METRO TRANSIT
By John Charles Wilson
I caught COVID-19 last month and was out of commission for about two weeks. Even though vaccines are being rolled out and an end is in sight, please keep being careful! If you think masks and social distancing are government plots to take away your freedom, you are right! They are taking away your freedom to get so sick you wish you were dead. Trust me, you don”™t want this.
That said, Metro Transit has liberalized the capacity limits on buses and trains. Regular buses now allow 20 people to ride; articulated “double” buses allow 30, light rail cars allow 33, and Northstar cars allow 70 (though I doubt overcrowding is a problem on Northstar; 90 percent of its ridership has abandoned ship, at least for now). Masks are still required on buses and trains, and while you are waiting for them.
In other, more positive, news, construction on the D Line has begun. As I”™ve mentioned in this column before, the D Line is a Bus Rapid Transit line which will follow the same route as Route 5, except that it will only stop at specially-built stations. The stops in the Phillips Community will be along Chicago Avenue at Franklin Avenue, 24th Street, 26th Street, and Lake Street. Even though it is south of the Phillips Community, I would like to mention that a planned station at 38th Street has been deferred until the City of Minneapolis make a final decision on the future of George Floyd Square. Service is expected to begin in late 2022.
We need Metro Transit more than ever in these trying times. Please give it your mental support as well as patronage. The people of Phillips are counting on you!
