Along the Right of Way

Showing up on billboards finally

2011-10-16T11:12:00.001-05:00

Northstar Commuter Rail passengers may see something next time they drive around the northern Twin Cities suburbs: Their new way to work.

Metro Transit has begun a billboard advertising campaign, touting Northstar as 'The cure for gas problems. Take twice daily.'

While admirable, one question exists: where has this been in the past?

The fact that Northstar is still a secret to thousands of North Metro commuters is really no secret. Metro Transit does very little to market their services, depending on word-of-mouth to get the message across that transit IS an alternative for some.

Sadly, the fact that the train is not doing as well as expected is in part due to the lack of advertising by Metro Transit. Northstar trains are not touted on radio or TV, nor are they in newspaper advertising. What little is out there is very generic, non-route/corridor-specific advertising aimed at everybody, not focused on targeted areas of interest (no transit ads aimed at 35-W or 35-E commuters touting buses not affected by road construction, etc.)

And now, with the Twins' season mercifully over, the Vikings' season in the tank, and the Timberwolves not playing at all (due to the NBA lockout), there is even less reason to ride Northstar for those whose personal schedules do not mesh with the train's limited service.

Somebody better start thinking of more advertising...

Metro Transit's way to deal with Northstar interruption: Not deal with it at all

2011-07-18T09:55:00.001-05:00

OK, Northstar riders. NOW do you see how much Metro Transit really cares about your service?

The abject failure of Metro Transit to clearly deal with the aftermath of BNSF Railway's train derailment early Saturday shows this blogger just how little the agency is committed to transit alternatives in the North Metro.

An eastbound grain train derailed after the embankment next to the Rice Creek bridge washed away following Saturday's early-morning 3+ inch rainfall in Fridley. The fact of the matter is that although the Staples Subdivision (the main line of BNSF that was washed out) would not allow trains to operate east of Coon Creek, the mainline west of Coon Creek was totally unscathed. Northstar could have operated with a bus bridge from Coon Rapids (Riverdale) to Downtown Minneapolis' 5th Street Transit Center, one block east of the train's Target Field terminus. This is especially true on Monday, where the combination of the start of the workweek and the Twins' day-night doubleheader (two admissions) would have been a prime example for showing that Northstar could have all-day service.

Instead, a terse statement was issued from Metro Transit Saturday afternoon, saying that Northstar trains were cancelled thru Monday, including for Twins' games on Saturday, Sunday and the Monday doubleheader, and that passengers, including commuters on Monday, were on their own to fend for themselves to get to work, or wherever they were going.

This is definitely a way that Metro Transit shows how they feel about the North suburbs. If this had happened on a South Suburban rail line, you would bet that they would have a bus bridge set up and pronto! But we live in the North Suburbs, where bus routes are not coordinated properly, and when disruptions occur, 'you're on your own! We can't get to you! Good Luck!'

This is disgusting...

Every Twins Game gets a Northstar train in 2011

2011-04-25T08:32:00.002-05:00

Metro Transit, operator of the Northstar commuter train service, announced that there would be trains for all 81 Twins' baseball home games in 2011. Most games would be covered by existing trains in at least one direction. Twins day games normally start at either 12:10 PM (except Sundays), 1:10 PM (Sundays) or at 2:55 PM (Saturday day games televised by FOX, as part of their 'Major League Game of the Week' package). Night games start at 7:10 PM except on Saturdays, when home games start at 6:10 PM.

It's not just happening here, folks!

2010-12-20T10:17:00.004-06:00

The severe winter weather which has become December, 2010, has not just affected transportation in the USA & Canada. While during the first two recent 'Snow-namis' both the Northstar and Hiawatha Light Rail lines ran nearly normally (Northstar ran on time throughout, thanks to BNSF Railway) the MSP Airport closed, buses (transit and intercity) stopped, and Amtrak's Empire Builder ran late, but it was still running, although once passengers arrived in St. Paul, they were stranded if they did not have a ride already, as the taxi companies pulled their taxis off the streets due to too much snow.

