Blue Line LRT

[PhilmerPhil]

A wise man once asked me: If the bus is 10 minutes late, and the bus is scheduled to come every 10 minutes, is the bus really late?

[commissioner]

Anybody know why the trains stop at 11th Ave. then take off again? I've seen it twice recently going both ways.

[Nick]

I realize there's a lot going on lately, but this seems to happen a lot.

[FISHMANPET]

I wonder how long the ride takes between Franklin Ave Station and Target Field via bus on the weekend, compared to the actual train?

[VAStationDude]

I rode from Franklin to Nicollet Mall at about 2p.m. today. Took about fifteen minutes.

[MSPtoMKE]

Well, obviously they had to do it several times when there was Green Line construction interference. I wouldn't be surprised if they are trying to get ahead on some routine maintenance on the Downtown portion as well, considering how much more complicated it will be to have a bus replacement for both the Blue and Green Lines.

[kellonathan]

Blue Line schedule will be adjusted this Saturday (April 5th) in preparation for the Green Line testing btwn Mpls and StP.

http://www.metrotransit.org/schedule-change-eff-april-5

http://www.metrotransit.org/Data/Sites/ ... 4_5_14.pdf
(*Notice that Metrodome references are all removed from the schedule. American Blvd Station is also renamed to "American Blvd/34th Ave Station." Didn't know they updated it.)

[VAStationDude]

Service levels are being increased. Ten minute frequencies on weekday evenings will end 40 minutes later than they do now.

[twincitizen]

Unfortunately they still haven't realized how redundant the word "Station" is...

[Tcmetro]

Nice catches there on the schedule and station name changes.

If there were one thing I'd like to see, is frequency bumped up to 15 minutes between 10pm and midnight, and perhaps to 30 min between midnight and 1 or 2 am. Also, it would be wonderful for a night bus to operate for airport workers, as a lot of them begin to arrive at 3 am when there is no train service.

[FISHMANPET]

They had voice announcements at the platforms this weekend, narrated by a cross between GladOS and Stephen Hawking.

[David Greene]

They had voice announcements at the platforms this weekend, narrated by a cross between GladOS and Stephen Hawking.

Off-topic but my brother-in-law in Oklahoma, who works for the Storm Prediction Center, related a story to me about NOAA using synthesized voices to deliver forecasts. I believe this is the original Macintosh voice synthesizer as can still be heard today on the TPT weather channel.

Anyway, once the forecasts started being read via synthesizer, a bunch of people called up the SPC and demanded to know why they had a damn foreigner delivering the forecast.

[mulad]

I've seen tweets from Metro Transit employees complaining about the robovoice, so maybe it will go away pretty soon (at least in cases where messages can be recorded in advance). Some of those complaints have even sounded like they'd be willing to record the messages themselves.

Any inkling of when NexTrip might finally start working, either online or through the station message boards?

[twincitizen]

Just an observation from Google maps...

I had no idea (had never really looked) that you could park so close to the stations along this line, free of hourly restrictions or anything. I knew about the free parking on Franklin, and the underutilized Lake St P&R, but hadn't really ever looked around 38th or 46th. There basically aren't any restrictions...you can park on neighboring residential streets all day long. Of course there's bus connections at those stations, but they aren't that frequent, or predictable, or protected from weather. I guess I figured on-street utilization/abuse would be high enough that adjacent streets would have "2 hour parking 6am-6pm" and/or residential permits.

[MNdible]

As somebody who may have parked in these nieghborhoods before taking the LRT to the airport, I may be able to confirm that the neighbors are hyper vigilant about enforcing the parking regs (72 hour parking limitation, parking distance to driveway curbcuts, etc.).

[twincitizen]

Ha, now that doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that only the very nearest N-S residential blocks have permit restrictions. Kind of silly how they enforce it (no parking 1-2pm M-F). I wonder how effective that is or how vigilantly the City enforces it.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/parking/cr ... itical_map

If you're willing to walk just over 1/8-mile to the station, you're good to go.

While we're sharing airport anecdotes, I'm happy to say that I took Route 27 to the Blue Line for my last flight. Given that my flight was around 7am, I was on the first or second run of the 27...and I was the only rider. It was barely a longer walk than to the 21 on Lake Street, and it sure as hell was a faster bus trip.

[mattaudio]

The 27... almost as obscure as the 39.

[twincitizen]

Ah yes, the 39. Also known as the secret Route 5 for white people.









*Before anyone reacts negatively, that was a joke lampooning the very existence of the Route 39.

[VAStationDude]

As somebody who may have parked in these nieghborhoods before taking the LRT to the airport, I may be able to confirm that the neighbors are hyper vigilant about enforcing the parking regs (72 hour parking limitation, parking distance to driveway curbcuts, etc.).

This is right. One of my neighbors told the small National Night Out gathering (aka cranky neighbor whine fest) all the 311 operators know him by name and don't have as him for his name or address. I see the same guy every so often looking into car windows or checking the windshield for tickets while walking his dog. I, unlike neighbor guy, have a career and life so I don't have to bitch and sulk to feel like my life has meaning. I've done one 311 report in a year and a half at my house. That particular instance was one of the neighbors parking his rust bucket directly in front of the walk to my front door.

If you're going to the airport, I'd suggest driving a car2go to either 4th street between Park and Portland downtown, 22nd Street just east of Cedar, the areas without critical parking by 38th or 46th, or the north side of 54th Street by the VA. The light rail is 2-5 minute walk from all those places and there is always ample parking.

[froggie]

After looking at the schedules, I'm guessing the 27 and 39 were specifically created to access the hospitals and major employers in Phillips from both downtown and the Hiawatha LRT.