Green Line LRT

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
MSP
Block E
Posts: 23
Joined: August 19th, 2012, 6:02 pm

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby MSP » June 21st, 2014, 11:04 am

Ridership figures from the weekend -- 61,000 on the Green Line on Saturday (14 hours), nearly 46k on Sunday, for a total of 107k.

https://www.metrotransit.org/107000-rid ... ng-weekend
Saturday had around 93000 rides on light rail. That's gotta be the record ridership so far for one day.

VAStationDude
US Bank Plaza
Posts: 764
Joined: June 1st, 2012, 10:30 am

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby VAStationDude » June 21st, 2014, 6:23 pm

Rode it for the first time today. Metrodome to Victoria took 28 minutes which is a couple minutes slower than the schedule. We didn't clear many lights without stopping. There seems to be opportunities to extend the university green light and train phase. Many times the train waited through both the left turn cycle and cross traffic after just missing the green.

grant1simons2
IDS Center
Posts: 4371
Joined: February 8th, 2014, 11:33 pm
Location: Marcy-Holmes

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby grant1simons2 » June 21st, 2014, 8:42 pm

At least it's getting down to 2 minutes later. It's happening!!

HuskyGrad
Union Depot
Posts: 313
Joined: May 13th, 2013, 8:11 pm
Location: PNW

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby HuskyGrad » June 21st, 2014, 10:17 pm

Road the Green Line today. Saw cars constantly blocking the intersection at Washington and Huron causing significant delays to trains. Has anybody witnessed this?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

ProspectPete
Union Depot
Posts: 301
Joined: August 6th, 2013, 12:49 pm

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby ProspectPete » June 23rd, 2014, 6:14 am

Does anyone think that the signaling is getting worse?
Trains never seems to make it across 280 without at least stopping once, even on a weekend with scant traffic. Yesterday there was a situation where EVERYBODY was stopped at 280. Trains, cars, peds. I guess it seems that the signals aren't "smart" signals but rather just cycle through their cycles.
Can't signals detect when a car is there or not?
This morning at westgate my EB train was stopped while it waited for the oncoming left hand signal to cycle through.... Even though there was no cars waiting to turn left. It's one thing to have a train stop to let little me and my Hyundai go through, it's another thing to have the train stopped for nothing, nothing at all. Baaaaah.

gpete
Union Depot
Posts: 330
Joined: June 8th, 2012, 9:33 am
Location: Seward, Mpls

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby gpete » June 23rd, 2014, 6:52 am

Over the weekend I saw another weird signal issue at University and Malcolm Ave SE in Minneapolis.

The train got stuck at a red while EB and WB cars had green left-turn arrows. Then EB and WB traffic got green lights to drive down University but for some reason, the train's signal remained as a horizontal bar for about 30 more seconds before the train was allowed to proceed.

holmstar
Nicollet Mall
Posts: 156
Joined: October 29th, 2013, 2:59 pm

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby holmstar » June 23rd, 2014, 7:06 am

This seems to be quickly turning into a green line complaints thread.

talindsay
Wells Fargo Center
Posts: 1533
Joined: September 29th, 2012, 10:41 am

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby talindsay » June 23rd, 2014, 8:18 am

This seems to be quickly turning into a green line complaints thread.
We are all transit advocates here and many of us have been attending planning meetings since 2006 - you will find my name in the official project comments for as far back as there were comments. We are the line's advocates. these are things they need to address for the line to reach its potential, and they are fixable things that we would have hoped would work on day one, but it looks like they need to do some tweaking. Maybe that constitutes complaining but I think it's good to enumerate the issues.

I do hope metro transit had somebody following this thread and other public input channels.

User avatar
FISHMANPET
IDS Center
Posts: 4241
Joined: June 6th, 2012, 2:19 pm
Location: Corcoran

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby FISHMANPET » June 23rd, 2014, 8:25 am

On Friday I saw a train get stuck westbound at Harvard St waiting for a go signal while the traffic light went through an entire cycle. The driver ended up just blowing his horn and running the signal.

MinnMonkey
Landmark Center
Posts: 216
Joined: July 6th, 2012, 11:31 am

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby MinnMonkey » June 23rd, 2014, 8:33 am

On Friday I saw a train get stuck westbound at Harvard St waiting for a go signal while the traffic light went through an entire cycle. The driver ended up just blowing his horn and running the signal.
There was definitely some issues with the signals on campus last Friday. It seems they have been resolved since then.

Also it look like the train isn't backing up traffic at University and Huron anymore.

nate
Landmark Center
Posts: 283
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 2:01 pm

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby nate » June 23rd, 2014, 8:56 am

-1 to Mr Lindsay.

The signaling issues are really the only complaint I have with the line so far. But it's a critically important thing to get right, so I feel the complaints are well deserved.

That said, my train this morning stopped at Chatsworth (frustrating) but from there only had a ~5 second pause at Marion until stopping at 7th...and 6th...and 5th... in DT St Paul. Still, a step in the right direction!

EOst
Capella Tower
Posts: 2424
Joined: March 19th, 2014, 8:05 pm
Location: Saint Paul

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby EOst » June 23rd, 2014, 9:07 am

I just don't understand the point of us constantly harping on the signals issue right now; it isn't as though MT doesn't know about it, and is trying to fix it. When they've had some time to get it right, then we can make more reasonable judgments.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
Posts: 7752
Joined: June 19th, 2012, 2:04 pm
Location: NORI: NOrth of RIchfield

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mattaudio » June 23rd, 2014, 9:18 am

Actually I think it can be helpful if channeled the right way. I'm sure Metro Transit would like to fix it, and I'm sure we have the technical capabilities, but do we have the political will? Do we have the political capital to ensure that a $1 billion train is not encumbered by signal timing that treats cars as equals on the corridor? We need to make sure there's political demand to ensure the proper technical outcome.

Viktor Vaughn
Target Field
Posts: 593
Joined: July 10th, 2012, 6:37 pm

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Viktor Vaughn » June 23rd, 2014, 9:23 am

I'm not able to ride the green line on the regular, so I appreciate the updates and ancedotes. As a transit advocate, I'd rather know the status of this critical issue and keep my eyes wide open.

Also, we have to recognize that our regional leaders made a value judgment when they denied this line signal priority like Hiawatha's. Some of think that wasn't the right call. Glossing over the consequences of this decision does a disservice to this billion dollar investment. Do you think car drivers would be quiet about the train's affect on traffic if every time a train came they got a red light?

Metro Transit needs to hear about this everyday until it's fixed.

Edit: What Matt said.

MNdible
is great.
Posts: 5989
Joined: June 8th, 2012, 8:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby MNdible » June 23rd, 2014, 9:27 am

At this point I don't know if full signal pre-emption is necessary or not, but it might be worthwhile to actually get the signal prioritization working correctly before we determine it to be a failure.

It's like saying that universal healthcare is a bad idea because the MNsure website didn't work correctly. Or something.

mullen
Foshay Tower
Posts: 961
Joined: June 4th, 2012, 7:02 am

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mullen » June 23rd, 2014, 9:34 am

the east side of the line as too many stops, just my opinion (i know a few others) but i understand why these addtl stops were added. but it bogs down the line to have this redundancy. i love the line and all it brings and univ ave hasn't looked this good in decades. the landscaping in the mediums along univ are nice touches. but yea, particularly after snelling heading east. the line's best points are the univ transit mall/wash ave. then gliding across the bridge to west bank. if lived in say, prospect park and worked dt mpls, riding this to work and back every day would be a delight.

mattaudio
Stone Arch Bridge
Posts: 7752
Joined: June 19th, 2012, 2:04 pm
Location: NORI: NOrth of RIchfield

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mattaudio » June 23rd, 2014, 9:34 am

I don't think anyone here has suggested the Green Line is a failure.

exiled_antipodean
Landmark Center
Posts: 286
Joined: December 3rd, 2012, 8:20 am

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby exiled_antipodean » June 23rd, 2014, 9:35 am

^ Good analogy, whatever you think of universal health care.

I've been watching the 29th & University Ave (Prospect Park station) intersection as a pedestrian, and the lights there are horrible for pedestrians, but great for the train. The train needs to cross the westbound traffic when it enters or leaves the station, and as far as I can tell the signals are working well. When the train passes Malcolm heading west the westbound car traffic gets a red, and the train takes the turn in front of the traffic without a delay. Eastbound trains seem to trip the light signals to orange while they're dwelling at the station, and then by the time the train is ready to head out the traffic has a red and away the train goes.

Pedestrian phase seems to have been [nearly] forgotten in the whole thing, as I waited 4 minutes to cross University this morning.

kbee
Block E
Posts: 16
Joined: December 5th, 2012, 6:57 pm

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby kbee » June 23rd, 2014, 9:53 am

Metro Transit needs to hear about this everyday until it's fixed.
You're right that somebody should hear about this everyday until it's fixed, but I think it would be more effective if everyone contacted the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and Hennepin and Ramsey counties - particularly St. Paul and Ramsey County. These are the agencies that own the signals along University avenue and have the final say with respect to signal timing and priority/preemption.

I doubt we need to convince anyone at Metro Transit that this is a problem that needs fixing, I don't think we can say the same for the various public works / traffic departments at St. Paul and Ramsey County.

EOst
Capella Tower
Posts: 2424
Joined: March 19th, 2014, 8:05 pm
Location: Saint Paul

Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby EOst » June 23rd, 2014, 10:28 am

Actually I think it can be helpful if channeled the right way. I'm sure Metro Transit would like to fix it, and I'm sure we have the technical capabilities, but do we have the political will? Do we have the political capital to ensure that a $1 billion train is not encumbered by signal timing that treats cars as equals on the corridor? We need to make sure there's political demand to ensure the proper technical outcome.
Sure, but we should also know what we're dealing with so that we know where to focus it. Right now, with things still essentially in Beta, we don't know what can't be fixed without further action and what just needs fine tuning.
Metro Transit needs to hear about this everyday until it's fixed.
Why? Do you think it's Metro Transit's decision whether the line gets preemption or not? MT is doing what it can; you're going to be preaching to the choir. Contact your local elected officials instead.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 45 guests