Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[Anondson]

Obsession over fare evasion can go too far, worsening transit and its cost instead of making it better.

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/ignoring- ... er-richer/

[UrsusUrbanicus]

But... you don't understand! Someone poorer than me is getting something worth $2 for free! This is an OUTRAGE! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to drive back home to Otsego in my used Suburban, which I paid less to license than the guy who drives his new Kia to Richfield.

[mamundsen]

With people using go to cards, why can't we have readers at both doors? Is it the idea that too many would just not scan at the back door?

[jebr]

I think so, and without having random fare inspections there really wouldn't be a way to regulate that. I'm not sure our bus network would be dense enough to support that, either.

[cooperrez]

Is it OK to scan your Go-to card and continue to your seat if the person in front of you is still dumping his change in the fare box? I've always waited for that person to finish and move to his seat before scanning my card and getting the OK from the bus driver, but not sure that is necessary. I've wondered if I am slowing things up by waiting or if I'm supposed to wait so the driver can verify that I've paid.

[Silophant]

I've always scanned my card and moved on while the person ahead is messing with the farebox, and I've never had a bus driver give me so much as a dirty look for doing so.

[mamundsen]

I guess I bring it up because I know the big benefit of aBRT is the offboard payment to speed up loading. I ride rt 270 and on these cold days it sure would be nice to have two doors to load in the morning since 90%+ use go to cards. On the way out of town at night it is Pay at Exit so that we are moving along Marq2 faster, but then it takes forever to empty the bus as we get off.

https://www.metrotransit.org/pay-exit

Just a thought experiment. Thanks for your comments.

[Qhaberl]

I hope that one day all of the high-frequency bus routes will have offboard fair payment.


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[mattaudio]

I took express buses for years growing in the burbs up before I moved to the city, so I was quite familiar with pay exit. It worked well, but I think some of the characteristics which allow it to work do not exist on local routes (even abrt):
- Mostly used on single door coach buses - All riders enter and exit near the driver
- Most routes fill up downtown and then everyone departs at one or possibly two suburban stations
I'd rather see offboard fare payment.

[jebr]

Is it OK to scan your Go-to card and continue to your seat if the person in front of you is still dumping his change in the fare box? I've always waited for that person to finish and move to his seat before scanning my card and getting the OK from the bus driver, but not sure that is necessary. I've wondered if I am slowing things up by waiting or if I'm supposed to wait so the driver can verify that I've paid.

Yeah, it's fine to scan your card (and if there's room, simply keep boarding once you've paid.) The systems appear to be separate (the Go-To card reader pops up on their display which also shows their route information, where the fare box appears to be self-contained.) If someone's paying cash, I tap my card and sometimes will board fully while someone's paying cash.

[FranklinAveFixation]

One question I have about off board payment is there a way for the driver to tell what fare you purchased? I foresee a lot of senior citizen fares being purchased from these machines...

[RailBaronYarr]

Most stops on most routes don't have enough people boarding when a bus stops to pick folks up to make all-door boarding a huge game changer. But! The local routes in the most transit-oriented places outside downtown, as well as downtown, would be helped out. It would be one of many small improvements MT could make that bring travel times down a minute here, 45 seconds there, etc. Yes, it would cost more (installing/maintaining 2 readers on every bus, random fare checkers, etc), but it'd still probably be worth it.

[FISHMANPET]

One question I have about off board payment is there a way for the driver to tell what fare you purchased? I foresee a lot of senior citizen fares being purchased from these machines...

With offboard fare payment the driver doesn't care about your fare, that's the job of random fare inspectors. It's just like the light rail.

[talindsay]

One question I have about off board payment is there a way for the driver to tell what fare you purchased? I foresee a lot of senior citizen fares being purchased from these machines...

No, it's just like the light rail. To the best of my knowledge, they don't have a problem with that on the light rail. In neither case does the driver have anything to do with it - her job is simply to keep the vehicle safely on schedule.

[jebr]

Met Council looking at large deficit for transit service in 2017-2018 fiscal cycle:

http://www.startribune.com/met-council- ... 406592626/

Looks like they're trying to push the legislature towards a 1/2 cent sales tax in the seven county metro and hold off a fare increase. I'd caution anyone to not read the comments section unless they're feeling a special level of punishment is needed in their day.

I'm hoping that the "no fare increase" stance is simply a negotiating tactic that they're using to try and get the sales tax through but they're willing to compromise on and institute one if it means getting the sales tax through. 9 years without a fare increase in this day and age is, frankly, amazing, and I'd be surprised if they can hold the line on fares much longer. As someone who has the means to adjust their personal budget enough to accommodate a fare increase, I'd be okay with even something as radical as a $2.50 local, $3.50 express 24/7. I think eliminating the rush hour surcharge would help simplify the system, and $2.50 for a local bus (including unlimited transfers) is still well within the standard price point for transit fares in medium-sized metropolitan areas.

I think, if they raise fares, they'll need to keep and push a bit more on the $1 fare program for low-income people that they're piloting to ensure that the fare increase has some sort of relief valve for those who can't afford the increase. It isn't perfect (it doesn't have a discounted unlimited fare product and there is a fair amount of paperwork required to get it, from the looks of it) but it would help to make a fare increase less likely to impact those who can't afford it.

Another option for at least gaining some benefit from a fare increase would be looking into automatically applying unlimited fare products once their spend reached the cost of the fare product; e.g. once someone paid for two full fares they would get the rest of the rides for the day for free, or after spending the cost of a 31-day pass they would get the rest of their rides within that bracket of time for free. While that wouldn't cut down the cost, it would help those who may not have the means to set aside $85+/month but pay that over the course of the month in fares to be able to take advantage of an unlimited product without the upfront cost.

[intercomnut]

Transit (the app) is piloting crowd-sourced real time predictions in Canada.

Basically, if someone is using the "Go" feature that gives them live directions, the app will track them/the location of their bus every second and use that to make real time predictions for people farther along the route.

Creepy, but cool.

https://medium.com/transit-app/better-r ... .6v9paowfk

[Tiller]

So I've got a random question. At the intersection of Long Lake Rd and MN 120, just outside the NE corner of the 694 beltway, I noticed this:
http://m.imgur.com/mvxHP53?r
It's not at the NB or SB 219 stops (which still have the "bus" signs), but on the NW corner, perpendicular to them. Did someone just screw up and install it on the wrong sign post, or is there going to be something new/a change to the 219?

[DanPatchToget]

Similar one at southbound Normandale Blvd. & 94th Street in Bloomington. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bloom ... 93.2982799

I'm guessing it was last used by the 539C when that still existed, but the sign was never removed. I wonder if they will replace it with a new sign or permanently remove the stop.

[cooperrez]

Anyone know if the Metro Transit fare app works the same on MVTA as it does on Metro Transit buses? I saw in one of the reviews in the Google store that someone had trouble with it on an MVTA bus, driver said the particular fare wasn't valid on MVTA. Also, any trouble using it in general? I tried to use a weekend single ride last Saturday and it wouldn't load on my phone. The help desk suggested I try to uninstall the app and reinstall. I am going to test that fix tomorrow when it's the weekend again, but so far the app hasn't run smoothly for me at all. I can't see how having to log out of the app and log back in to get purchased fares to appear on your phone or uninstalling the app and reinstalling would be very convenient for the intended user, supposedly an infrequent rider.

[nBode]

Yeah the fact that I always have to re-log in to get to my purchased tickets is extremely annoying.