After laying dormant for 41 years, the concourse and waiting room of the Saint Paul Union Depot will reopen to the public tomorrow, Saturday, December 8th. The reopening comes after a two-year, $243 million rehabilitation of the massive building and the 33-acre site it occupies, which included $148 million in construction and renovation plus $95 […]
Just two years after the Minnesota State Senate and House of Representatives came under Republican control in the Tea Party wave of 2010, both houses flipped back to Democratic-Farmer-Labor majorities in the election this past Tuesday. This was a big surprise to local news outlets, who had expected Republicans to retain the upper hand. The […]
View Larger Map This is the busiest transit stop in the state of Minnesota, seeing about 4,300 boardings daily, though you’d never know it by looking. It’s on the south side of City Center on 7th Street and Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, and lacks most of the amenities you’d expect to find at a location […]
Metro Transit officially unveiled their first new Siemens-built light-rail vehicle on Wednesday, previewing what most of the Twin Cities light-rail fleet will look like just a few years from now. It also marked the first showing of vehicles with the new “METRO” branding which will be used on light rail and bus rapid transit lines […]
In preparation for the opening of Green Line light rail 2014, Metro Transit has been busy over planning out how to rearrange connecting bus routes. Since the light-rail line will take over as the primary service in between downtowns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, operator hours currently dedicated to bus routes 16, 50, 94 will […]
I found myself pleading my case to board a Metro Transit route 3A bus the other day. Classes were mostly wrapping up at the University of Minnesota, and I found myself as a random outsider among a crush of students who had collected along Pleasant Street as they waited to head home. I told the […]
Take a moment to imagine that you are working on a new transportation service. It should be able to operate in the black by taking a straight shot between two significant population centers, but there’s an opportunity to deviate away from the straight route for a few miles to make a big boost to the […]
Despite its unreliability and low frequency of service, Amtrak’s Empire Builder often faces capacity issues. The train serves 45 stations along the way from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest, resulting in an immense possible number of trip combinations. Some trips become impossible to book because of other riders who overlap on part of the route. […]
We in the Twin Cities are underserved by intercity trains. In a region of 3.3 million people, we only have Amtrak’s Empire Builder stopping once each direction each day as it plies its way between Chicago and Portland/Seattle. However, this is still a significant hub of rail activity. Transcontinental lines of two railroads connecting the […]
rattle rattle rattle RATTLE rattle rattle rattle KA-BANG! rattle RATTLE rattle rattle rattle I still remember my early excursions on Metro Transit’s old #6 bus to Roseville. Peering out into the dark as I felt the vehicle vibrate as it bounced over every little bump. Those rides were often an assault on my senses, forcing […]