Green Line LRT

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
MinnMonkey
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby MinnMonkey » June 19th, 2014, 1:22 pm

I did send a comment into Metro Transit about the signal timing, and this is response I received:
Thank you for your feedback regarding Green Line. We know that our customers are experiencing delays and we are working to make the appropriate adjustments.

As you may know, prior to opening day, Metro Transit had been testing the line for several months to perfect the schedule and the timing of the traffic lights. The schedule put forth to our customers was our best prediction based upon varying factors. Green Line was designed to run along with mixed traffic and has 63 signals. Metro Transit along with the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis continue to work together to minimize and reduce delays at traffic signals. It is our intention to not stop nearly as much which will enable us to keep our schedule.

Thank you again for choosing to ride Green Line and your kind words, I'm glad that you're able to take advantage of the new line. We ask for your patience while we continue to work on these adjustments.

Have a very nice day!

mulad
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mulad » June 19th, 2014, 2:00 pm

I just sent a bunch of questions to Metro Transit's PR guy, with the hopes of publishing a response on streets.mn sometime in the next week.

talindsay
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby talindsay » June 19th, 2014, 3:00 pm

West bank round trip to Raymond, heading east at 3 and west at 4, was 11 minutes each way. If they can make that the norm then I'll use it a lot. And foxy falafel at Raymond is really tasty.

Suburban Outcast
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Suburban Outcast » June 19th, 2014, 3:08 pm

My wife and a friend are both saying that conditions on the train are quickly deteriorating. Maybe we need to really step up patrols on the Green Line, based on the broken window theory of crime. I'd hate for this line to scare off all the choice riders because the cars are filthy and the other riders are obnoxious.
I rode the 16 a lot through the '90s and '00s and always felt like that bus line was the most dangerous place to be in St Paul. Some of the things I saw/experienced were pretty over the top. It eventually got to the point where I wouldn't take jobs that forced me to ride that line late at night. I would not be surprised if such behavior spilled over to the Green Line without a heavy presence from Metro Transit police.
That's why I have a bad feeling about the 24-hour service once the fall semester starts at the U of M. My guess is that quite a few muggings and assaults are going to happen at the stations where students commute to and from to late at night, and it's going to cause controversy. It will probably please the anti-LRT crowd as well because they will use that as an excuse to block LRT expansion. I hope I am wrong, but I can't help to ignore my gut feeling on this.

mulad
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mulad » June 19th, 2014, 3:11 pm

Eh... Students have been using transit to/from campus for, what? 120 years?

MinnMonkey
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby MinnMonkey » June 19th, 2014, 3:12 pm

That's why I have a bad feeling about the 24-hour service once the fall semester starts at the U of M. My guess is that quite a few muggings and assaults are going to happen at the stations where students commute to and from to late at night, and it's going to cause controversy. It will probably please the anti-LRT crowd as well because they will use that as an excuse to block LRT expansion. I hope I am wrong, but I can't help to ignore my gut feeling on this.
It would seem like it would be easier to patrol and monitor stations and trains easier that buses and bus stops, although I will admit I know virtually nothing about transit security.

IllogicalJake
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby IllogicalJake » June 19th, 2014, 3:14 pm

That's why I have a bad feeling about the 24-hour service once the fall semester starts at the U of M. My guess is that quite a few muggings and assaults are going to happen at the stations where students commute to and from to late at night, and it's going to cause controversy. It will probably please the anti-LRT crowd as well because they will use that as an excuse to block LRT expansion. I hope I am wrong, but I can't help to ignore my gut feeling on this.
It would seem like it would be easier to patrol and monitor stations and trains easier that buses and bus stops, although I will admit I know virtually nothing about transit security.
Not to mention each station has at least 4 cameras for safety. Better than a campus bus stop.
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Suburban Outcast
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Suburban Outcast » June 19th, 2014, 3:39 pm

All I'm just saying that the possible crime can add to the controversy if even it's only vaguely related to the light rail - I'm not against 24-hour service (and I do know that the 16 ran all night - but the Green Line will probably bring more nighttime ridership, especially students). I just had a bad feeling given the transit signaling is already causing enough controversy.

