Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
blo442
City Center
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Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Postby blo442 » August 23rd, 2019, 8:38 pm

Also, there is a new bus counterflow lane on 28th St between 4th Ave and either Stevens Ave or 1st Ave, I forget which. Anyone know what it is for?
Starting Monday until spring/summer 2020, the westbound 21/53 will detour from Lake to 28th to avoid construction at Lake and 35W. Lake will be slimmed down to one lane in each direction plus an eastbound bus lane.

Shout out to Minneapolis and MnDOT for giving some thought to accommodating buses during construction. Now just hope it actually gets enforced unlike the debacle that was Park and Portland (I'm not holding my breath).

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

Postby MSPtoMKE » August 23rd, 2019, 9:45 pm

Interesting, how will it get back to Lake St? Stevens is closed, I thought?

I wouldn’t think too many people would use the lane one 28th, since it is short, but enforcement would definitely be needed on Lake St.
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Tcmetro
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Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Postby Tcmetro » August 24th, 2019, 9:04 am

The Metro Transit rider alert says that the WB 21/53 will follow Lake to 4th to 28th to Blaisdell back to Lake. Buses will stop at 4th-5th/Lake, Nicollet/28th, and Grand/Lake.

https://www.metrotransit.org/detour-sta ... -blaisdell

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

Postby xandrex » August 27th, 2019, 11:23 am

As of today, Hennepin has been seal-coated and restripped, but the bus lane markings haven’t been added yet. These are going to be longer in length, but will be for parking off-peak, I believe.
They must be putting in the bus lane markings this week, because there was a sign on Hennepin indicating parking lane changes go into effect on September 2.

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

Postby alexschief » August 27th, 2019, 12:33 pm

The Met Council got a ridership update the other day.

At first glance, the topline numbers look pretty dire. Local bus is down 9% on the year, which is a drastic acceleration of a national slide. Light rail is up 3%, which is nice, but not as rapid growth as seen in previous years. BRT is up 12%, which is nice, but then you remember that the other lines still have significant funding gaps.

But I actually don't think there's too much cause for concern when you look a little closer. I have a couple frustrations with the way the data is being presented. To start, I'm wondering how the transition from the #19 to the C Line was accounted for. The jump in BRT and fall in local bus are more extreme than was reported in Q1, and I suspect that part of that is just one month of shifting what used to be #19 rides to the C Line and thus from the local bus column to the BRT column. I wasn't at the presentation obviously, where that was probably spoken for, but I'm suspicious that the 2018-2019 comparisons are apples to apples.

A bigger problem I have is that the numbers compare the Year-to-Date instead of Q2 to Q2. We already know that Metro Transit had a terrible January and a bad February, both of which were primarily the result of awful weather leading to travelers cancelling their trips to work from home, take care of kids out of school, etc. Those numbers will drag down the 2019 numbers overall (but might look make 2020 look really good by comparison if that winter is more mild, who knows), and showing YTD numbers doesn't help us understand if the system is actually growing ridership or losing it. Comparing Q2 and especially Q3 numbers from each year against each other is probably a better measure, since weather is less of a factor.

You can see it in the chart:

Image

The only slide that provides a smaller-grained year-to-year comparison is the first one, although it doesn't provide numbers. But what it does show should be... possibly reassuring? Metro Transit outperformed the previous year in April, essentially tied the previous year in May, and underperformed in June. Without the exact data, Q2 2019 looks like a wash compared with Q2 2018. Given the system's recent trend of small but consistent declines led by falling local bus ridership, breaking even is a relative improvement.

We'll see what's in store for the rest of the year, but the tl;dr, as far as I can tell, is that 2019's numbers still look awful, but that's mostly due to factors that are more out of Metro Transit's control, and there's still no reason to panic.

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

Postby LakeCharles » August 27th, 2019, 12:59 pm

That axis says we had a ridership of over 6 trillion in June, which I'd say is pretty damn impressive for a metro area our size.

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

Postby kellonathan » September 19th, 2019, 1:43 pm

Network Next is doing a survey on transit priorities and trade-offs.

https://www.metrotransit.org/networknextsurvey
Jonathan Ahn, AICP | [email protected]
Personal thoughts and personal opinion only. May include incomplete information.

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

Postby Tcmetro » October 13th, 2019, 9:27 am

Northtown Mall wants to move the transit center to the south parking lot so that the land can be developed. The neighborhood adjacent (which is in Spring Lake Park) to the new transit center isn't happy.

https://www.hometownsource.com/abc_news ... b4283.html

Oreos&Milk
Landmark Center
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Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Postby Oreos&Milk » October 14th, 2019, 12:45 pm

Northtown Mall wants to move the transit center to the south parking lot so that the land can be developed. The neighborhood adjacent (which is in Spring Lake Park) to the new transit center isn't happy.

https://www.hometownsource.com/abc_news ... b4283.html
I think it could be a good idea. The current station isn't very connected well to the existing mall, and paired with a redevelopment it could be greatly improved. Plus if this frees up space for a development that would be great too. I don't like how that location would funnel people to big box entrances instead of a mall entrance but perhaps they have a development plan? I'm a bit skeptical, but i'd hope it is paired with a plan to improve walkability in that area as well. Terrance Rd. if connected by sidewalk to this proposed moved transit station could be a great way to connect all those homes. Plus a bike trail connection to the existing University trail and 85th Ave bike trail could also greatly improve mobility option for locals. If the new station has sizeable amounts of bike parking that makes it possible for commuters to ride the bus more easily. In the long term turning Terrance into a bike BLVD or even making bike lanes if the proposed Central BRT line gets built I think would be wonderful.