Europe has been affected as well. The system that hit Minnesota last weekend hit Europe this weekend, with equally devastating results. Eurostar services between London and Paris/Brussels as well as all high-speed services in France have had a 170-KPH (105 MPH)
speed restriction slapped on them, adding as much as two hours on London-Paris Eurostar runs. Trains are being turned back at their endpoints and are being sent out immediately, with lines of holiday travellers at London's St. Pancras International Terminal, supposedly out the doors and into the streets of London. Eurostar has requested that passengers who do not need to travel between Britain and the Continent, postpone their trip until after the Christmas holiday.

Eurostar is not scheduled to operate any trains on Christmas day.

Northstar Changes; Route 889 dropped

2010-11-01T10:11:00.003-05:00

Metro Transit quietly dropped the Route 889 mid-day Northstar substitute bus on October 28th. The next day, a Friday-only thru bus (operating between St. Cloud and Downtown Minneapolis, stopping at all Northstar and Northstar Link stations) began operation. Dubbed Route 887F, the bus (operated by St. Cloud MetroBus) operates Fridays ONLY, allowing for mid-day service to all stations on the last day of most people's workweeks.

In other Northstar news, Nov. 16th and 17th (Tuesday and Wednesday) Northstar is FREE for all passengers, as Metro Transit celebrates Northstar's first anniversary and tries to attract more riders just ahead of the winter road aggravation season. Now, if there's snow either of those days, those free rides to and from Downtown Minneapolis, without the plethora of traffic accidents, are going to look mighty good...

Skol Northstar! Vikings game trains schedule announced

2010-08-21T10:10:00.003-05:00

OK, Vikings faithful. Your team is playing 'exhibition' football. Soon, you all will begin your annual treks to the 'Dome, and you'll wait for-ever to get out of the parking lots/ramps after the game...

...unless you ride Northstar, in which case, the train will wait for YOU. For one hour after the final gun.

Metro Transit has released the train schedule for the first full season of Vikings' football, available at: http://www.metrotransit.org/ride-northstar-to-the-metrodome.aspx .

Soon, your pre-game parking worries will be over. Now remember, there is NO TAILGATING in Northstar parking lots. No liquor may be consumed (or, for that matter, poured) in them, either, nor on the trains (or any Metro Transit property) themselves.

You've been told. And, warned. So behave yourselves, folks.

Oh, and for those of you who are Gopher football fans: This service will NOT be available for Gopher football games.

Our condolences on your team's predicted fortune, this upcoming college football season.

Northstar catches 'Twins' fever', Becker added as commuter bus stop

2010-07-26T07:05:00.004-05:00

Just briefly: Northstar commuter buses from St. Cloud to Big Lake will operate for designated Minnesota Twins home games, primarily on Saturdays, the rest of the 2010 MLB season. Catch the details at metrotransit.org. Look for Route 887 or go to the 'Northstar' tab.

In addition, St. Cloud-Big Lake buses now also stop at Becker en route, both directions, for all trips.

WRT

Aboard the Northstar Twins Special

2010-05-31T09:48:00.002-05:00

Sunday evening, I happened to be coming back from a family function, where earlier in the day I used Northstar to go between Coon Rapids and Big Lake, where my wife met me for the rest of the afternoon. I had to get back to my car, so I availed myself of the Northstar Twins' special train from Big Lake back to Riverdale (and my car).

What I saw was what Metro Transit (and the naysayers about Northstar) would want to see: an eight-car, two-locomotive behemoth -- the largest train I've seen in person from Northstar -- and hundreds of Twins fans (if there were any Texas Rangers' fans on this train, they were in hiding) boarding at each of the five Northstar stations, happy not to have to hassle with I-94, the atrocious (and expensive) parking around Target Field (despite it being a Sunday night) and the fact there was actually a train that would wait for them, even after the completion of the Twins' 6-3 win and a three-game sweep of the bankrupt Rangers.

In fact, the train was standing room only as it departed Coon Rapids -- Riverdale. Which meant over 1200 passengers were aboard, as the train roared off into the late afternoon gloom towards Target Field.

There will be trains after every game from now until the end of August. Trainloads of happy fans, safely, efficiently traveling to and from what everyone said would be a 'boondoggle' -- Target Field -- as Minnesota finally joins the 'big leagues' 0f transportation, shortly after they finally joined the 'big leagues' of baseball stadia.