Tcmetro
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Tcmetro » June 19th, 2014, 3:41 pm

I've rode the 16 during the 2-4 am hour. It's mostly homeless people sleeping.

mullen
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mullen » June 19th, 2014, 4:12 pm

oh please, i rode the 5 bus for years growing up in south mpls. the 16 is serene compared to that. controversy over what? the line is already really popular and being used. the only issue i see going forward is getting the signaling right.

Suburban Outcast
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Suburban Outcast » June 19th, 2014, 4:25 pm

I retract my statement, carry on.

MinnMonkey
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby MinnMonkey » June 19th, 2014, 4:38 pm

BINGO! Rode tonight Raymond to downtown Minneapolis and didn't stop at a single light until Downtown East! The train also did not appear to stop from Prior to Raymond either.
Last edited by MinnMonkey on June 19th, 2014, 4:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

grant1simons2
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby grant1simons2 » June 19th, 2014, 4:39 pm

Troubles of a Suburban Outcast :P

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Nick
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Nick » June 19th, 2014, 5:10 pm

re: Bad behavior on the train, keep in mind that it's summer, and generally during the summer many places that are easily accessible to teenagers tend to be lousy with them, e.g. Nicollet Mall, St. Louis Park Byerly's eating area, etc. Which doesn't excuse bad behavior, but it's something to keep in mind.
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beauss
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby beauss » June 19th, 2014, 5:33 pm

It does seem like they're getting the Minneapolis end figured out. 16 minutes from Westgate to Nicollet Mall at 9am and not even 10 from West Bank to Westgate just now.

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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Minneapolisite » June 19th, 2014, 6:52 pm

West bank round trip to Raymond, heading east at 3 and west at 4, was 11 minutes each way. If they can make that the norm then I'll use it a lot. And foxy falafel at Raymond is really tasty.
Yes it is: I didn't even know it was brick and mortar until a couple days before riding the train. A bit pricey for falafel but it was great and I was full. I think Raymond is the best station over in our twin city and what all St Paul station surroundings should mimic and even improve upon (the east side of Raymond has nothing of interest and is a total 180 of the west side which is full of small storefronts). Really, Raymond is > Snelling by a large margin for a wall of interesting storefronts. If only all stations had that for even just a block in every direction it would make an enormous difference.

Still have to give the line a 3rd day's run: last time it was over 20 minutes late and one girl was complaining that she didn't even want to ride the train, but had to because the 94 stopped making a pit stop at Snelling. The only reason I could think of since then is to boost ridership for the train, which I think was an unnecessary step to take especially if it's going to be 10-20 minutes late on a regular basis on top of not being non-stop. to either downtown.

And then there's the issue of connecting cyclists to the stations, since right off the top of my head the only north-south bike lanes run along Prior, which is great for the Fairview station but does nothing for all the other stations in the city Pedestrians within a 1/4 mile already have sidewalks and will make that walk since the infrastructure is there, but so many more cyclists are within short biking distance but have no infrastructure to get there (unless you're one of the %1 who ride on streets without bike lanes/boulevards). N Fry St is so obvious as a bike-boulevard as an alternative to Snelling since it would connect to W Pierce-Butler which already has bike lanes and N Syndicate is a straight shot from W Pierce-Butler just east of Hamline. There are other simple low-traffic parallel bike routes to place near the busy roads going directly to the LRT stations.

Silophant
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby Silophant » June 19th, 2014, 7:43 pm

Just throwing out a wild guess here, but I don't think they intend for it to be 15-20 min late on a regular basis.
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby web » June 19th, 2014, 8:18 pm

hmmm if they are scheduled to run every 10 min how does it get more than 10 min late since the nexttrain would then be scheduled?


or are they bunching up to the extreme?

mulad
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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mulad » June 20th, 2014, 9:54 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

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Re: Green Line (Central Corridor LRT)

Postby mulad » June 20th, 2014, 8:54 pm

Saw a Green Line train trying to pull into Downtown East station while a Blue Line train was still there (it was being held by the lights at 4th and Chicago, which almost always hold up trains...)

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