That is great to hear. I hope it ends up succeeding more than expected. I’m still a skeptic but I really want it to do wellangrysuburbanite wrote:So, first day impressions, at least for me, were very positive. The infrastructure was really smooth running and pretty quick (the 35 minute runtime goes fast). Those flyovers were really impressive to ride over. I especially liked the stations. Nice, roomy shelters with good visibility to prevent too much loitering, lots of benches, and good lighting and trail connections. I much prefer these stations over the ones from the Orange Line, which feel more utilitarian. The Woodlane park & ride was pretty nice, though I think some better signage to the elevators is needed. The TSP was pretty spotty earlier in the day, but my return trip in the early afternoon was pretty smooth sailing. We only got caught at one light, and not for very long. There was some confusion at the Sun Ray station since the island platform requires the bus to crossover to the opposite side. Quite a few people got on the opposite direction they were intending.
The stations are actually better than many of us have given them credit for, location-wise. Most are near pockets of suburban density, commercial nodes, and of course the 3M campus. With Network Now the bus connections will be very strong, and Helmo Station will eventually be a decent urban node. The sound barriers along I-94 make the waiting environments quite quiet too, unlike the Orange Line. I expect most riders to be getting on at Woodlane and Sun Ray though.
But the biggest thing that impressed me was the ridership. Every bus I got on (and saw) was packed. And not just transit enthusiasts. Lots of regular people came out today to try it! I already saw some using it for game day transportation, and plenty of others realizing that maybe taking the bus is a feasible option for them now. Most of the ridership seemed to be coming from the Woodbury area, so this is a pretty big deal for them. A lot of drivers definitely noticed the buses, and looked pretty surprised to see packed articulated buses out in the suburbs.
As a conclusion, I would say that I underestimated the Gold Line. I think it’s going to be pretty well used. The opening events really left positive impressions on people. With all of the intense hate and disdain for others in our current political environment, I really liked seeing so many people coming together to enjoy some sweet new infrastructure. It gave me some hope.
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