Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[mamundsen]

I'm not sure if this is the best spot to put this, but I wanted to share my story with you guys.

I have been a lifelong Twin Cities resident and I have never used the bus until recently. I used to use the Blue Line from Fort Snelling when I lived down there, or over the past few years as I lived in the North Loop and would need to go to the airport. I also plan some weekend MLb getaways to cities that have rail transit. I would say I fall into that category of people who the LRT made me try transit.

I now live near Como and can walk to a few very nice bus lines. I have only used it for sporting events this fall, but I am also planning to use it for my new job. I am basing my search solely in downtown Minneapolis so that I can bus. The main factor is that it is cheaper in both of these cases vs parking for events or all day in a ramp.

I find that as I tell more of my friends who are still in the "I would never ride te bus" mind set about my experience more and more are open to trying it. I gave it a try because of what I have read here.

Yes I did get a Go To card. It makes it SO easy. Worrying about the rate is what was a part of my resistance for using the bus.

Lastly I have found that I can use Google Maps on my iPhone to know where and when to catch the bus. It's very helpful.

Thanks for helping change my mind.

[PhilmerPhil]

Check out omgtransit.com and add it to your home screen. It's a very helpful app that gives you real time bus departures at stops near you!

[mulad]

Route updates for December 7th, 2013.

https://www.metrotransit.org/these-rout ... ange-dec-7

Officially official: Routes 2, 16, 50 and a number of limited-stop/express routes serving the University of Minnesota will return to Washington Avenue.

I haven't dug into the details much more than that, though.

[phop]

MNDot just released a comprehensive update on the state of Minnesota's existing/planned transitways, if anyone is interested.

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/govrel/repor ... Report.pdf

[lordmoke]

Good read, thanks for posting it! The number of new lines "projected" to open in the span of only about three years (2018-2020) is... ambitious.

[twincitizen]

Not just ambitious, but downright impossible unless we get more funding. The current .25% metro sales tax could pay for Southwest & probably the Orange Line, but not much else. There is no room in that .25% to pay for building out Southwest and Bottineau concurrently, let alone Gateway, Rush Line, Riverview, etc. We need to get that sales tax bumped up to .75% ASAP. If we don't get it in the 2015 legislative session, we're going to start pushing these projects waaaaay out into the future.

I guess the good news is that aBRT isn't reliant on this funding source, but the really bad news is that it doesn't really have an alternative funding source either. Snelling and West 7th aBRT lines funding picture is still not complete, but are "fortunate" to be state highways, so MNDOT is contributing a lot of capital towards building the stations. That won't be the case for most other lines. If aBRT doesn't get some serious bonding money in 2014, those projects are in trouble as well.

[exiled_antipodean]

Y'all should fill out this survey and give your informed opinion.

http://www.metrotransit.org/sip

[twincitizen]

^And make sure you lobby for increased stop spacing (every 1/4 mile vs. current 1/8 mile) for local routes. I'm convinced it is the #1 thing we could do right now to improve transit service, and it costs nothing! It actually saves the agency money by speeding up running times and cutting in half the number of stops/signs/shelters to maintain. That savings could be poured back into the system by boosting trip frequencies and improving the bus stop infrastructure at the remaining stops.

[mamundsen]

I'm new to our bus transit... with regards to the 1/8 mile stop spacing they only stop if someone is standing there or it is requested to get off. Right?

[Silophant]

Correct, but on the busier routes, pretty much every stop has at least one person using it.

[Tcmetro]

Pretty much any of the buses in the Hi-Frequency network are also part of the Hi-Stops network. Take a peak hour 5, 6, 10, 18, or 21 and you'll see what I mean.

[Chef]

As I get older I am becoming less enamored with the notion of quarter mile spacing of bus stops. If I was 25 and worked in an office I would be all for it, but now that I am in 40s and work on my feet all day sometime a quarter mile walk is painful. Extrapolating out to my 60s or 70s when my knees are completely shot, I'm not sure it is such a good idea.

[Silophant]

Well, remember that quarter-mile spacing means that no point on the route is more than an eighth of a mile from a stop.

[David Greene]

Remember that most people don't start their trip immediately on the route. A two block walk is not uncommon, which is a 1/4 mile right there. It can easily get to be a 1/2 mile or more walk with 1/4 mile stop spacing.

[Tcmetro]

I've noticed that Los Angeles and Seattle have survived with 1/4 mile stop spacing, as has basically every city in Asia/Europe/S America. Also with less stops, ridership at the remaining stops will be higher, which will further justify improvements such as bus shelters, timetables and maps, benches, trash cans, bus bulbs, ticket machines, etc, etc.

[mulad]

Remember that most people don't start their trip immediately on the route. A two block walk is not uncommon, which is a 1/4 mile right there. It can easily get to be a 1/2 mile or more walk with 1/4 mile stop spacing.

You'll have to give an example of that. In a proper gridded area, going from 1/8 to 1/4-mile spacing will only add up to 1/8 of a mile to the previous distance, and since many people are in between stops to begin with, the delta is less than that like 80% of the time.

[David Greene]

Remember that most people don't start their trip immediately on the route. A two block walk is not uncommon, which is a 1/4 mile right there. It can easily get to be a 1/2 mile or more walk with 1/4 mile stop spacing.

You'll have to give an example of that. In a proper gridded area, going from 1/8 to 1/4-mile spacing will only add up to 1/8 of a mile to the previous distance, and since many people are in between stops to begin with, the delta is less than that like 80% of the time.

You're probably right that the majority of people will see a smaller increase but then the majority of people aren't disabled or elderly either.

Spacing in the Minneapolis E-W routes is often less than 1/8 mile, so moving to 1/4 mile is a pretty big jump. I'm not saying it's a terrible idea, just pointing out that it is a burden for some of the people most dependent on transit.

Is it a better idea to have more limited-stop routes in addition to the current setup? I don't know.

[RailBaronYarr]

I wonder if all-day frequent service (7.5 to 10 minutes) with articulated buses and 1/4 mile stop spacings would be operationally cheaper than running 2 routes (one local, one limited-stop) and faster (travel-speed wise, ignoring the off-board stuff). Take the savings and for elderly, disabled, etc folks not within the walk-shed of the new stop spacings and provide better dial-a-ride service to get them to a) destination or b) nearest bus stop. Just spitballin'.

[alleycat]

New lobbying group Move MN is going to be pushing for a holistic solution to transit/highway funding in the 2014 legislative session. They are still working out their funding proposal. Seems like there are a quite a few pushes being made to get transit funding solidified between this and the town halls that MNDOT/Met Council have been holding.

http://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2013/ ... es-transit

[RailBaronYarr]

Not sure where to put this, but thought it would be interesting to point out difference between bus and rail in snow. Tweets today have ranged all over the board, but at the peak morning hour it pretty much matched this latest tweet I saw:

"At 4:00 pm: 45% of buses are on time. Average delay=8 min. Northstar and light rail are on schedule."

I don't know how much this is rail having dedicated ROW (not stuck behind other vehicles) vs rail's performance relative to buses WRT traction/extra braking distance/speed compensation, but thought it was an interesting data point. The number of days in a year it snows >1 in is about 14 (http://climate.umn.edu/doc/twin_cities/snowmsp.htm), so it's not a HUGE concern regarding transit system investments, but it is there.