POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandatory?

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways

Should Metro Transit implement a fare free zone

Fare free zone on the Green Line between West Bank, East Bank, and Stadium Village
14
25%
Make the U-Pass a compulsory purchase for full-time students
36
64%
Something else / I'm not sure yet
6
11%
 
Total votes: 56

talindsay
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandat

Postby talindsay » June 7th, 2014, 11:22 am

The campus shuttles will *NOT* stop running, and they're completely free. The University seems to be choosing to not look at the Green Line as part of the intra-campus transportation system, seeing it instead simply as a way to get to and from campus. Personally I think that's disappointing, but the basic argument against cutting the University shuttles is pretty sound - the current shuttles carry their heaviest loads from Anderson to Coffman, on a five-minute schedule. The Green Line's West Bank stop is significantly west of Anderson, and the East Bank stop is quite far east of Coffman, and it only runs every ten minutes. So basically, it's not capable of replacing the buses and so there's no reason to incentivize its use on campus since the buses will run anyway.

There *had* been talk of extending the downtown fare zone to include the University, and that would have been nice - it would strengthen connections between campus and downtown - but I guess that would carry a significant cost, and I'm guessing nobody decided to pony up that cost.

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Tcmetro
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandat

Postby Tcmetro » June 7th, 2014, 12:04 pm

The U is actually looking at shaking up their entire route network for the fall semester. They posted a Google Doc about it; however, it can only be viewed by those with U of M email addresses:

http://www1.umn.edu/pts/news/index.html#busrouteinput

https://docs.google.com/a/umn.edu/forms ... _form_link

mulad
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Re: POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandat

Postby mulad » June 7th, 2014, 3:59 pm

Here they are. In all cases, they're keeping it down to two routes -- Campus Connector in red and Minneapolis Circulator in blue -- rather than the three routes they had when I went (Campus Connector, Washington Avenue Bridge Circulator, and East Bank Circulator, I think). Metro Transit bus routes are in yellow. No word on the frequency of these routes, and it's strange that they don't show the Green Line at all (the only way Option C makes sense, if you ask me)

Option A:
Image
Proposed Option A Fall 2014 Transit Routes REV 2 by Mulad, on Flickr

Option B:
Image
Proposed Option B Fall 2014 Transit Routes REV 2 by Mulad, on Flickr

Option C:
Image
Proposed Option C Fall 2014 Transit Routes REV 2 by Mulad, on Flickr

talindsay
Wells Fargo Center
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Re: POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandat

Postby talindsay » June 7th, 2014, 5:53 pm

it's strange that they don't show the Green Line at all (the only way Option C makes sense, if you ask me)
Confirmation bias, I know, but to me that's further evidence that they don't even consider the Green Line to be part of the intra-campus transportation system. With three stations on campus I think it's wrongheaded to ignore the light rail as a way to get around campus, but I can see their point that the stations aren't positioned particularly well for getting around once you're on campus.

exiled_antipodean
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Re: POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandat

Postby exiled_antipodean » June 7th, 2014, 8:35 pm

Why mess with success? The U buses are a good public transit system, and it's not clear a fare free zone on campus would actually be good for the Green Line or mobility round the U.

The strengths of the connector system during the weekdays are its frequency, and the way the load is distributed across the system. As noted, lots of people ride Anderson-Coffman (which even in winter is crazy to me, but each to their own) and another popular ride is Anderson to St Paul, or East Bank to St Paul. I spent a year riding Anderson to St Paul three days a week, and can still recall the patterns of boarding :)

The frequency is supported by exactly this diversity of rides that people do. If the Green Line was free on campus it would cannibalize some of the Connector ridership. So, then you might see pressure to cut back frequency and you'd get into the death spiral of frequency/ridership declines.

I also happen to think that a fare free zone on campus would be bad for the Green Line. Like I said, Anderson-Coffman is crazy. People do it because it's free. If the Green Line was free on campus at certain times of the day you'd be having a lot of people boarding for short rides, making stops longers and the train more crowded for through riders. Why do that?

Using the Green Line as the Washington Ave spine of the U transit system would mean people heading to St Paul would need to transfer. I'm all for transfers in the right situation, but this isn't one of them. The connector system works great because it's a fast ride to St Paul and the biomedical district etc.

Moreover, for students the UPass already makes the marginal cost of riding free, if they want to take it up.

I do think that with electronic fare readers it would be possible for Metro Transit to easily implement something like an "extended downtown zone" that includes the U for $1 or something. That wouldn't be a bad idea.

I admit I'm partly motivated to write this post out of contrariness.

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Tcmetro
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Re: POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandat

Postby Tcmetro » June 8th, 2014, 7:41 am

Thanks for posting those, mulad!

I think Option C is a no-go. A transfer will take up a significant portion of time in a Minneapolis to St. Paul campus trip, and will make traveling more difficult for students.

I'm partial to Option B. It provides Dinkytown service on the connector, and is essentially the same route that was operated during the closure of Washington Ave. The East Bank Circulator isn't seeing many changes with this option, but will presumably take over the hours of the Weekend Circulator. This plan expects students to use the Green Line between the West Bank, East Bank, and Stadium Village.

Option A is the equivalent to a service cut. The Connector stays the same, but the East Bank and Washington Bridge Circulators are replaced by expanded hours on the Weekend Circulator. The Connector will probably remain the most popular choice between the sides of the campus, but the loop routing of the Minneapolis Circulator is too long to be of use for the short hops that make the connector so popular.

In any case, I believe a few more bus stops should be added on campus. 6th St SE and 21st Ave SE on the Connector to serve the Bio-Medical district, Willey Hall on the Connector, Wiesman Museum and the Science Building on the 3, and Arlington/Pleasant on the Minneapolis/Weekend Circulator.

Perhaps someone with more experience with the U of M bus routes can be of better insight on these proposals.

twincitizen
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Re: POLL: Fare free zone on campus or make the U-Pass mandat

Postby twincitizen » November 6th, 2015, 9:01 am

MSA floats idea of including UPass in student fees: http://mndaily.com/news/campus/2015/11/ ... -expansion


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