‘Transit’ Archives
Build Transit For Our Climate
METRO TRANSIT Â By JOHN CHARLES WILSON At the time I am writing this, Minnesota is having its coldest weather of the season. Please keep that in mind if it is warmer by the time this column is actually in print. Everybody in Minnesota who goes outside knows we havea challenging climate, to say the least. Extreme cold and snow in the winter, and heavy rainstorms in the summer. However, Metro Transit installs the flimsy “shelters” that often provide little to no protection from wind, rain, and snow, and the heaters are often broken or placed so high they don”™t give enough heat to help anyone.Even worse than the bus shelters are the ones at Light Rail stations. Those are like wind tunnels when the wind blows parallel to the tracks. The best shelters Metro Transit has to offer are at Northstar stations. It”™s not like more heat and better shelters are impossible: Winnipeg has fully enclosed shelters with doors, and Chicago provides decent [...]
Metro Transit
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON Even though I normally write about schedule and routing issues, there is little going on on that front this month. However, I”™ve gotten a call and an email about bus stop and infrastructure issues, which gives me material for this month”™s column. Last year, Route 2 got the “Better Bus Route” treatment. This consists of making the stops farther apart and putting shelters and benches at more of them. The idea is to make the bus go faster and give riders a better experience. This works to a point, but transit agencies need to be cognizant of people who have a hard time walking when they decide where to place stops. Traditionally, bus stops were placed at every inter-section, regardless of the length of the blocks. In the Twin Cities, blocks are traditionally 1/16 of a mile by 1/8 of a mile. On the few routes left with the traditional stop pattern on the 1/16 mile blocks, the close stop spacing appears ridiculous to [...]
METRO TRANSIT: Answer the Survey, We”™re Counting on You
By JOHN CHARLES WILSON Public transit is one of the few government functions where the people in charge actually listen to suggestions from common citizens. I have been going to public forums about transit changes for many years, though recently I”™ve had trouble getting to them. However, because of the pandemic a lot of this stuff is being done online now. Metro Transit is currently doing a survey which can be accessed at https://www. surveymonkey.com/r/futurebus or from the Metro Transit website regarding future Bus Rapid Transit routes. As you probably already know, two BRT routes already exist, the A on Snelling (Saint Paul) and the C on Penn Ave. N., and three more are “in the pipeline”: the B (Lake St.), the D (Chicago Ave. - Fremont Ave. N.) and the E (Hennepin - France Ave. S.) This survey is about what three routes will next get the BRT treatment after the ones already planned. You are being asked to pick three of [...]
