A while ago I realized I’d never been on the Red Line, which is a transit route in the Twin Cities that is named after one of the three (3) primary colors! Then Aaron Isaacs wrote his post about how they have recently upgraded the bus rapid transit route.
So we’re going to go and actually ride the Red Line, look at it, think about it, and see for ourselves what it’s really like in the real world.
You’re invited! Mick Hicks, Jeb Rach, and I did a scouting trip already and it went just fine (even with the service cuts). Now we’re going to invite you to come along. BRT-curious? Want to see Apple Valley? Like riding the bus in groups? Enjoy drinking beer in the suburbs?
This is your chance. Event link is here.
Group trip led by Mike Hicks, Bill Lindeke, and Jeb Rach to ride the Red Line BRT from the Mall of America to the end of the line (Apple Valley Station) and back… Some of us will be stopping at Wild Bill’s for a beer on the way home, and you are welcome to join us for that as well.
We will be meeting at 6:30 on Friday 9/8 at the Mall of America (MOA) transit station. The Red Line bus departs at approx. 6:43.
The group ride will include:
- Examination of stations!
- Riding the bus!
- Looking out the window!
- Dakota County!
- Red Line fact sheets, with some snarky bits!
- The Mall of America parking lot and basement!
- A walk through chain-store parking lots and a small corner of an Apple Valley neighborhood!
- Discussions of land use and suburban transit and bus rapid transit and freeway BRT/rail design features and the history of Apple Valley and the painstaking examination of very small details of station design features and allusions about the general early 2010s-era transit planning environment in the Twin Cities!
- Prognostication!
We hope you can join us. The event is free, though you need to purchase a transit fare. Donations to streets.mn will be gladly encouraged!
PS. What is the Red Line? For more on the Red Line: click here!