There was only one passenger wanting not to go to Target Field last night. One passenger willing to trade the comforts of the new stadium for the comfort of his own recliner. One passenger who didn't want to go all the way Downtown last night.

Meet that one passenger. Me.

Metro Transit 1, Northstar-riding Twins fans 0, Final

2010-05-23T10:23:00.002-05:00

Well, the apocalypse happened Saturday night. And it only took less than six weeks of baseball for that to happen.

Northstar commuter train-riding Twins fans who attended Saturday's 12-inning marathon of bad pitching vs. the Milwaukee Brewers were faced with this situation as the 11th inning approached:

Either they had to:

a) Stay to the end of the game and be stranded in Downtown Minneapolis, or:

b) Run like hell to catch the train (it's just outside Gate 6) and make the 7:00 PM departure, missing the last two innings of the ball game.

Metro Transit's dogged insistence on one operating crew (only) on weekend days is not making friends of Twins baseball fans. The unbelieveable short-sightedness of Metro Transit underestimating the popularity of Northstar for Twins baseball games is yet another reason the schedule for Northstar needs to be expanded.

Now.

New Schedule for Northstar, Route 889 Blues

2010-05-16T11:20:00.005-05:00

Northstar commuter trains are on a new, more 'Twins-friendly' schedule, as the baseball season plods on, and the trains arrive Target Field standing-room-only, for nearly every game they run for. The ridership figures for days when there are Twins home games, as opposed to days when they do not run are way, way up. Now if they would only do something to encourage more off-peak, non-game-day ridership?

They have, in part. No longer are some (not all) Northstar riders stranded all day weekdays downtown, as the No. 889 'Northstar replacement' bus has changed its' schedule to a much more useful 1:05PM departure from Downtown Minneapolis, as the public had spoken -- LOUDLY -- about operating a mid-day trip to Coon Rapids (Riverdale) and Anoka stations.

Now, could we get this same 889 bus to continue to Elk River and Big Lake, in order to serve ALL Northstar patrons? (Fridley station is already also served by Metro Transit bus route No. 852). As long as the bus is deadheading back anyhow (another mistake,) you might as well make it available for all potential Northstar patrons to use.

If you make the train service at least palatable to use one direction, you would draw more passengers to the afternoon trains outbound from Downtown (and the 5 PM 'turnback' inbound) if you had another way to get there at times outside of the rush hours.

But what do we consumers, who use the service (and want to use it more) know?

Target Field opens, Northstar trains arrive SRO

2010-04-18T09:26:00.003-05:00

Needless to say, the Twins baseball plan worked TOO well.

Trains packed with baseball fans pushed ridership on Northstar commuter trains up over 75% last week, according to Metro Transit, the service's operator. In fact, the first baseball special train on Opening Day was so popular, the train was discharge only after the stop at Coon Rapids - Riverdale, meaning the over 100 passengers at the Fridley station were left to ride dedicated buses fron Fridley station to Target Field. This also caused the normal last train outbound on Monday to leave with an estimated 1,000 riders, as the baseball special train operated behind the normal 6:15 PM departure.

Special trains will operate for 53 of the 81 Twins games this season; other weekend games will be covered by Northstar's regular service, the schedule of which has been tweaked to serve home games at Target Field. The new schedule is available now online only; the printed schedules will not appear until early May.

The new schedule will also have a major change to the bus route #889 schedule, the 'Northstar replacement' bus which operates to Coon Rapids-Riverdale and Anoka stations. The new schedule will fill the 'mid-day gap' for those patrons who work only half-days, and beginning May 15th, will leave Downtown Minneapolis at 1:10 PM, as opposed to the current 7:10 PM.

Now, if they'd only run that bus to Elk River and Big Lake...

Think you'd try transit to a Twins' game?

2010-03-27T11:21:00.003-05:00

Good luck to you if you do.

The lack of transit access to Target Field, the Twins' new, half-billion-dollar bet on Downtown Minneapolis, is going to be a major factor in the gridlock that will result, as the spring approaches and baseball season starts. In fact, the lack of transit for about 1/3rd of the Twins' schedule will eventually affect the Twins, as well as other Target Field events.

