Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[Bakken2016]

If you weren’t aware, Metro Transit created limited edition Go To Cards for Pride Month. You can get them at the service centers or during the Pride Festival!


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[NickP]

If you weren’t aware, Metro Transit created limited edition Go To Cards for Pride Month. You can get them at the service centers or during the Pride Festival!


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Nice!!!

[hpan3]

You can once again take transit up the entirety of the north shore https://arrowheadtransit.com/convenient ... bus-route/

[DanPatchToget]

2024 budget and service forecast: https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... jYQ2s0MfnM

Highlights:
-return light rail service to 10-minute frequency (dependent on hiring)
-increase Northstar service to 8 roundtrips each weekday plus special event service
-bus service at 88% of pre-COVID levels (dependent on hiring)

[Tom H.]

Does anyone know how Metro Transit hiring is going? With all the frequency increases dependent on hiring, I wonder if it's more likely than not that those targets can be hit.

Also, with the new transit sales tax replacing $300 - $400M of county contributions, what are the counties planning to do with those funds? I believe the counties receive a portion of the sales tax directly as well. Is this the backdoor to filling the SWLRT funding gap?

[thespeedmccool]

Replacing the Anoka and Hennepin County contributions to the Northstar essentially saves it, right? I feel like Anoka County was the only stakeholder seriously considering a mothballing. I suppose that's a good thing, and maybe a good step to stabilizing the political environment around commuter rail enough to extend it to St. Cloud.

On the other hand, you can imagine one Anoka County now has much less incentive to improve the development situation around its stations. Maybe we can get a metropolitan zoning reform bill done next year.

[Silophant]

Yeah, I got the impression that the change was primarily to get Northstar funding stability, and a hedge against the other suburban counties doing the same thing with the Red/Orange/Gold lines. (Unless BRT lines are funded differently?)

[COLSLAW5]

Does anyone know how Metro Transit hiring is going? With all the frequency increases dependent on hiring, I wonder if it's more likely than not that those targets can be hit.

Also, with the new transit sales tax replacing $300 - $400M of county contributions, what are the counties planning to do with those funds? I believe the counties receive a portion of the sales tax directly as well. Is this the backdoor to filling the SWLRT funding gap?

They are "at target" for bus drivers but down 11 rail operators from target

[J. Mc]

https://www.metrotransit.org/quarterly- ... day-aug-19

- Several routes will see frequency improvements, Orange, A, 2, 9, 10, 18, 30, 65, 67, 83, 87, 323, 540, 542.
- Route 17 overhaul with Better Bus.
- A few other changes to various bus routes with timepoint adjustments or additional trips.
- No changes to Blue or Green lines.

I'm happy to see A Line frequency returning to every 10 minutes (at least during a chunk of the day) and 87 returning to every 30 minutes before the State Fair starts.

[Silophant]

It's nice to see that the Route 17 improvements are happening with this pick. They had previously said that the changes wouldn't go into effect until the 3rd Avenue Bridge was complete.

[DanPatchToget]

With the new underpass for 77th Street under Highway 77 open will the 540 routing be changed in December? Any other routes that will use the new underpass?

[Trademark]

With the new underpass for 77th Street under Highway 77 open will the 540 routing be changed in December? Any other routes that will use the new underpass?

IIRC that was the plan. One day I'd love to see a BRT from 77th street to the Knox avenue tunnel to American hop on 494 and go to the Southwest Station.

[Qhaberl]

A friend of mine took a video of themselves riding the D line. I was surprised to see that the buses were not the branded rapid transit buses, but instead the older metro transit articulated buses. Are they not using the branded buses for all the BRT lines? Is there a supply chain problems causing them to not have enough stock? I would think that for branding purposes you would always want to use the cleaner nicer looking buses on the Various BRT lines.


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[Tcmetro]

The Osseo Rd detour has caused a need for additional buses on the C & D lines. The electric buses for the C Line have also had some reliability issues which I am unsure if still impacting fleet availability.

[HuskyGrad]

A friend of mine took a video of themselves riding the D line. I was surprised to see that the buses were not the branded rapid transit buses, but instead the older metro transit articulated buses. Are they not using the branded buses for all the BRT lines? Is there a supply chain problems causing them to not have enough stock? I would think that for branding purposes you would always want to use the cleaner nicer looking buses on the Various BRT lines.


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I would guess there is a shortage of BRT buses. As an agency, they can’t just deploy the nicest standard buses on the line as it would potentially be an equity violation. Unless procured for a specific project, agencies must distribute newer vehicles equally through a system.

[DanPatchToget]

Duluth Transit Authority recently launched their modified bus system as part of the Better Bus Blueprint. This includes the Go Line routes, which are similar to our arterial BRT routes except they still use regular bus stops and you pay the fare on board. The routes are free to use until September 9th.

On the way back from a family vacation on the North Shore I had just enough time to ride one of the Go Line routes, the Green Line, towards Hermantown and back to downtown. The other Go Line route is the Blue Line, which goes between UMD and the Spirit Valley neighborhood via downtown.

[Silophant]

Mod note: I moved the aBRT posts over to the dedicated thread I created for easier searchability a couple years ago then promptly forgot about.

[Silophant]

Metro Transit is increasing Northstar service starting October 2. They'll be adding a third peak direction trip and a reverse trip every weekday, and adjusting the existing trip times to allow the first peak trip, reverse trip, and third peak trip to use the same trainset. There will also be service to each Vikings home game starting October 8th (including the Monday night games), but no weekend service otherwise.

[commissioner]

Glad to see they are increasing service!

[Rube Dali]

Metro Transit workers authorize strike:
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/r ... tion-vote/

Should we be concerned with this?