Ever wonder why...?

OK, now I'm perplexed.

Ever wonder why our Government does things sometimes the way they do? Well, here's one for you in that department...

Recently, during a 3-inch snowfall, I came up alongside a MnDOT snowplow working on US Highway 10 in suburban Coon Rapids. This was mid-afternoon, prior to the afternoon rush hour, so I was surprised when I came up to the plow, that although it was dropping the usual car-eating mixture of sand and salt, the blades were in the UP position, and not clearing the roadway of the quickly accumulating snow which was falling.

I thought that when snow accumulates on the roadway, that the resulting accumulation would be enough to warrant snow removal to begin, not just sand/salt distribution. Any car that tried to change lanes in that particular stretch would have been a great candidate for winding up in either the ditch, nose first, or into one of those oh-so-close wire barriers which the State installed last summer.

In either case, when the plows come out, shouldn't the blades be down when snow is present?

One would think so.

Cities vs Suburbs for Transit Funds

Well, Minnesota has indeed joined the 'big leagues' of transportation. There's infighting amogst the populace on who's transit ox is being gored.

On one hand, we have the outer suburbs, many of whom split off from the rest of the Twin Cities Metro area in order to start up their own transit services, which would more closely adhere to the needs of their own communities, as opposed to the 'one size fits all' Metro Transit, which is operated by the Metropolitan Council.

On the other hand, there are the core cities and inner-ring, older suburbs, who have the needs and the lack of resources of most large-city transit systems, despite the 2006 constitutional amendment dedicated the sales tax from the purchase of automobiles to the transit funding pool.

The outer suburbs, mushrooming with growth, want to expand their services, but say the needs of the core cities are stunting their growth. The inner cities are saying that any decrease in their funding will mean service cuts for people who, for whatever reason, are more transit-dependent than their suburban neighbors.

'Making do' has been a mantra for Minnesota transit for about 40 years. When the Met Council took over the old Twin City Lines in the early 1970's, most of the bus fleet dated from 1954, when they discontinued streetcar service. It took the better part of 10 years to upgrade the fleet with buses (not all of which were air-conditioned) which actually had parts available. The bus fleet now inclues transit versions of motor coaches for longer-haul routes, as the suburban operators do. To screw all of this up over a 'he said, they said' arguement would be transit suicide. The future of transit is in alternative modes (read: rail) not the local, all-stops on every corner bus route.

It is hoped that some semblance of order could be made out of this chaos; look at cities which finally got it (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth) and who have flourishing transit systems. They understood that cooperation is the key. They cooperated. And everyone benefits because of it.

Get it?

Riding the Storm out: 500 new Northstar riders in Dec. storm

During a Dec. 9 snowstorm that snarled Twin Cities metro traffic, the Northstar commuter trains pulled in another 500 people on that day alone, according to Metro Transit, the operator of the service, in comments made to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

The five round-trips that day carried nearly 2,800 passengers, or about 20% above what the normal daily average (2,400) has been in the service's first 5 weeks of operation.

The trains operate between Big Lake and Downtown Minneapolis, and operate over trackage owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

Northstar Miscellany

Two things to note about Minnesota's commuter train:

1. Ridership for the second half of November, 2009 was slightly below estimates. The report did acknowledge the fact that Thanksgiving day (a day where no trains operate) did indeed occur during the time period. Ridership average 2,207 per day, slightly under the 2,460 estimated daily average. The release from Metro Transit, operator of the service, says that ridership patterns will not emerge until after the first of the year.

2. Metro Transit has leased a MP36 locomotive from the Utah Transit Authority, operator of the Salt Lake City-Ogden-Brigham City 'FrontRunner' commuter trains. The engine is intended to be a spare for the Northstar locomotives currently in service. The locomotive is undergoing repaint and refit at Northstar's Big Lake repair/servicing facility.

The last 'bus to nowhere', changes its' route

The Route 889 bus, which is the once-a-day, weekday 'mop-up' for the Northstar Commuter train, will change it's current route in Downtown Minneapolis from travelling on 3rd Ave. South to the every-other-block transit lane on 2nd Ave. South, beginning on December 14th.

The rest of the route, including the lack of stops at Elk River and Big Lake, will continue.

Northstar changes schedule...slightly

Northstar commuter rail schedules will change slightly beginning November 30th. All trains departing Target Field (Downtown Minneapolis), will now leave 5 minutes later than the current schedule. The change was made after many complaints from frequent riders, that the schedule was too tight to get across Downtown Minneapolis to the trains during the rush hour.

In addition, the first morning departure inbound (to Downtown Minneapolis) now departs all stations 5 minutes later, departing Big Lake at 5:05 AM.

The changes also affect the morning 'contra-flow' departure, but does not include any weekend departures.

Northstar after a few days: Analysis

After a few days of actual, common-folk operation of Northstar commuter train service, a few things stand out:

1. The White House is poorly protected compared to Northstar. There are transit Police everywhere. Even at Big Lake, they have some contraption which is supposedly an observation tower, but where it currently is (at Big Lake station, overlooking the parking lot) it might be better used by turning the thing about 120 degrees to the west, and used as a duck blind (or the world's most obtuse deer stand).
2. Need a train schedule? Fuhgeddaboutit, at least on trains and/or at the stations. No schedules to take away available. (In fact, I got mine only because I walked thru the 4th St. Transit Center on my way home after a Minnesota Wild road trip, en route from the Hiawatha Light Rail to my car.) Not only that, next to no one knows about the #887 St. Cloud bus connection (which, as I blogged earlier, does not stop at Becker nor at Clear Lake.) How would they know about it except online?
3. Most of the ticket machines (which do take credit cards, a Metro Transit first) are in obtuse locations, and are poorly marked. In fact, at Big Lake, they face west...and, since the prevailing wind direction is from the west, it will probably take an act of Almighty God (or Yahweh, or Buddha, or Allah, depending on your religion) for train passengers to receive tickets when ice storms hit.
4. Few of the passengers actually want to sit next to each other. On the train I rode, I would estimate that up to 20% of the passengers were out for a joy ride. In fact, one poor guy (who was with his first-grade daughter) actually told his cell phone caller that he was 'stuck with my kid on this train ride' and he'd be back into Downtown Minneapolis 'late' (5:52 PM).
5. Hopefully the regular passengers will figure out that the parking lot you want to park in, is the one where you arrive next to at the END of the day. Seemed that a lot of regular commuters were across the tracks from their cars after coming back from work.
6. Could we have ONE timetable with ALL the connections to and from Northstar trains? Please? Huh? Please??
7. Why no access at Target Field Station, Downtown Minneapolis, directly to the Northstar platform for buses to unload, paid fare area (the bus) to paid fare area (the train platform)? The 'shanks mare' connection from light rail to Northstar is bad enough, having to go via the Target Field left field pavilion concourse, but to have to walk a full block and a half to get a bus at the 4th St. Transit Center is ridiculous. (I'm surprised that this is not an ADA issue.)

OK, I'm off the soap box, for now. Can anyone fix this before people are totally alienated?

Thanks.