The lack of any extra transit operating for afternoon day games on weekdays (you'd only need a bus, one-way, from Northstar stations, as an example) will hamper fans from accessing what should be the region's newest jewel in the region's core -- Downtown Minneapolis -- and the fact that most of the connections (except light-rail) are primarily a shanks'-mare connection at best -- and that the area immediately to the south of the stadium, is one of the primary areas for the homeless -- will make it that much more doubtful that fans will attend, once the newness of the stadium wears off.

It is the hope of this blogger that Twins fans will indeed leave their cars at home and try transit into the stadium area. That is the Twins' hope as well. Is it the hope of Metro Transit that fans will leave their cars at home and use transit? Or will it be like everything else they are forced to provide service for? The 'well, we'll do it, but only because we have to, not because we WANT to' attitude?

We'll have to wait and see.

Northstar Twins' schedule announced

2010-03-07T08:34:00.002-06:00

Metro Transit, operator of the Northstar commuter trains, have announced their schedule for extra trains for the Minnesota Twins' inaugural season at Target Field.

The schedule will include extra trains for:

Opening series vs. Boston (April 12, 14, 15)
All weekend (Saturday/Sunday) games
All weeknight games in June, July and August

In total, 53 of the Twins' 81 games will have extra Northstar service.

--WRT

Ever wonder why...?

2010-02-07T14:40:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-11T08:03:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-27T11:37:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-17T12:34:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-03T15:49:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-25T23:07:00.004-06:00

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

2009-11-19T16:56:00.005-06:00

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

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).
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?
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.
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).
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.
Could we have ONE timetable with ALL the connections to and from Northstar trains? Please? Huh? Please??
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.

Welcome to Along the Right of Way!

2009-11-17T17:35:00.003-06:00

I have wanted to do a transportation-related blog for some time, as I have been in the movement of people and products for nearly 30 years, and I think I have some things to say.

This was formerly part of 'Mileposts and Goalposts', my now-solely hockey and sports travel related blog here on Blogspot.com, so now hopefully those of you who don't want some puck with your train (or bus or planes) discussion will be satisfied, also.

Those articles that were about transportation on the old blog are now archived here. Feel free to comment on them at your leisure.

And stay safe out there!

Happy Commuter Train Day, Minnesota! (T)

2009-11-16T08:41:00.003-06:00

Good morning, Minnesota. Welcome to the big leagues of transportation.

Today, Monday, November 16, 2009, begins the era of commuter rail in Minnesota, as the Northstar Line started service this morning between Big Lake and Downtown Minneapolis.

The line has been thirteen years in the making, with the political nay-sayers and the NIMBY's howling every single step of the way. Now, it's the people's turn to choose how they get to work.

I have railed in this blog previously as to how inadequate the bus plan (which should feed the trains, instead of the other way around, as the plan is now) is for these trains. No one source can be used for all the schedules; since no one jurisdiction operates everything regarding the train and it's so-called 'friendly' connections.

Hopefully, the service will need to be expanded...and soon. There are gaping holes in the schedule (weekdays mid-day, weekend mornings come to mind) and there's that 60-day notice to the BNSF Railway (the track's owners) about train service to special events (Twins' games at Target Field, events at the Metrodome, just to use two examples) to deal with. Hopefully, the powers-that-be administrating this service will realize that the direction is for expansion, not for sitting on the status quo.

Because, the status quo is what Minnesotans have had for all too long. And the status quo really sucks.

They listened! (M)

2009-11-06T21:56:00.000-06:00

Last week, I railed against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and their lack of updated on-line info for the #19 United Center Express bus, which caused five of us to miss most of the pre-game of the Oct. 26 Minnesota Wild-Chicago Blackhawks game at the United Center.

Well, well, well...now at http://transitchicago.com/ there is a brand new list of stops for the route (dated 10/27/2009, the day after the Wild-Hawks game, the day I originally e-mailed my complaint to CTA), and the old schedule (from 2006-07) has been removed. A newer, proper description (not a timetable, sadly) has been put in its' place.

While this doesn't ease the pain of the original screw-up, at least the damage can now be limited.

Road Tripper rule: Always check your timetables while travelling...

