44 replies to this topic

[NorthStar]

Metro Transit is the largest operator of bus service in the seven-county region.
The service has includes:
*875 buses, including 140 articulated buses
*130 routes,
*Hiawatha Line light rail corridor.

The transit system is reportedly the 18th largest in the country, with roughly 200,000 rides provided each weekday.




SouthWest Metro Transit Commission (SMTC) has a fleet of more than 50 buses and offers service to Downtown and Uptown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, along I-494 to Normandale Lakes Office Park and Normandale Community College, as well as local service in Chanhassen, Chaska, and Eden Prairie.



The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) operates in five suburbs south of Minneapolis and St. Paul: Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, and Rosemount in Dakota County, and Savage in Scott County.

Hiawatha Light Rail Transit




The Hiawatha Line is a 12 mile corridor connecting downtown Minneapolis to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America. Groundbreaking for the line took place on January 17, 2001. Regular service began on a first phase of the line on June 26, 2004, with the second phase opening later that year on December 4

Edited by NorthStar, 30 June 2005 - 12:37 PM.

[NorthStar]

Light rail photos:

Edited by NorthStar, 30 June 2005 - 01:08 PM.

[NorthStar]

Metro Transit has released 1st-year figures for the Hiawatha Line and they have beat predicted ridership numbers by 61 percent!!!

Here are some other figures:

*6 million estimated through June

*Average ridership from January through May:
-Weekdays 19,700
-Saturdays 17,600
-Sundays 10,400

*Metrodome events: Nearly 1 million riders took trains to Twins, Vikings and Gophers games and other special events downtown.

*Fare evaders
-Ticketed: 2,460.
-Warned: 4,672.

[NorthStar]

Future Transit Projects:
The Central Corridor – Light Rail
The Central Corridor is an 11-mile long east-west route between Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Central Corridor will connect the two downtown areas as well as the the University of Minnesota, the Midway area, Frogtown, the State Capitol, Minnesota Children’s Museum the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, the West Bank Theater District.

Minneapolis to St. Paul


Downtown St. Paul Alignment


The Northstar Corridor – Commuter Rail
The Northstar Corridor will run between downtown Minneapolis and Big Lake and eventually St. Cloud, Minnesota’s fastest growing area. The proposed service will operate on Burlington Northern/Santa Fe’s mainline freight tracks and includes an extension of Hiawatha light rail service from the Warehouse District station to the intermodal station where connections to Northstar service will be made.



The Southwest Corridor
The Southwest Corridor extends between Eden Prairie and downtown Minneapolis.  The route includes the cities of Minnetonka, Hopkins and St. Louis Park.



The Red Rock Corridor – Commuter Rail
The Red Rock Corridor extends 30 miles between Hastings, St. Paul, and downtown Minneapolis. The service will connect to the Hiawatha, Northstar and Central Corridor transit as well as to local bus routes. The Corridor is also shared with the proposed Midwest Regional Rail Initiative that will connect the Twin Cities to Chicago.

[NorthStar]

According to the Associated Press, Minnesota will get $3.5 billion in federal transportation money. The state will receive more than $400 million for statewide transit projects over the next five years. The bill includes:

*$80 million for the Northstar Commuter Rail project, which will connect downtown Minneapolis and St. Cloud.

*$50 million for converting the St. Paul Union Depot into a new transportation hub.

*25 million specifically for bike and pedestrian trails in the Twin Cities. one of only four areas of the country to get this special funding.

The article lists other major projects funded in the transportation bill.  Projects include:
-$50 million for lane construction on Highway 53 between Virginia and International Falls.
-More than $20 million to improve safety on Highway 169 from Virginia to Ely/Winton;

-$17 million for Phase III construction of Highway 610/10;

-$13 million for the St. Croix River Crossing;

-$13 million for the Lyndale Avenue Bridge in the Twin Cities;

-$9.8 million for construction of a bus rapid lane on Cedar Avenue Highway in Dakota County;

-$9.66 million in Lake County: for reconstruction of Highway 61 from Split Rock River to Silver Bay in Lake County and construction of a Gitchi-Gami Spur Trail between main trail and Silver Bay Marina along Highway 61;

-$9.5 million to purchase buses and bus facilities for the Metro Transit bus service;

-$8.8 million for construction of Eighth Street north of St. Cloud;

-$7.2 million for construction of an interchange at Highway 65 and Highway 242 in Blaine;

-$7.1 million for construction of the Highway 23 bypass of Paynesville

[okinawatyphoon]

What is the timetable for building the The Central Corridor – Light Rail connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul?

[r c nelson]

Was at the Red Sox & Twins games this past week-end. I was impressed with your light rail system. South Florida has a terrible transit system so I am jealous. Leaving the game last Saturday night the service was extremely slow with people waiting for the train to arrive. You would think that there would be some preparation to handle the volume of people. I guess I'm spoiled from living in Boston for a few years. All in all I liked what I experienced and Im sure it will get better. If Providence RI had a light rail like yours I would move back tomorrow.

[MrSmith]

Opponents of the LRT worked hard to derail the project --as a result the size of the trains and platforms were reduced to save money.  However, ridership of the Minneapolis LRT has way exceeded expectations, which also explains your wait.   I take it in the middle of the day and on weekends and it is always crowded.

[Ih8thecold]

Quick tip for leaving the Dome after a game;  walk to the next platform towards downtown and get on the train before it gets to the Metrodome.  For some reason no one else seems to think of this so it works out pretty well.