I think this could be a VERY good improvement, but it's gonna take alot of work and fighting to get something of sizeable increased value. I just hope sombody has the fight in them to get those improvements to become a reality. Will be interesting to watch how this develops.

Bakken2016
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Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Postby Bakken2016 » October 14th, 2019, 1:10 pm

Northtown Mall wants to move the transit center to the south parking lot so that the land can be developed. The neighborhood adjacent (which is in Spring Lake Park) to the new transit center isn't happy.

https://www.hometownsource.com/abc_news ... b4283.html
I think it could be a good idea. The current station isn't very connected well to the existing mall, and paired with a redevelopment it could be greatly improved. Plus if this frees up space for a development that would be great too. I don't like how that location would funnel people to big box entrances instead of a mall entrance but perhaps they have a development plan? I'm a bit skeptical, but i'd hope it is paired with a plan to improve walkability in that area as well. Terrance Rd. if connected by sidewalk to this proposed moved transit station could be a great way to connect all those homes. Plus a bike trail connection to the existing University trail and 85th Ave bike trail could also greatly improve mobility option for locals. If the new station has sizeable amounts of bike parking that makes it possible for commuters to ride the bus more easily. In the long term turning Terrance into a bike BLVD or even making bike lanes if the proposed Central BRT line gets built I think would be wonderful.

I think this could be a VERY good improvement, but it's gonna take alot of work and fighting to get something of sizeable increased value. I just hope sombody has the fight in them to get those improvements to become a reality. Will be interesting to watch how this develops.
Metro Transit is working with MNDOT to provide better pedestrian and bike amenities. As well Metro Transit is doing outreach to the homeowners, and seeing if they want like a fence or trees to separate the transit center from their homes.


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

Postby SurlyLHT » October 14th, 2019, 2:15 pm

I grew up over there and probably hundreds of times have used that transit stations. A few months ago I was stranded there after getting off a bus in the middle of a severe storm. I've done a lot of biking to there and I would use Sanbournal Drive most of the time and then use a light to get a cross County 10. The whole area is a pedestrian and cycling nightmare. I wonder if Northtown is learning from Rosedale? The Mall is closer to neighborhoods than some of these others so it residential buildings might help blend the surrounding neighborhoods to the commercial.

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

Postby mattaudio » October 15th, 2019, 9:03 am

Is Northtown irredeemable from a land use perspective? If you live in the residential neighborhood maybe a block away from the transit center, you have no sidewalk to the transit center and have to cross multiple pedestrian-hostile intersections. Here's someone about to do just that in Streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/JymNYTuuc4N1JSRc9

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

Postby SurlyLHT » October 15th, 2019, 9:16 am

If some of those outlots are filled it wouldn't be nearly as bad. Many of them are hardly used especially near the residential area. Second, if you added sidewalks and bumpouts things would be greatly improved. Connections mainly need to be made across County 10 along Jefferson (Improve intersection and connections to starbucks and etc on corner and Cub and then better connections across University via 85th and then to the connections to the south.

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

Postby mamundsen » October 19th, 2019, 10:03 am

Trying to decide the best place to post this...

As the 8th street construction starts to wrap up, I’ve been thinking that either they should have A) reduced it one more lane to make it two lanes wide for the full stretch B) planned for 2 car lanes, and 1 dedicated bus lane. For the construction it was limited to 0-1 lane and people found a way to get around town just fine.

Are there any plans finalized for making east / west bus only lanes for C or Orange lines?

Bakken2016
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Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Postby Bakken2016 » October 19th, 2019, 10:05 am

Trying to decide the best place to post this...

As the 8th street construction starts to wrap up, I’ve been thinking that either they should have A) reduced it one more lane to make it two lanes wide for the full stretch B) planned for 2 car lanes, and 1 dedicated bus lane. For the construction it was limited to 0-1 lane and people found a way to get around town just fine.

Are there any plans finalized for making east / west bus only lanes for C or Orange lines?
Orange Line will use Marq-2


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

Postby mamundsen » October 19th, 2019, 7:43 pm

You’re right. Is is C and D that will share stations?

Bakken2016
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Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Postby Bakken2016 » October 19th, 2019, 9:42 pm

You’re right. Is is C and D that will share stations?
Yep through downtown Minneapolis, and in Brooklyn Center.


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

Postby mattaudio » October 21st, 2019, 11:24 am

And ideally at MOA Transit Station after the C Line is extended down Cedar Ave. ;)

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

Postby MSPtoMKE » November 5th, 2019, 11:35 pm

Based on my very anecdotal observations, drivers are... struggling to figure out where to drive for the temporary northbound bus lane on Nicollet that is being tested. The lanes are divided with traffic cones, and I saw more northbound cars in the rightmost bus lane than in the center general purpose lane that they should have been in. Some may have been accessing street parking, I suppose. I didn’t find the signage to be unclear, but I did know about it in advance and knew what to look for. Red paint may make it more obvious, but in the winter, I’m not so sure...
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EOst
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Re: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

Postby EOst » November 6th, 2019, 9:18 am

It seems plainly unworkable to me.


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