urbanMSP

It's not clear to me that signal priority would fix the 10mph speed limit, or buses stacking up behind a bus that's delayed to let a wheelchair user board because the serpentine curve that looks so nice on an aerial view makes it difficult or impossible to pass. But the next time I spend 10 minutes sitting still on Nicollet because the 18 in front of my 11 has sat through three green lights in a row, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that my inconvenience is, somehow, sticking it to the downtown bigwigs.

It's not clear to me that signal priority would fix the 10mph speed limit, or buses stacking up behind a bus that's delayed to let a wheelchair user board because the serpentine curve that looks so nice on an aerial view makes it difficult or impossible to pass. But the next time I spend 10 minutes sitting still on Nicollet because the 18 in front of my 11 has sat through three green lights in a row, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that my inconvenience is, somehow, sticking it to the downtown bigwigs.

First of all, the 10 mph speed limit is a policy decision, and I agree that there are too many routes on Nicollet Mall. That's probably the biggest problem besides signal priority.

It should just be Central and Nicollet buses on there. 2 bus routes with signal priority, 20 mph speed limit, and stops every 2-3 blocks will run quickly. The 25 can go to Hennepin. The 17 should probably end at Uptown Transit Center once the E Line opens (Bus service on 24th street isn't really necessary due to how close the 2, 4, 6, and 18 is). The 11 is close to the D Line and the 18 for most of it's running length and also could probably be cut in return for greater frequency on other city routes.

For the Northeast section of the 11 and 17, it could probably be consolidated on University and continue towards the U, and into St Paul. Possibly as a continuation of the 63.

Not every route needs to run to downtown. If we can consolidate a few routes we can start to see things like every city route being at or close to high frequency. Walking/Rolling a half mile to a bus stop is reasonable and we expect it in almost every other area of our network.

Seven and a half years later and, still, no one is in charge of anything.

https://streets.mn/2015/10/28/downtown- ... elsewhere/

Capacity on Marquette & 2nd won't be a problem for a long time. Metro Transit is planning to cut a lot of the suspended routes as part of the Network Now initiative. Moving Nicollet buses to Marquette & 2nd does put bus riders on the empty office streets away from pretty much all the stores and the library. Also makes transfers to the light rail more difficult.

Capacity on Marquette & 2nd won't be a problem for a long time. Metro Transit is planning to cut a lot of the suspended routes as part of the Network Now initiative. Moving Nicollet buses to Marquette & 2nd does put bus riders on the empty office streets away from pretty much all the stores and the library. Also makes transfers to the light rail more difficult.

To reduce the bus traffic from the suburbs why not use the orange, blue and green line to bring riders into downtown? This would free up those suburban buses to run more frequent trips to feed the lines into downtown.

There was a joint presentation from Public Works and Metro Transit to the Council today on the legislative directive to study removing buses from Nicollet Mall. (Report version).

Notably, there's a (soft?) deadline in play - Metro Transit needs to inform the FTA by April if there's going to be a change in the F Line routing. I'm hoping that'll happen even if the question of the other routes is punted again - an aBRT route deserves better than to be intentionally detoured weekly or more.

There was a joint presentation from Public Works and Metro Transit to the Council today on the legislative directive to study removing buses from Nicollet Mall. (Report version).

Notably, there's a (soft?) deadline in play - Metro Transit needs to inform the FTA by April if there's going to be a change in the F Line routing. I'm hoping that'll happen even if the question of the other routes is punted again - an aBRT route deserves better than to be intentionally detoured weekly or more.

I'm leaning that we put the 10/18/F Line on Hennepin Ave(BRT stations already exist), while we move the 11/17/25 over to 3rd Ave.