The MetroTransit Post

[seg4527]

Hey, I just wanted to know what the overall feeling of the public transportation is here. There was a discussion about public transportation a few days ago in another forum, in which ours was briefly mentioned.

I'd rate it pretty good. I've had problems with it sometimes, but very rarely.

I go to the U, and live not far away from it. So the main buses I take are the 16, to go downtown Minneapolis or to St. Paul, the 2 to go to the MIA, the 6 to go uptown, and the 21, when I'm in St. Paul.

The only complaint I have really is that express routes only run during "rush" hours. The 16 is usually ver crowded around 2, and takes along time to get to Midway, which is where I take it to when I go to St. Paul. I've taken the 144 on some days, and it takes I-94 and gets there light years faster, but the first one doesn't even come till 3.47.

Discuss.

[dflprincess]

1. I live in the 'burbs

and it sucks. There are express buses that run to and from downtown during rush hour from where I live, but during off peak hours there's nothing.

I've had a few job interviews downtown lately and for those I drive over to the 28th Avenue station and take the train. The station is about 6 miles from where I live, but it's so much easier to do that and not have to hassle with parking by driving downtown myself. I really wish we had more light rail.

And now, they're talking about raising fares and eliminating some routes.

[seg4527]

2. i heard about that

do you know which routes they are talking about eliminating?

Fortunately for me, I'm at the U, and for 55 dollars a semester, I get unlimited rides. Which works out great, because I take the bus at least 4 times a week...sometimes every day of the week.

The light rail is still young though, so there is hope for improvement.

[dflprincess]

3. I'm not sure which routes they're talking about

it did sound like it would be some of the express routes from the suburbs, but I don't think any final decisions have been made.

I used to bus it down to the U from Bloomington,#18 downtown and #16 over to school. I can remember having to wait as several of the 16s would go by the stop at 4th and Nicollet because they couldn't squeeze another person on. That was a pain - especially in the winter.

[seg4527]

4. the 16 gets incredibly crowded

Probably because it goes straight from downtown Minneapolis to St. Paul. I try to avoid it at all costs. Unfortunately, it is sometimes the most convenient, even if it means I have to stand up from campus to the midway. :-\

That't not really Metrotransits fault, though. I mean, during rush hour, the 16's go by like crazy. Even on sundays they go like every 20 minutes.

There is this one driver I used to get on the 21 a lot. My schedule is pretty fixed, so I got him often. I'd take the 21 from Hamline/Selby to Snelling and University, and have a 7 minute wait for the 16. Every day he was like 5 minutes late, and once or twice I missed the 16, and had to wait 20 minutes in the midway area at 9 at night. Not fun. It's not a terrible area, but it also doesn't seem that great. Got creeped out by weird people quite a few times. That's the only compaint I have, and I don't see him often anymore.

[loro mi dicevano]

5. I live in the suburbs too, and... just... ugh.

There's a bus that goes from here to Minneapolis at 8 AM, and 5 PM, which is, of course, just great when I need to be there at noon.

It's a pity, too, because I have no car and would really like to be able to go somewhere without having to get a ride from a neighbor.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Well, if Tokyo transit can be graded A+ (and I believe it can be)

then Portland, Oregon rates a B and the Twin Cities currently rate a C. If the proposed cuts go through, I will have to downgrade them to a C-.

Here's Portland's system in brief:

1) Four light rail lines with more on the drawing road, one downtown streetcar, with another streetcar planned for Portland's equivalent of Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

2) An ongoing project to have buses running at minimum every 15 minutes seven days a week on all arterial streets. They run much more often during rush hour.

3) Good service to suburban areas. I was taking a Saturday morning class at one of the satellite campuses of Portland Community College, located in the equivalent of Plymouth. I caught the light rail (MAX) from a stop two blocks from my apartment, got off at the appropriate suburban stop, and waited five or ten minutes for a bus that went straight to the campus. This was all before 8:30 AM on a Saturday.

The only places I couldn't go to by some means of public transit were the real rural areas.

4) Complete transferability between buses and light rail. (I can't use my Super Saver on light rail here or even use it to purchase tickets.)

5) No time differential on fares. (The Twin Cities system penalizes the most frequent riders by charging them more.) Instead, fares are based on distance: one fare if your trip was entirely within the city limits or entirely within the suburbs, and another fare if your trip crossed municipal boundaries.

6) A master schedule of the whole system available for $3.00.

7) FREE (not just reduced fare) rides within the downtown and near-downtown area. (Roughly the area bounded by the Willamette River and a freeway)

8) Perhaps most importantly, a dedicated funding source (income tax surcharge on holders of business licenses in the metropolitan area) and oversight by an elected Metro Council, which has set up Tri-Met, the agency charged with making transit work.

The transit system is what I miss most about Portland. I lived there for ten years without a car and rarely felt hampered in any way.

:cry:

[goodhue]

7. I'n not to happy with proposed 10% reduction in overall service.

http://www.metrotransit.org/

The proposed 25 cent fare increase is not so swell either, but it is the cuts to routes that seems particularly unfortunate.
Too bad the met council is not elected by voters.

[hermetic]

8. Here is the link

for the page where the cuts are listed, 17 pages, PDF. Looks like everyone will face some cuts. Yuck.
http://www.metrocouncil.org/planning/transportation/2005/servicechanges.htm

[no name no slogan]

9. The funding is bass-ackward, for one

They fund transit based upon the tax on car sales. So, whenever you buy a car, transit gets more $$.

Unfortunately, car sales have been off over the last year, so there's not as much revenue for transit.

Now, think about this: with less people buying cars, you would assume that more might be using mass transit. But unfortunately, with transit being funded from auto sales taxes, its budget is smaller than before.

IOW, if you want to fund mass-transit, buy a new car! :crazy:

Too bad the MN GOP can't figure out that progressive taxation works a hell of a lot better than scattershot 'user fees' for generating revenue.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Oh, and another thing

Their route system is built around a system established when Minneapolis and St. Paul were separate worlds, so service between the two cities is poor. In addition, not all arterial streets have service.

At the same time, they seem to have added suburban routes with no rhyme or reason.

The whole route system needs to be scrapped and rethought.

[loveable liberal]

11. we need commuter trains.

buses are nice and they improve gas mileage and pollution ratio's but commuter rail is where its at. Stop at nothing less.