‘Transit’ Archives
Metro Transit New fareboxes for old
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON The story of “Aladdin”'s Lamp” contains the phrase, “New lamps for old!” Well, two of my bus-riding experiences last month make me think of “New fareboxes for old!” The first one was on Route 10, Central Avenue Northeast. The bus had a new, very sophisticated farebox. There was even a smart card reader integrated with the farebox; however, it wasn”'t in use. There was a regular Go-To Card reader by the front door, as usual. I have reason to believe this was an unannounced test and these new fareboxes may be in our future. The second one was on Route 70, East Side of Saint Paul. It was one of the old buses from the 1980s, a type rarely seen anymore. It has the padded seats and the windows that actually opened so you could feel the breeze on your face, not just the vents up above your head. Of course it was a high-floor model, so you had to climb three steps to enter or exit. On the other hand, there were more [...]
Metro Transit ”“ Bus driver shortage causes service cuts
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON The 18 August 2018 schedule change at Metro Transit is more complicated than usual because there was an emergency 1% service cut made on 31 July. Unfortunately, service cuts are nothing new to public transit. However, this last one was made for an unprecedented reason: a shortage of bus drivers. Usually, service cuts happen due to lack of funding, but now Metro Transit has been so short of drivers that several scheduled bus trips a day, usually at rush hour, just simply didn”'t run because there was no driver! A formal service cut was declared, in order to create a schedule where every expected bus would show up as it should. With the August schedule change, some of the deleted trips have been restored; this was apparently made possible by cancelling some underused school trips, especially in the mornings. (more…)
Metro Transit – You’re voting for an agenda
BY JOHN CHARLES WILSON This is another slow month for transit news in the Phillips Community. I was originally going to write about the Gold Line, a Bus Rapid Transit line being planned to operate on the East Side of Saint Paul, when I was inspired to change the topic to something more geographically universal. The primary elections are coming up on the 14th of August. How does that relate to transit? Since 1970, the State of Minnesota, the Metropolitan Council, and various other local government entities have run the transit system in the Twin Cities. The Federal government provides funding for specific transit projects, like Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit. In this context, elections are important. (more…)
