Walk the Talk: Transportation and Community Engagement
Advocate for safe neighborhoods in Minneapolis, environmentally sound street reconstruction in St. Paul, the Blue Line extension and more.
Tag Archives: Blue Line
Chart of the Day: US LRT Lines by Expected v. Actual Ridership
Here’s a cool chart shared on Twitter by a researcher at the Manhattan Institute, showing expected v. actual ridership numbers for different light rail lines around the country. I am one of the people that always assumes transit planners low-ball the ridership predictions, so that they can announce (often right away) that the new transit […]
Dispatch from Black Friday
Every year I make an expedition to the Mall of America on Black Friday with no specific agenda. Living in downtown Minneapolis, I can buy an all-day Metro Transit pass for $5, saving $1.55 in gasoline, 13 pounds of carbon dioxide and a chip out of my soul. We were riding the lemon yellow light […]
The Quarterly Transit Report–August 2019
These are not good times for bus ridership. It’s down 7 percent in the Twin Cities metro area for the first half of 2019 compared with 2018. In contrast, Green Line light rail ridership is up 5 percent, the Blue Line is down only 1 percent and the Northstar line is down 3 percent. What’s […]
5 Ways to Improve the Central Corridor for Everyone
From synchronized signal timing and safer cycling on University Avenue to traffic-calming measures on a really busy street, here are ways to improve the Green Line.
Sunday Summary – July 7, 2019
Welcome to the back side of summer – solstice passed, 4th of July over, and the back to school ads have probably already started. But not at streets.mn, because our summer picnic is next Saturday, July 13, 2019 starting at 11:30 am at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. We’d love to see you! Getting […]
Towards A Network Of Rapid Buses
This summer, for the first time, I had the opportunity to use the A-Line arterial bus rapid transit (aBRT) on Snelling Avenue. I don’t mean ride the A-Line. I’d done that for the first time during a visit to the Twin Cities (I live in Philadelphia) the summer before, soon after the service had started operating. But […]
Chart of the Day: Airport Travel Time for US Cities, Transit vs. Cabs
Here’s a chart from Doug Mack’s Twitter feed and FiveThirtyEight (thanks Jeb!): The yellow is the drive time from the airport to downtown (with a 10-minute wait, which makes all the difference) and the blue is the transit time. It’s rare to see Minneapolis at the top of a list, and this one is actually pretty […]
Transit Potential: Arsenal vs. Ford Plant
The Ford Plant and the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (the Arsenal) offer rare opportunities to design new neighborhoods from the ground up. Both will feature a mix of commercial and residential, will be pedestrian friendly, and will incorporate public transit. In terms of transit potential, however, the two could hardly be more different. Transit to […]
Joyful Bike Commuting
Last fall, my wife and I decided to move away from our downtown condo and bought a house in South Minneapolis. This was kind of a big deal for me, as I always viewed being able to walk to work as an important part of my physical and psychological well-being. Indeed, I bought a condo downtown […]