Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[DanPatchToget]

Also, 15-minute LRT service is dreadful considering that 35,000 people ride the two lines a day- way more than any other route. I'm beginning to think North Star and the Red Line need to be cut loose and their drivers reassigned. Do they even generate 2,000 riders a day?

I believe Northstar engineers are BNSF employees, so if Northstar was shut down (which is currently only 2 roundtrips on weekdays) they'd just go to operating freight trains.

There should be an audit on daily ridership of every fixed-route in the region. Metro Transit still keeps track of average daily ridership per route and the data is publicly available (or it was in the past), but with the suburban opt-outs it's a lot more murky. Are express routes sustaining ridership, or are they being operated in the hope that downtown workers will return to using them? What routes are redundant and should be reduced or eliminated so resources can be focused on routes that need them? I've mentioned the Orange Line vs the 465 before, and there's also the Red Line vs the 442. Local routes (16, 19, 84) that overlapped with Metro routes (Green, C, A) were cut since they were redundant (during the pandemic anyways).

[LRV Op Dude]

Raises for bus drivers are a must if we want these positions to be filled. $20 an hour is not far above many entry level warehouses or call center jobs some of those even exceed that with much less perceived danger then a city bus driver.

I think at least bumping it up to $22 would make a lot more people consider the job.

Metro Transit leadership proposed raising everyone in ATU by 3%, letting new drivers start at a higher step in the pay scale, and allow LRT operators be hired directly instead of being hired as bus operators first. The union board turned it down, I'm assuming since they have contract negotiations next year.

There was more to it that the Union did not like.

[Trademark]

Raises for bus drivers are a must if we want these positions to be filled. $20 an hour is not far above many entry level warehouses or call center jobs some of those even exceed that with much less perceived danger then a city bus driver.

I think at least bumping it up to $22 would make a lot more people consider the job.

Metro Transit leadership proposed raising everyone in ATU by 3%, letting new drivers start at a higher step in the pay scale, and allow LRT operators be hired directly instead of being hired as bus operators first. The union board turned it down, I'm assuming since they have contract negotiations next year.

There was more to it that the Union did not like.

What else did the union not like?

[Bakken2016]

Metro Transit leadership proposed raising everyone in ATU by 3%, letting new drivers start at a higher step in the pay scale, and allow LRT operators be hired directly instead of being hired as bus operators first. The union board turned it down, I'm assuming since they have contract negotiations next year.

There was more to it that the Union did not like.

What else did the union not like?

I just talked to someone on the board, one of the proposals had removing benefits for part time drivers. Currently the ATU has a counter proposal back to Metro Transit.

[Trademark]

There was more to it that the Union did not like.

What else did the union not like?

I just talked to someone on the board, one of the proposals had removing benefits for part time drivers. Currently the ATU has a counter proposal back to Metro Transit.

Oof that'd bad. Also i doubt a 3% raise won't be enough to hire the drivers needed.

[mamundsen]

We tried to go to the state fair today. We were hoping to utilize a park and ride and quickly found out that they were all full. As I looked into it further, they really cut back on the express routes too. In years past I believe they utilized many park and rides in Maplewood, Woodbury, Blaine, etc. that are not an option this year. I assume this is all due to driver shortages. We’ll try again early tomorrow when there are more options.

[Tcmetro]

There is a self driving shuttle operating in White Bear Lake as a MnDot trial of the technology.

https://beartrackswbl.org/

[Bakken2016]

https://www.metrotransit.org/micro

Metro Transit micro launches in North Minneapolis this Saturday, and rides are free through the 17th!

[MNdible]

Unless they've got some amazing AI scheduling the routing of this service in real time, I just can't believe that it makes sense to be using vehicles that big for this service.

[Tcmetro]

I am surprised they are using high floor vehicles. I'd expect that people with limited mobility will use the service and a low floor vehicle would help. MVTA uses low floor cutaway buses on their Connect service.

I hope this pilot performs well. Phillips seems like a natural area for expansion, especially since the #43 bus was eliminated a while ago.

[Trademark]

I am surprised they are using high floor vehicles. I'd expect that people with limited mobility will use the service and a low floor vehicle would help. MVTA uses low floor cutaway buses on their Connect service.

I hope this pilot performs well. Phillips seems like a natural area for expansion, especially since the #43 bus was eliminated a while ago.

Where did the 43 go?

[Tcmetro]

Where did the 43 go?
[/quote]
It was a shuttle that was introduced c. 1997 to connect Phillips to the shopping at Minnehaha and Lake while Hiawatha was rebuilt. I think it went away in 2004 when the light rail opened. It could also replace the #27, which is a weird route because of it's short length and use of the one-way street network.

[Bakken2016]

Unless they've got some amazing AI scheduling the routing of this service in real time, I just can't believe that it makes sense to be using vehicles that big for this service.

Big, they are usually Metro Mobility sized buses, and the app shows your trip in real time.


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[MNdible]

I guess my point is that if you're really picking people up at random locations, and dropping them off at random locations, unless you have a really smart networked route planning software, you'd probably be better off with much smaller vehicles. Otherwise there's just too much jogging all over the place. With even six people on the bus, just imagine how complicated the routing would be.

Maybe there's some examples to the contrary, but I just don't see this working well, and the subsidy is going to be outrageous.

[Bakken2016]

Here’s the bus, and I think we give it a year before we start talking about how much the subsidy will be and such. I see it as a great way to go East/West in North Minnneapolis, and connecting Bryn Mawr with the rest of North.


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[DanPatchToget]

I can't imagine the subsidy would be worse than SouthWest Prime, which was a replacement for a couple experimental local routes that had a per passenger subsidy of $99.

As for the buses, I never liked those cutaways. The ride in those is almost always uncomfortable mainly due to them rattling loudly over every bump in the road. They should get something like this:

[BoredAgain]

Just a guess, but I'm going to say that they are using the vehicle they have available and if the service is successful they will consider getting a "better" suited vehicle in the future. Metro Transit isn't exactly flush with cash right now.

[MNdible]

This service will provide slow and circuitous routing at triple the cost of Uber/Lyft/taxis (and likely increased emissions). You may think it's great, but I refuse to get excited about it.

[Tcmetro]

I think it's great for people to get to Aldi and Cub where it's very time consuming to transfer to make a trip that's only a mile or two. Helpful for those who are older or limited mobility to get from their door to the bus stop as well. With the C Line, D Line, and Blue Line as well as the stop cuts on the 22, the Near North Side has lost/will lose a lot of service at the local stops.

[Silophant]

Is there any incentive to use this service to get to a bus stop instead of just taking it all the way to the destination for the same fare?