 31,500 average weekday
Green Line: In its first full year of operation, 12.4 million total, 37,000 average weekday
Bus operations: Down from 68 million to 62 million, but largely due to the Green Line opening and construction projects rerouting bus lines
Northstar: Up a tick from 721,000 to 722,000

HiawathaGuy
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby HiawathaGuy » January 21st, 2016, 10:13 am

Chairs revved up to pass transportation bill
http://finance-commerce.com/2016/01/cha ... tion-bill/
*LOCKED*

"To the level of confidence expressed by the chairs of the Minnesota House and Senate transportation committees about prospects for a transportation bill in the coming legislative session, you can add one word: “very.” In interviews this week, Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, and Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, each said he is feeling very optimistic about ..."

Promising.

mulad
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby mulad » January 22nd, 2016, 4:01 pm

Metro Transit has put up their official ridership announcement: http://www.metrotransit.org/metro-trans ... on-in-2015

grant1simons2
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby grant1simons2 » January 22nd, 2016, 4:15 pm

85.8 million.. Wow.

mulad
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby mulad » January 22nd, 2016, 4:42 pm

Oh, and our two light rail lines now account for 26.8% of Metro Transit's total ridership.

VAStationDude
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby VAStationDude » January 22nd, 2016, 5:13 pm

Metro transit bus ridership was just under 66 million in 2003, the last full year before the Hiawatha Line opened. 2015 ridership was down to just over 62 million. I find that incredible when considering light rail ridership is over 23 million.

grant1simons2
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Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

Postby grant1simons2 » January 22nd, 2016, 5:18 pm

Gosh imagine if we had a line from uptown to Lake St station.


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