[r c nelson]

Ih8thecold, on Aug 8 2005, 05:13 PM, said:

Quick tip for leaving the Dome after a game;  walk to the next platform towards downtown and get on the train before it gets to the Metrodome.  For some reason no one else seems to think of this so it works out pretty well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree. I used to take the orange line one stop in the other direction at rush hour and then come back with a seat. My friends were reluctant to take my advice. The traffic around the H Dome impeded the movement of the trains. I enjoyed my visit but acorns were falling which means WINTER is coming. I saw that there were heaters at the train stops. YIKES

[FSUViking9]

Wow, dude. It was 94 degrees today. Winter isn't that frickin close. It'll be 50's and 60's well into November and December.

People are so ignorant about Minnesota winters, it's not even funny.

[sushisimo]

FSUViking9, on Aug 8 2005, 06:43 PM, said:

Wow, dude. It was 94 degrees today. Winter isn't that frickin close. It'll be 50's and 60's well into November and December.

People are so ignorant about Minnesota winters, it's not even funny.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

50s and 60s into Nov and Dec? Am I living in a different Minneapolis? Those temps can happen, but its the exception. More like 20s and 30s, with dips down to zero, or worse. Granted, the Twin Cities is alot better than Northern Minnesota (where I grew up) when summer really does end on Labor Day.

And total agreement on moving up a few stations to get a seat. I was stupid enough to ride LRT on its opening day. I got on at the Nicollet Station. I still had to stand because the whole thing filled up at the first stop! By the time we got to the Dome, people trying to get on were basically saying "Screw this!" and gave up.

[Snowguy716]

Ugh... I live in northern Minnesota and some of hte leaves are already beginning to change color (mostly due to dry weather, but still!)

By November temperatures can dip to -10 and by December all the way to -25 or so.  I don't think I've ever seen 60 degrees past early November.  Of course we're quite a bit colder here than down there.. but I don't mind it.  I love winter.


Anyway, I'm happy to hear about the proposals to expand the Twin Cities' transit systems.  Now if only we could have a state wide high speed train system like those of Europe.  But one can only dream, I guess.

[FSUViking9]

sushi...you must, because it's been 50's and 60's into December the last 4 years. Our last three winters have placed in the top 7 warmest in recorded history.

Until the middle of January last year, Atlanta and Charlotte had more measurable snow than Minneapolis did.

[MrCoffee]

I will vouch for the warmer winters in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.  And summers also get hot in that area as well.  In fact, there were snow storms east of Chicago last December, while Minneapolis/St. Paul didn't have any snow on the ground.  The coldest months are December, January, February, and March.  It starts warming up in April, gets hot by the end of May, then starts cooling off in the middle of September.  November is when it starts getting cold, with below freezing temperatures towards the end of the month.  

Minneapolis/St. Paul is well adapted to the colder climate, and other parts of the country envy that place during the "dog days" of Summer.  In fact, I have heard of people who moved up there from Phoenix because of the heat close to the Mexican border.

For those who think of Minnesota as being "out in timbuktu":  Try driving between Chicago, and Ann Arbor down I-94 in the middle of December in a snow storm.  Exits are at least 15 miles apart, and you might have to drive a good 50 miles before the next gas station.  Be sure to fill up before you leave Michigan City, Indiana!

MrCoffee

[Snowguy716]

Yes, I must say:  Twin Citians do a lot of bragging about the cold weather.. and it's actually quite mild.    And sticky and unbearable in the summer.

The average low in Minneapolis in January is around 0*F, while it gets as low as -15*F in northern Minnesota.

Temperatures on the north shore of Lake Superior can be stuck in the 40s while Minneapolis soars into the 90s in early summer... like an extreme form of the marine layer.


As far as being on lonely interstate:  I recently drove cross country from San Diego to Minnesota and there were some empty stretches.
I-70 in Utah is the loneliest place I've ever seen.  There are signs that say "Next services, 120 miles"  And the last service station before this stretch is a broken down old gas station that closes at 5pm.  Besides 2 semis, we didn't see a car for over an hour.

Now imagine driving in a blizzard in that area.

[okinawatyphoon]

This may seem like a random question, but how many baggage carousels does MSP have?

[Snowguy716]

I have no idea.  I was just at the airport on Thursday and I picked mine up from carousel 9, and it was by no means anywhere near the end.  MSP's carousels are smaller though than other airports I've been to, even smaller airports.  They're round rather than oblong... no idea why (maybe easier access for smaller flights?)

[okinawatyphoon]

Snowguy716, on Dec 26 2005, 01:55 AM, said:

I have no idea.  I was just at the airport on Thursday and I picked mine up from carousel 9, and it was by no means anywhere near the end.  MSP's carousels are smaller though than other airports I've been to, even smaller airports.  They're round rather than oblong... no idea why (maybe easier access for smaller flights?)

Oh ok...there must be 14 then. I was confused because on the airport's website, it shows numbers 1-14, but it only actually shows 4 carousels. Thanks for clearing that up.  

[aTorridGustOfSun]

I read about plans for expanding the light rail into downtown St Paul and reopening the Union Depot as a train station!  There was also talk about Amtrak relocating its station there and having it be a "transit hub" for the Twin Cities.

I absolutely love living in the Northern Suburbs, except for the fact that when it comes to any sort of rail transit to the downtowns, we'll be the last for sure.  I guess it really won't matter to me though, as I plan on moving to DT St Paul this summer.