WRT

You might need to rethink that Northstar bus plan (T)

2009-10-04T11:13:00.000-05:00

Minnesota's Metro Transit has released the bus plan for connecting with the Nov. 16 start-up of the Northstar Commuter train service between Downtown Minneapolis and Big Lake. After reading the plan (and the schedules of the trains themselves, all now available online at http://metrotransit.org/), one has to ask this somewhat simple question:

Who in the hell dreamed this half-baked effort up??

Really. There is no provision for any of the following:

* Going to work at anytime other than 6 AM to 8:30 AM, and only in Downtown Minneapolis
* Anything other than auto travel to stations beyond Anoka (except for St. Cloud)
* Staying late (after 7:00 PM) in Downtown Minneapolis on weeknights (for maybe, dinner and a post-work cocktail?)
* Off-shift travel (or, going home early) especially at mid-day on weekdays
* Weekend work travel or events that start in Minneapolis prior to 2 PM on Saturdays, Noon on Sundays
* Any weekend event in any of the Northstar suburbs

This bus plan is horrid at best. Here are some of the community pairs that should be served by connecting service to Northstar:

To Big Lake from: Becker, Clear Lake, Clearwater, Monticello
To Elk River from: Rogers, Otsego, Princeton, Zimmerman, also to/from Downtown Elk River itself (the Elk River stop is east of US 169, at the existing Route 888 park-and-ride)
To Anoka from: Ramsey, Champlin, Oak Grove
To Coon Rapids (Riverdale) from: Andover, Eastern Coon Rapids (east of US 10)

There will be a new bus route (Route 889) which will only run ONE TRIP A DAY on weekdays at 7:00 PM from Downtown Minneapolis; unfortunately, the bus will only serve Coon Rapids and Anoka, and will NOT GO to Elk River, nor to Big Lake. Why no bus service to these communities? (The existing bus Route 888, which runs between Elk River, Coon Rapids and Downtown Minneapolis, goes away when Northstar begins operation November 16th.)

Why there is not 4-5 bus trips at off-peak hours weekdays, (there are contractual issues needing to be resolved with BNSF Railway, in order to run more trains) and 3-4 trips on weekends, in order to make those trains that DO operate more useful? And, why are there not Route 889 trips in the inbound direction?

Granted, there are trips currently (Route 877) from Ramsey directly to Downtown Minneapolis. These trips should be changed in order to feed into Northstar at Anoka station, at least until Ramsey gets its' own platform (scheduled for Phase II of the Northstar project, depending on funding, as is a platform at the existing 950-space Foley Park-and-Ride in eastern Coon Rapids).

Make the service as useful to as wide a population as possible. Yes, we understand, Minnesota is not made of money (as if we don't know that already?), but this would be a very wise investment, so as to make the train as useful to as wide a population as possible.

The plan also admits that the existing local transit in Elk River ('RiverRider') will not meet any Northstar train, which makes the train option useless for those who work in Elk River and don't want to drive. Now, forgive me for asking, but wasn't part of all this planning an exercise to see how many autos we could get off the roads in the affected areas? In Big Lake, the problem is worse: the local dial-a-ride service doesn't even operate after 5 PM, making that service totally useless to Northstar riders.

The Northstar Link express bus service to St. Cloud (http://www.catchthelink.com/) is also of limited use, as there will be no connection to the rest of the St. Cloud MTC system at their hub in Downtown St. Cloud, as the Link service will not even go beyond the city-owned park-and-ride on St. Cloud's southeast side. With limited options for even service to the most populated city on the potential second phase of Northstar, what good is it for people living in the Twin Cities and working in St. Cloud?

The Northstar Link will pass thru, but will not stop at, Becker and Clear Lake en route to St. Cloud. Another egregious mistake by the Northstar Corridor Development Agency, the public body to which this was assigned.

People will actually go out of their way to use the service, if it is even somewhat conveinent for them to use it. The basic premise that everyone will just magically change their lives to fit an inconveinent schedule which someone says, 'That's the best we can do', is a woeful commentary in a 'Me, me, me' society. The phrase so often echoed as the private railroads were cutting back passenger schedules in the 1960's and '70's -- 'You can't get there from here' -- still rings true some 40-50 years later.

And that is a very sad commentary of the modern state of public transportation in Minnesota.