C Line - Penn Avenue North Rapid Bus

[Silophant]

I've seen a aBRT painted bus running through downtown recently displaying "C Line Testing" on its display boards. Is that the same one you're talking about, or is that an actual new C Line bus?

[Tcmetro]

I would imagine that the BRT painted artic is the same one from the Fair. They had one running on the suburban express buses. It had a 344x number IIRC.

[Bakken2016]

I've seen a aBRT painted bus running through downtown recently displaying "C Line Testing" on its display boards. Is that the same one you're talking about, or is that an actual new C Line bus?

Yes this is the same one from the fair, they are still putting the plans together for the C Line Artics. They are testing so Service Development can schedule the C Line most efficiently.

[gopherfan]

Caught a glimpse of one of the new C Line articulated bus going Southbound on 35W last week near the UofM operating as a route 250! Was driving, so no picture...

I work for MT, we have one articulated bus painted like an A Line(aBRT) because we were going to run it for the state fair, but due to construction on the ford parkway bridge they decided against it. So it is one of the newest Artics we have in our fleet, but not want the C Line buses will look like!

Yes it is actually the C Line livery! - https://www.metrotransit.org/c-line-faq ... eslooklike?

Here's a pic as such

[Bakken2016]

Caught a glimpse of one of the new C Line articulated bus going Southbound on 35W last week near the UofM operating as a route 250! Was driving, so no picture...

I work for MT, we have one articulated bus painted like an A Line(aBRT) because we were going to run it for the state fair, but due to construction on the ford parkway bridge they decided against it. So it is one of the newest Artics we have in our fleet, but not want the C Line buses will look like!

Yes it is actually the C Line livery! - https://www.metrotransit.org/c-line-faq ... eslooklike?

Here's a pic as such

My apologies I should have clarified, yes the that is the livery of the C Line bus, but that bus does not have 3 doors like the ones we are purchasing for the C Line.

[WhoaCanyonero]

Metro Transit has confirmed that funding is in place with construction in 2018, service in 2019.

https://www.metrotransit.org/funding-in ... -bus-line-

[Silophant]

Great news! Hopefully the Met Council can find funding to make all twelve buses electric instead of just six.

[alexschief]

Metro Transit has confirmed that funding is in place with construction in 2018, service in 2019.

https://www.metrotransit.org/funding-in ... -bus-line-

Best news I've heard today so far!

The #19 bus is MSP's eighth busiest bus, with somewhere north of 6,000 weekday riders. I'm fascinated to see how ridership reacts to the C-Line improvements, and how that relates to the jump we saw with the A-Line. Will the increases be similar in absolute numbers? In percentages? Lots to learn from this, but either way, it will be a big boost to thousands of people daily.

[Bakken2016]

Due to construction on 8th St in downtown in 2019, the C Line will run on 6th until 8th St is completed.

[Tcmetro]

Due to construction on 8th St in downtown in 2019, the C Line will run on 6th until 8th St is completed.

I take it that the other buses on 8th St (5, 9, 19, 22) will also be rerouted to 6th St during construction?

[Bakken2016]

Due to construction on 8th St in downtown in 2019, the C Line will run on 6th until 8th St is completed.

I take it that the other buses on 8th St (5, 9, 19, 22) will also be rerouted to 6th St during construction?

I am assuming so!

[Silophant]

Looks like the Met Council finally managed to get a bid that was within a project budget.

Also, it now says eight (of twelve, IIRC) buses will be electric. Awesome!

[mamundsen]

From that article:

In the coming years, 10 more rapid-bus lines will snake throughout the metro’s busiest transit corridors

10? C and D. What else is the article referring to here?

[DanPatchToget]

E on Hennepin, B on Lake, F...?

[mamundsen]

Sure... but those are in the early stages. Is the article including Orange, Gold and Rush lines too? That still only gets us to 6-7. Not 10.

[Mikey]

Nicollet and Central, Arcade / Maryland / White Bear Ave, Robert St?

They're all technically on the long term map. Although at current funding rates, it'll be 20 years until even these are done, let alone others like Grand Ave and Rice St, possibly Randolph...

[Tcmetro]

There were 11 lines in the Arterial BRT study. Snelling has been implemented, leaving 10 more (Hennepin, Nicollet, Central, Broadway, Penn, Chicago-Fremont, Lake, American, E 7th-W 7th, Robert).

[Silophant]

I'm pretty sure it's referring to the 10 remaining corridors from the aBRT study completed in 2012: Snelling (A), Lake (B), Penn (C), Chicago (D), Hennepin (E), Nicollet, Central, American, Robert, and E. 7th. W. 7th was the 11th corridor in the study, but was canned to not conflict with the streetcar study.

Edit: what Tcmetro said.

[alexschief]

I've been a bit confused by the truncated nature of some of these routes, which I think would really benefit from through-running. The D-Line is really good because the Minneapolis CBD is just the center of it. But the C-Line terminates downtown. I'd love to see it keep going, perhaps down Bloomington? I also haven't seen any indication that the B-Line is planned to continue past the East Lake Station, which would baffle me, it should replace the entire 21 all the way to St. Paul.

Some of the other corridors could be paired as well. Nicollet and Central should be one line from the Columbia Heights Transit Center to the Southdale Transit Center. The East 7th St. line should run through St. Paul's CBD and then run down Grand Ave to St. Thomas. The Robert St. line should run through St. Paul's CBD and continue up Rice...

[MNdible]

Given unlimited resources, maybe some of these extensions make sense. But if you refer to this map (and take it with a grain of salt), you'll see that not all areas merit beefed up transit.

We've talked about the perils of long routes before -- delays rippling through the system, more complicated routes that don't help the vast majority of riders. Hardly anybody (as a percentage of all riders) is actually going to through route from one end to the other, and for those that are, a transfer downtown between two very high frequency routes really isn't that big of a deal.