Green Line LRT

[EOst]

The subway is usually faster than driving in NYC, often significantly

That's because driving in NYC is hell, not because the trains are any faster. Per mile, our trains have comparable speed.

[Nathan]

The subway is usually faster than driving in NYC, often significantly

That's because driving in NYC is hell, not because the trains are any faster. Per mile, our trains have comparable speed.

exactly... it's a travel time perspective when I tell my friends in Brooklyn I'm leaving soho they think in their head and expect 45 minutes to an hour travel time. when I'm in uptown and tell a friend I'm meeting then in dt stp they expect 15 to 20 minute travel... sameish distance different cultural perspective.

[MinnMonkey]

but people should also plan ahead for unexpected delays if they're at risk for losing their job whether by car bus or train.

I agree we need to plan for delays, but we don't know the circumstances for this woman's particular incident. Maybe she was coming from another job, or needed to bring her kids to day care.

Most of us here don't to need worry about losing our job for being occasionally late, and probably have schedules that allow for us to plan for delays. Unfortunately many people who rely on public transportation do not have those luxuries.

The frustration is that this trip in particular took 30% longer than scheduled and had nothing to do with heavy traffic, an accident or any outside forces except for St. Paul being stubborn about transit priority in their signals.

[Nathan]

but people should also plan ahead for unexpected delays if they're at risk for losing their job whether by car bus or train.

I agree we need to plan for delays, but we don't know the circumstances for this woman's particular incident. Maybe she was coming from another job, or needed to bring her kids to day care.

Most of us here don't to need worry about losing our job for being occasionally late, and probably have schedules that allow for us to plan for delays. Unfortunately many people who rely on public transportation do not have those luxuries.

The frustration is that this trip in particular took 30% longer than scheduled and had nothing to do with heavy traffic, an accident or any outside forces except for St. Paul being stubborn about transit priority in their signals.

But if she is substituting the LRT for a bus she used to take and that bus hit every red light she'd have been late too... I can't count how many times I've BARELY missed a connection on a bus and had to wait 12 minutes for the next one. Lots of things are out of our control. I say strive for better obviously... I think that as long as the train is attracting a considerably larger number of riders than the bus was in this corridor its pretty successful, and I think that's happening.

[FISHMANPET]

Apropos of nothing, this is my favorite (obviously satirical) take on Green Line expectations re speed and stops:
https://twitter.com/lawremipsum/status/ ... 8597248000

[MinnMonkey]

But if she is substituting the LRT for a bus she used to take and that bus hit every red light she'd have been late too... I can't count how many times I've BARELY missed a connection on a bus and had to wait 12 minutes for the next one. Lots of things are out of our control. I say strive for better obviously... I think that as long as the train is attracting a considerably larger number of riders than the bus was in this corridor its pretty successful, and I think that's happening.

I agree 100% that the train is a success and much better than what we had before. The frustrations are stemming from being told it would take 40 minutes end to end, and then 48 minutes, and now regularly 60 minutes and sometimes as long as 70 minutes. That is up to a 70% time increase from the originally planned time. Also the fact that anywhere on the line between Western Avenue Station and Capitol/Rice Station, the posted schedules are wrong 100% of the time.

I guess if this was a technical slow down instead of a political slow down, I would be much more understanding, but on the flip side, once their is the political will, this problem will be fixed fast and cost very little.

[stp1980]

I agree 100% that the train is a success and much better than what we had before. The frustrations are stemming from being told it would take 40 minutes end to end, and then 48 minutes, and now regularly 60 minutes and sometimes as long as 70 minutes. That is up to a 70% time increase from the originally planned time. Also the fact that anywhere on the line between Western Avenue Station and Capitol/Rice Station, the posted schedules are wrong 100% of the time.

I guess if this was a technical slow down instead of a political slow down, I would be much more understanding, but on the flip side, once their is the political will, this problem will be fixed fast and cost very little.

Agreed! I don't think anyone is expecting it to run at 70mph down University and go in 30 minutes end to end (although the ride would be very interesting when coming to a stop One of the advantages of LRT over a bus is reliability. When compared to the Blue line, there is less reliability here (although that is a slightly different setup along 55) or at least less than the initial expectation. I am still hopeful that this will change over time, although when they were testing and trains were missing the mark they seemed hopeful to have this remedied by the opening.

[IllogicalJake]

Also the fact that anywhere on the line between Western Avenue Station and Capitol/Rice Station, the posted schedules are wrong 100% of the time.

Has the Blue Line ever met posted schedules? I usually see a train within 10 minutes of arriving at the station, but they almost never arrive consistently on the same number past the hour. Or even close.

