Search found 42 matches

by SamtheBusNerd
November 7th, 2017, 4:36 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

You're lucky that you commute downtown. I usually have to commute across South or to Midway, both trips where the bus can easily take an hour or more. The only ABRT actually planned for South Minneapolis is the Chicago Ave line. While that's great, there is nothing planned with any sort of actual ne...
by SamtheBusNerd
November 7th, 2017, 1:37 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

I'm not entirely closed to the idea of turning back to cars in the winter EXCEPT that they aren't entirely vacant when it's -15 and that's exactly when it seems most dangerous to be biking and winter conditions already have a traffic calming effect, which also reduces space for bikes to use. Exactl...
by SamtheBusNerd
October 12th, 2017, 5:24 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Anyone know what's up with the new bike lanes on Franklin at the light rail station? I was excited when they were put in but they never fixed the signs so they're still just full of parked cars.
by SamtheBusNerd
September 12th, 2017, 2:06 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

I had the opposite experience: motorists speeding past the school (if you can't put speed humps next to a school on a bike boulevard, when can you?)and only a couple of traffic circles and bump outs. Meh. Huh. Maybe I just had good luck? Totally agree that bike boulevards shouldn't be built without...
by SamtheBusNerd
September 11th, 2017, 1:52 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Anyone ride on the new ("bike lane closed" no more) Washington Ave bike lanes yet? Forgot to detour there yesterday. Also, they're now striping bike lane extensions on 26th and 28th between I-35 and Hennepin, but it's only partially done with certain blocks here and there still untouched....
by SamtheBusNerd
August 31st, 2017, 10:30 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements
Replies: 323
Views: 91671

Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Historical(ish) question here: Does anyone know why Minneapolis seems to have so much less of an interest/focus in streetscaping and actual sidewalks compared to some other cities in the midwest? I've been noticing a lot of projects to replace curb ramps and traffic lights, and restripe crosswalks a...
by SamtheBusNerd
July 21st, 2017, 10:19 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Orange Line / 35W@94: Downtown to Crosstown Project
Replies: 1121
Views: 240939

Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Wait, what? Tried calling our councilman about it. The response was something along the lines of "no one's complained about it yet so we haven't looked into it".
by SamtheBusNerd
July 21st, 2017, 10:07 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Orange Line / 35W@94: Downtown to Crosstown Project
Replies: 1121
Views: 240939

Re: Orange Line (35W BRT) & Lake St Transit Access Project

Has anyone else looked at the construction staging for this (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/metro/projects/i35wminneapolis/)? According to this they're planning on closing Franklin and Portland for 8mos, then closing the 24th St ped bridge for almost 3 years(!), including while 26th is also closed. Is t...
by SamtheBusNerd
June 29th, 2017, 9:16 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

I don't understand why we can't just have regular two lane arterial/collectors with bike lanes and crosswalks be the norm in Minneapolis like in other cities. Nicollet would a great place to start. Get rid of the huge center turn lane and just put in a left turn lane at major intersections. Then mov...
by SamtheBusNerd
April 13th, 2017, 7:57 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Franklin Avenue
Replies: 41
Views: 5914

Re: Franklin Avenue

Posted this here for the sake of not duplicating threads. What are folks thoughts on the MnDOT detour of all freeway access traffic from Hennepin/Lyndale down Franklin at the moment? When I first saw they were going to do this I figured they would have tried to mitigate how it would impact the neigh...
by SamtheBusNerd
February 2nd, 2017, 10:33 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements
Replies: 323
Views: 91671

Re: Pedestrian Safety and Infrastructure Improvements

Does anyone know if, with the new public works director and complete streets policy, etc, the city of Minneapolis is going to start marking more uncontrolled crosswalks? I know that St Paul has started doing that and enforcing them with a lot of success and it would be good to see Minneapolis do the...
by SamtheBusNerd
January 22nd, 2017, 8:29 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
Replies: 2909
Views: 692606

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

I would imagine that it's just a fluke. Metro Transit does all scheduling in house, including for the contracted regional routes. The contracts for the regional routes are basically just for the day to day operation of them, and even then a lot of things like signage, detours, etc are still under di...
by SamtheBusNerd
January 21st, 2017, 9:16 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)
Replies: 2909
Views: 692606

Re: Public Transit News and Current Happenings

It was a First-run Anoka County Traveler route. Looking at the house on google maps, I wouldn't be surprised if the driver hit a patch of ice going downhill and lost control. As someone who's worked for First Transit, I don't think the safety practices there are any worse than at Metro Transit or an...
by SamtheBusNerd
February 2nd, 2016, 4:06 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Has anyone seen the new city of Saint Paul website? They have a pretty ambitious list of bike projects for 2016, including off-street cycletracks on sections of Jackson, University, Pelham Blvd, and Wheelock Pkwy: https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/public-works/bicycles/projects . Not a ton of detai...
by SamtheBusNerd
October 19th, 2015, 9:03 am
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycling and transit elasticity ?
Replies: 11
Views: 1194

Re: Bicycling and transit elasticity ?

Do you know if Copenhagen simply accounts for the extra ridership and knows that they'll be somewhat inefficient the rest of the year? (BTW, the story of Copenhagen jumping from 32% to an estimated 45% in just 2 years due to construction projects making auto travel difficult and time consuming is q...
by SamtheBusNerd
October 16th, 2015, 12:13 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycling and transit elasticity ?
Replies: 11
Views: 1194

Re: Bicycling and transit elasticity ?

This is how Copenhagen works. 45% of Copenhagen city residents bike to work (up from 36% in 2012, btw- good infrastructure works :) ) and about 30% take transit. The trains have excess capacity, which helps, but in general buses are just severely overcrowded when it's not good cycling weather. It's ...
by SamtheBusNerd
October 8th, 2015, 7:22 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Improving Metro Transit's urban bus service
Replies: 119
Views: 18104

Re: Improving Metro Transit's urban bus service

I agree with the earlier comment that every line should be aBRT quality, and I don't think that needs to be expensive. I think the real improvements on these routes are because the bus on these routes is theoretically going to be faster and more reliable. You don't need to spend tens of millions of ...
by SamtheBusNerd
October 8th, 2015, 7:14 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Improving Metro Transit's urban bus service
Replies: 119
Views: 18104

Re: Improving Metro Transit's urban bus service

Wow, this has turned into a great discussion. I didn't actually folks would be this interested in talking about local bus service :) With regards to TVMs, why couldn't we aim to just install them on every bus instead of at stops? Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark has used this system for ye...
by SamtheBusNerd
October 5th, 2015, 4:35 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Improving Metro Transit's urban bus service
Replies: 119
Views: 18104

Improving Metro Transit's urban bus service

I moved to Minneapolis earlier this year and regularly use transit to commute to work in Saint Paul. One thing that's really struck me is how much money is being spent here to provide really bad bus service. There are tons and tons of bus routes but it takes longer to get from Stevens Square to Summ...
by SamtheBusNerd
August 31st, 2015, 4:55 pm
Forum: Transportation
Topic: Bicycle Infrastructure
Replies: 1800
Views: 1002685

Re: Bicycle Infrastructure

Study confirms those "share the road" signs signify the exact opposite to bicyclists and cars: http://www.bikede.org/2015/08/29/share-the-road-is-a-problem/ Who controls this signage anyway? Could the city change the digital signs downtown, or is that MnDOT? One good place to start would ...