‘Transit’ Archives
Transit: Happy New Year, People of Phillips!
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON Well, the year 2021 is drawing to a close and 2022 is just now starting. As a transit enthusiast, I have a lot to be disappointed in and a lot to look forward to, and I hope alley readers feel the same. What was disappointing was primarily that the pandemic has decimated transit usage to the point where many bus and train routes have been curtailed. I had hoped things would be back to normal by now, but I suspect this is the new normal. The rise in attacks on innocent transit users, especially on unsupervised trains, is very disconcerting. There are people who now eschew the light rail for slower buses because they are perceived as safer. The fact that there is a shortage of bus and train drivers doesn’t help any, either. However, there are reasons to be hopeful for a better future: Maybe even if humans don’t beat coronavirus, we may find a way to have an uneasy truce with it. Maybe we will find a happy medium with security/law enforcement where [...]
Metro Transit: Lake Street and I-35W Station Opens
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON It’s finally happening! The new bus station in the middle of I-35W at Lake Street is opening Monday, 18 October 2021. (This means it’s already open by the time this issue is published. Such is the lag time inherent in a monthly newspaper.) As I’m sure everyone who’s read my column knows, it’s for the new Orange Line to Burnsville, which begins 4 December. In the meantime, Metro Transit Routes 535, 553, 578, 597, and Southwest Transit Routes 600 and 695 will be using it, joined by various MVTA express routes as of 20 November. Local Metro Transit Routes 21 and 27 will provide connections on Lake Street, just below the station. Speaking of Lake Street, planning for the B Line, a Bus Rapid Transit line to open on Lake Street in 2024, is chugging right along. Presently, Route 21 is the slowest and second busiest route in the whole Metro Transit bus system. Anyone who’s had to ride a 21 during a rush-hour traffic jam knows it’s not a good [...]
Comparing Metro Transit to Des Moines DART
METRO TRANSIT By JOHN CHARLES WILSON Unfortunately, this is a slow month for local transit news. However, since a friend of mine just moved to Des Moines. Iowa, I thought this would be a good time to compare our Metro Transit with Des Moines DART. Des Moines is a fairly small city; their metro area is comparable to Saint Paul without Minneapolis and with a lot less suburbs. Like Saint Paul, it is the state capital and home to their state fair. Their downtown is slightly more lively than Saint Paul”™s. However, it is a conservative city in a conservative state, and that affects both funding for and public attitudes about transit. Their local transit system is called DART, short for Des Moines Area Regional Transit. They have only regular buses, no light rail or bus rapid transit. There just isn”™t enough traffic at this time to justify either. There are 19 local routes, all except four converging on the downtown Central Station. (Having an enclosed [...]