[WHS]

I work next to the West Bank station, go to downtown Saint Paul after work twice a week, and head home (near Loring Park). I don't think the trip has once taken less than 150 minutes using the Green Line. I can save myself 90 minutes by busing home, getting my car, and driving to Saint Paul and back.

I understand I'm not necessarily the target user for the line, but given that every stop of my trip is conveniently located within, literally, a few hundred feet of a transit station, it's sort of mind-boggling how much time it eats up.

[VAStationDude]

Also the fact that anywhere on the line between Western Avenue Station and Capitol/Rice Station, the posted schedules are wrong 100% of the time.

Has the Blue Line ever met posted schedules? I usually see a train within 10 minutes of arriving at the station, but they almost never arrive consistently on the same number past the hour. Or even close.

You must be living in a parallel Minneapolis. At my station in South Minneapolis the north and southbound LRT are scheduled within two minutes of each other during the meat of the schedule (M-F 6am - 7 pm, Sat & Sun 10am - 6pm) so not only can I evaluate my direction's on time performance but also the opposite direction. I ride the line a lot and the on time performance is quite good. The northbound performance past Cedar Riverside isn't good due to interlocking/schedule issues with the Green Line. Southbound performance along the entire line, except for during major events, is good.

The Green Line is pretty hideous. I've missed trains by less than a minute along University to have one show up 3 minutes later. I've also waited 15 minutes for a train in the middle of the day.

[twinkess]

Can confirm, in my experience the Blue Line is quite close to schedule.

[IllogicalJake]

I live in downtown Minneapolis, if that's "parallel." But I've only recently moved here and the Green Line testing likely through a lot of things off. I'll take your words for it.

[nate]

A couple of positive things to report:

-For the first month, the train stopped at Marion (the point where the track switches from the middle of the street to the side of the street) almost every single time I rode it. It has made the light at Marion for me each of the last three days.
- For the first month, it seemed operators would stop before an intersection if the bar signal started flashing before they made it to the intersection. Today, the operator on my train made it through stop lights at Lexington and Dale just as the signal started flashing; this is the first time I've observed that. Lexington to Central took 13 minutes today, two less than scheduled.

[Minneapolisite]

At the Raymond station just after 6PM the train was only late a few minutes and we got the, "Eastbound train to Downtown Minneapolis due in two minutes" message.

[ProspectPete]

Yesterday I saw a WB train stopped at Chatsworth. There were 4 metro transit peeps with hard hats , observing and jotting things down on their clip boards. Their vehicles parked there said something like "LRT signal communications".
I'm sure it's not as simple as flipping a switch, but maybe this is a step towards preemption of secondary intersections. Anybody have any anecdotes of a faster ride since Coleman made his position clear?

[VAStationDude]

I rode west from downtown Saint Paul in the 5:02 trip from Central. We were a little behind leaving Robert. At Rice we narrowly missed the light. Consequently we fell two minutes behind. We made it through every light save Dale and Lexington. When I got off at Lexington we were two minutes late.

It's pretty clear to me Saint Paul is giving way to much time to the cross streets and not enough university. The train arrived at Dale during the north south phase and sat motionless for well over the 29 seconds required for pedestrian crossings. The Dale traffic was not at all congested and at the end of the phase traffic was pretty sporadic. East bound University traffic was queued well past Saint Albans. Once the train gets a vertical bar it can't make it through the intersection before the bar starts flashing. The Saint Paul engineers must be overruled by the politicians and Met Council.

[Minneapolisite]

Leaving Nicollet in the AM in the past two days the trains were on time, but on the way back at Fairview today it was 5 minutes late. Seems they've figured out how to make the trains less late overall: I haven't had a 15+ minute wait like I did like the 1st week it debuted.

[ProspectPete]

Any figures for rider ship last week on the green line?
Does metro transit publish those weekly? And if yes where do they publish them?

[nate]

I continue to be highly impressed with the number and diversity of riders at off peak times on this line. I rode to the West Bank today (Saturday) at around 5:30, and the train was full of people from the time I got on at Lexington. Lots of folks got on and off at every stop, and we were just short of crush load after the Stadium Village stop, due to the soccer games. Terrific.

[mullen]

they need to find some funds in the couch cushions and make downtown east a center island station already. it's beyond ridiculous making all of these people cross the tracks to the other side to transfer lines. it's po dunk small town stupidity. saturday, coming back from the soccer match was just scary. you have these trains blowing their horns keeping back the hordes of people. someone will get hurt. why this station wasn't reconfigured during green line construction was a huge mis step.