Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[grant1simons2]

"Slim Shelters" being installed where there's limited sidewalk space

https://www.metrotransit.org/shelters-f ... introduced

[LakeCharles]

Now you can commute by kayak:
http://www.startribune.com/kayak-sharin ... 388894241/
http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/n ... ml?ana=fbk

[twincitizen]

I was gonna post this in "embarrassing confessions", but it's more of transit-y thing that happened:
Last night my gf and I took the 23 to the Blue Line instead of taking the 4 to get to Target Center (origin point: 36th & Dupont)

The 23 stops right at the end of my block, whereas we would've walked an additional 1/8 mile (2 short blocks) over to 36th & Bryant to catch the 4. But the walking distance actually had very little to do with it. We did it for the perceived ride quality and frustration level of having to stop every goddamn block on the 4, and the horrendous traffic through the bottleneck and Hennepin Ave downtown. And honestly, when you perfectly nail the bus-to-rail transfer, as we did, I there wasn't that much difference in total trip duration. The scheduled 23+Blue trip time is 31 minutes (16+15, no transfer penalty), whereas the 4 takes 21 minutes (according to schedule...but c'mon, you know it's gonna arrive at least 2 mins late and be super slow thru the bottleneck).

I wouldn't do it for a daily commute or anything, but for a random evening trip, hell yes I would do it again. Especially if the 23 is coming a couple minutes before the 4. But luckily, I just bought a house that is just 1600 feet from the Blue Line 46th St Station platform (via 45th St)

[mattaudio]

We really have to do something about the 1/8 mi stop spacing and jerky move in and out of the shoulder lane thing. If I'm on a crowded 14 headed from downtown that stops every block, I'm nearly sick to my stomach by the time I hit my block.

[Sacrelicio]

We really have to do something about the 1/8 mi stop spacing and jerky move in and out of the shoulder lane thing. If I'm on a crowded 14 headed from downtown that stops every block, I'm nearly sick to my stomach by the time I hit my block.

Took the 14 home from work one night and a woman gets on at one block, rides to the next block, gets off. Makes no sense. I just can't take local routes anymore, I'd rather walk to the express downtown and then walk a little further home from the 46th street station.

[LakeCharles]

I face the same problem with the 11 or 18. During one particular slow time, I got frustrated, got out and walked and beat the bus from 31st&1st to Nicollet and 26th. Granted there were other factors (multiple wheelchair riders to hook and unhook) but it still took 14 minutes to go 5 blocks.

[amiller92]

Took the 14 home from work one night and a woman gets on at one block, rides to the next block, gets off. Makes no sense. I just can't take local routes anymore, I'd rather walk to the express downtown and then walk a little further home from the 46th street station.

I keep meaning to try to take the express, but haven't managed to do so. At least with the 14 I know if I keep walking up Bloomington one will come by eventually.

[Sacrelicio]

Took the 14 home from work one night and a woman gets on at one block, rides to the next block, gets off. Makes no sense. I just can't take local routes anymore, I'd rather walk to the express downtown and then walk a little further home from the 46th street station.

I keep meaning to try to take the express, but haven't managed to do so. At least with the 14 I know if I keep walking up Bloomington one will come by eventually.

It involves a lot of walking but I work in North Loop and get on/off the bus at Marquette and Washington. Just can't stand the slow, jerky buses.

[amiller92]

It's the waiting I can't stand, and I'm really good at getting to the stop just after the bus has gone by, which makes me less eager to walk farther to just miss a less frequent service when I can just walk farther in the direction I'm going and catch the next one.

I don't tend to stress once I'm on the bus and can distract myself with my phone (helps that I can always get a seat due to getting on/off fairly far south).

[Tcmetro]

Service changes coming Aug. 20th:

2 - bumped up to HFN. 10 min service all day. Weekdays, entire route; weekends, from Lowry Hill to Stadium Village
62 - bumped up to 15 min service, weekdays between Larpenteur and Downtown; weekends between CR B and Downtown.
223 - minor routing change
7th St Ramp - I-94 buses from the east metro will use the new 7th St ramp
Minor changes on some other routes and light rail.

