Hennepin Avenue Reconstruction Must Move Beyond Cars
Help design Hennepin Ave (in Uptown, Minneapolis) for the future, and help reduce climate change. Call in for the virtual open house, March 2 or 4, 2021.
Category: Transit
Time to Press Pause on the Gold Line
I’ve tried to keep an open mind to the Gold Line/Gateway Corridor between St. Paul and Woodbury ever since bus rapid transit (BRT) was the chosen mode. Transit improvements in the East Metro are just as needed as in the West Metro. However, the more the project has progressed, the more I see flaws with […]
The BRT/Local Service Dilemma
Thanks to new funding, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is picking up steam. Work on the B, D and E lines is underway with others soon to follow. Based on the available pre-Covid data for the A and C Lines, total ridership in those two corridors increased by about a third. On the surface, that’s wonderful. […]
Suburbs of the Month: Excelsior, Deephaven, Shorewood and Tonka Bay
It has been a long time since I’ve posted an installment of my “Suburb of the Month” series on transit in the Twin Cities suburbs, mostly due to my limited ability to take pictures at this time. However, I have a picture relevant to the Excelsior area, and even though it wasn’t my planned next […]
Accessibility of the B, D, and E Lines
Transit enthusiasts got some much needed good news last October as the B and D Lines received funding from the State to begin construction. These lines are the most recent additions to Metro Transit’s Arterial Bus Rapid Transit (ABRT) program that offers enhanced bus services with higher frequencies and faster travel times on some of […]
Bicycle-Friendliness
The League of American Cyclists is responsible for putting out report cards that assign Bicycle Friendly rankings to communities, businesses, universities, and states. To receive a report card, all you have to do is fill out a 42-page application and await their review. Reviews are good for 4 years. There are a number of interesting […]
Once in a Lifetime: A Fantasy Transit Adventure
It’s extremely unfortunate when parties break previous agreements and derail transit projects, as is the case for the Blue Line Extension, aka the Bottineau Line. Since we’re going back to the drawing board, I am hopeful that the collective “we” can begin to right previous wrongs and finally create good transit that will serve communities […]
Questioning the B Line BRT
The State Legislature has approved the bonding to build the bus rapid transit (BRT) B Line, which would replace much of Route 21 Selby-Lake from downtown St. Paul to Uptown. They’re at the conceptual planning level, but there are still some crucial details to work out. This includes the shape of the remaining local service […]
A Street Not for People
Like many transit riders, I have been riding much less since the pandemic, mostly because I have been sticking closer to my home and neighborhood. (Though note: there is starting to be evidence that transit-riding is not a big contributor to COVID-19 rates.) That decrease is a personal sadness because of the lost human connections […]
When is a Modern Streetcar not a Modern Streetcar?
Summary: Modern Streetcar will not work in Riverview Corridor On December 14, 2017, the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC, governing body) of the Riverview Corridor project (RC) adopted its Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA). See Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Final Report LPA 02.2018 and Riverview Corridor Pre-Project Development Study, Final, Feb 2018. One of the provisions of […]