The usual joke is that Minnesota has four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction season. Clearly the joker was a cat person; the proper seasonal lineup is Summer, Fall, Winter, and Muddy Dog season where we find ourselves now (yesterday was also National Puppy Day!). Muddy Dog season does mean easier biking and […]
Have you ever passed a bus stop and thought, “Damn, I feel so bad for anyone who has to catch their bus at that stop“? Even if you never ride the bus I’m certain everyone has seen at least one bus stop where they have had this thought. I’m deeply familiar with Saint Louis Park […]
This February saw record-breaking snowfall in the Twin Cities area. As any Minneapolis resident could see — whether traveling by car, foot, bus or bike — our city’s infrastructure was not up to the challenge. That went double for the Metro Transit system, which needs all the support it can get these days. As a longtime reader […]
This isn’t a 1970’s commercial for GAP the clothing store. Its the phenomenon pedestrians experience in certain parts of our city, especially the suburbs. This particular segment of missing sidewalk has a lot in common with other gaps in sidewalk networks. It falls in a “dead zone” between ajoining municipalities. Anoka to the northwest and […]
At streets.mn, our writers notice bus stops, and we aren’t shy to share our own opinions. On the other hand, we don’t seem to go out and ask other people riding the bus for theirs. Luckily, Metro Transit has found some community engagement funding to hire local community members to do “Better Bus Stops” outreach […]
Last week Metro Transit unveiled a collaboration with the Downtown Improvement District to place a new bus shelter at 3rd Avenue S and S 7th Street downtown which is a very busy stop. This new shelter doubles as an herb greenhouse to better blah blah blah I can’t believe I’m writing this. Look. I can’t believe I have […]
Not too long after finding the “on” switch to the Nextrip signs at light rail stations, Metro Transit has begun a pilot program rolling out much improved bus stop signage in the Twin Cities. The pilot, funded by grant money leftover from the expansion of a Brooklyn Park park-and-ride, involves stops in North Minneapolis and […]
The podcast this week is a conversation with Alex Cecchini, an engineer and regular contributor to streets.mn. Alex recently wrote a well-researched post entitled The Case for Quarter Mile Bus Stop Spacing, all about transit design and the tradeoff between frequent stops and bus speeds. We sat down at the Amsterdam Bar in downtown Saint […]
You know the feeling. You hop on local route XYZ, hoping for a somewhat speedy journey to work, home, or play. Maybe today the bus will hit the jackpot. Then the familiar sound comes once every block, a soothing voice speaks the words “Stop Requested.” Sometimes it happens the instant the bus is pulling away […]