Also looks like MT is rolling out a new bus schedule design, which started with the last service change.

http://www.metrotransit.org/these-route ... -on-aug-20

[MSPtoMKE]

Good news about the 2, always nice to have more routes at every 10 minutes even on Sundays. The 62 now basically fits the criteria for the high frequency network, but isn't included. It's probably because it is a fairly small portion of the route, but it seems like they could pretty easily make it high frequency between Downtown and Co Rd B, without too many extra resources. St. Paul's high frequency network is pretty skeletal.

[jebr]

The 62 has a few times where there's 16ish minute headways, which means it doesn't qualify. Same with the 3. It really would make sense for Metro Transit to try and see if they could adjust these two routes slightly to get them to true high frequency status.

Also, the 54 still needs added frequencies. I went on it yesterday about 12:30 and we were standing room only for parts of the route.

[Tcmetro]

The 4 and 17 are also really close to HFN standards. That being said, the HFN isn't well branded (no maps at bus stops, etc), so there probably isn't much interest from MT for expanding the network. Secondly, branding routes under HFN means it's less feasible for cuts that reduce service to non-HFN standards.

[grant1simons2]

I really wish they could up the frequency of the 6U up to 15 minute frequencies during the school year. Could help out a lot of students up here.

[DanPatchToget]

I really wish they could up the frequency of the 6U up to 15 minute frequencies during the school year. Could help out a lot of students up here.

That is proposed under Metro Transit's Service Improvement Plan. I think, and I hope, it's a near term implementation.

[Qhaberl]

We seem to have such a difficult time with transportation funding. How are the funding the conversion of wrote to the high frequency and the other transit improvements?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[intercomnut]

The 4 and 17 are also really close to HFN standards. That being said, the HFN isn't well branded (no maps at bus stops, etc), so there probably isn't much interest from MT for expanding the network. Secondly, branding routes under HFN means it's less feasible for cuts that reduce service to non-HFN standards.

I disagree with that characterization of MT. You can check out their proposed improvements by route in the Service Improvement Plan. It includes explicitly adding routes 2, 14, 22, 23, 62, 63, 68, and 74 to the High Frequency Network, along with extending High Frequency service on Route 19 to Brooklyn Center Transit Center. Of those 9 improvements, only the 23 is planned to be implemented after 2020.

The 11 wasn't even planned to be added to the High Frequency Network in the SIP, but it got added anyways.

And they've been expanding it pretty quickly already, with the A-Line extending Route 84's High Frequency Service down Ford Parkway to 46th Street Station, and Routes 11 and 2 being added to the network this year.

The 62 has a few times where there's 16ish minute headways, which means it doesn't qualify. Same with the 3. It really would make sense for Metro Transit to try and see if they could adjust these two routes slightly to get them to true high frequency status.

Also, the 54 still needs added frequencies. I went on it yesterday about 12:30 and we were standing room only for parts of the route.

This is mostly a guess, but the service expansions on Routes 2 and 62 were funded by a Regional Solicitation grant from the Met Council. I'm guessing the grant didn't include enough money to fund both of them being raised to high frequency standards. Judging from MT's predictions, each new ride generated from the proposed improvements would cost about $2 for Route 2 and $5 for Route 62, with Route 2's improvements generating 628,000 annual rides compared to Route 62's 34,856 new rides, so they went with Route 2.

I really wish they could up the frequency of the 6U up to 15 minute frequencies during the school year. Could help out a lot of students up here.

That is proposed under Metro Transit's Service Improvement Plan. I think, and I hope, it's a near term implementation.

It looks like they're planning on extending all Route 6 NB trips to the U of M, increasing that frequency to every 10 minutes on weekdays and 15 minutes on weekends. Unfortunately, while it's categorized as a high priority, it's not scheduled to be implemented until 2021-2030.

[Silophant]

Which is the same approximate timeframe as the Hennepin Ave aBRT, right? Maybe we can have that extend all the way to the U and cut the 6 off to be just its current southern portion.

[intercomnut]

Which is the same approximate timeframe as the Hennepin Ave aBRT, right? Maybe we can have that extend all the way to the U and cut the 6 off to be just its current southern portion.

It does line up with the reconstruction of Hennepin in Downtown, which is when I would guess MT would want to implement Hennepin aBRT.

I would LOVE it if they'd extend that service to the U. And while they're at it, they should extend it to Southdale as well.

[Qhaberl]

Question on an unrelated, but somewhat related topic. Is the C- line still delayed by one year?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk