Building a Better Metro Transit, Part 2

This post could also be subtitled "How Not To Screw Over the Suburbs".

In my post the last week, I talked about what I would do if I could rebuild the Metro Transit system and got to make all the decisions. Primarily, I laid out what my thoughts on public transit it should be, who it should serve, and what the overall goals it should accomplish are. I started with the easy part: tying together Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, like they are now, with a couple of changes.

Now, to tackle the part that I think is the worst with the Metro Transit system: how they deal with the suburbs. Or, how they just kind of ignore them.

I live in Brooklyn Park, not far away from the big new Park and Ride they built at Nobel and 610. This is a great facility and it was needed to help with all of the traffic that the park and ride is getting. But it seems mostly to be focusing on an older crowd. I say this because of how early the bus service stops to there. As far as I can tell, the latest you could really leave downtown Minneapolis and make it back would be 7:30pm for an 8:00pm arrival time. Not great if you're a younger professional who likes to go out after work or wanted to head downtown for a few drinks and not worry about driving.

And forget the weekend. There isn't service out of that station at all on the weekends. It would be a great place to park so you wouldn't have to drive downtown for weekend sporting events, theatre shows, or just to go out with friends. But it's just not possible.

I'm guessing that the main argument against adding service is that nobody would ride it. I think this is partly a chicken and the egg problem. The housing market up here is such that younger (35 and under) professionals can buy a decent house with a nice lawn for not too much money. A number of my friends live near here. All of us are in favor of going out downtown now and again and would probably do so more often if we could take a bus.

When we lived in Plymouth, right at the corner where 55, 169, and 394 come together, it was the same problem. The last bus out from downtown left a little before 10. After that you were on your own looking for a taxi. We would always see a lot of younger people riding the bus in to go downtown but unless you wanted a shorter night, there was no way to get back out to the suburbs to make it home.

So, if I was in charge, I would increase the number of routes out to the outer ring suburbs and make a big push to try and increase ridership. Buses running to the outer right that have a last leaving downtown around midnight should be more than enough to help people get home who wanted to go out safely, especially on weekends.

The second thing that needs to be done is to increase the number of suburb to suburb routes without going to downtown for a transfer. The hub-and-spoke system has a lot of advantages and really does make a lot of sense but there are a lot of big suburbs that should be able to support inter-city transport without routing through Minneapolis (yes, I'm focusing on the west because that's where I live. I'm assuming the same holds true for the east).

For example, one or two routes a day running between Maple Grove, Plymouth, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie down 494 would link the west together quiet easily. Even on the weekends it would help get people out to the various shops and malls along that route. It would take quite a bit of promotion to help get it going but a few pictures of a bus zooming by the parking lot that is 494 or 169 during rush hour I would think do the trick.

Really this last part boils down to you need to link the four parts of the outer ring suburbs with each other in a way that doesn't involve downtown. You could do this via bus or via train. I think the logical grouping would be Maple Grove to Eden Prairie in the west, Eden Prairie to Inver Grove Heights in the south, IGH to North St. Paul in the east, and NSP to Maple Grove in the north. There might be a few better breaks in their (Fridley in the north, Bloomington in the South) but that gets the general idea across.

Next up, I'll try to talk about the inner ring suburbs (not an area I have a lot of experience with) and non-motorized transit.

Building a Better Metro Transit System

This idea came from one of my Twitter friends, Kate Hamlin (@Aprl24KT) when I was saying that I needed something to write about. She threw out a range of topics so I picked the easiest one: how I would I make the public transportation system in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area better. (Note: easiest here is to be read as I’ve had a lot of cold medicine and was of the idea of “Sure! Why not!!)

This is a wide ranging topic regarding funding, accessibility, availability, property rights, and who knows what else I’m forgetting. If I’m going to do this right, it’s probably going to be a multi-post topic. Also, the engineer in me says that I need to fact check, do research, and cite other sources who know way more about this than I do, and in general make sure I know what I’m talking about. This initial post will probably be pretty light in that regard and mostly just get out my opinions and preconceived notions on what makes in my mind.

The first question that I think needs to be asked regarding public transit is “What is the goal that you are trying to achieve?” The obvious answer is move people from point A to point B in the most efficient manner possible. The devil is always in the details though. While thinking of the things that I want in a transit system the idea that needs to prevail is “What will benefit the most people and the least cost?” From that point of view, I’ll try and lay out my ideas for what I think will help make a better transit system.

First I think you need to tie the three central cities together: Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Bloomington with a method that moves a lot of people at a high rate. We've already achieved the infrastructure with light rail system. The first change I would make is to ensure that the trains have priority over automobile traffic. Making sure the trains move through intersections without needing to stop at red lights will, I believe, increase ridership and the efficiency of the trains.

The next thing to look at is the number of stops that the trains make. When the Green Line (Minneapolis Target Field to St. Paul Union Depot) was first running, there were some complaints that the trains were too slow going between the downtowns. This is a valid concern IF you look at the trains as express trains between the downtowns, which would be ideal for executives and suburbanites trying to cross from the west to the east. If you look at it as a way to move people who live on or near the line to other spots on or near the line that aren't necessarily downtown, then it takes on a different purpose.

This is the first spot where I’d really make a change from what we have now. I think during a rush hour that you need a couple of express trains that run between the downtowns and the airport. Three or four stops at one end, three or four at the other, and then just cruise through the middle without slowing down (again, traffic timing needs to be fixed to allow this). If I had my way (and it’s my blog so I do) I’d probably add a third rail that just runs the express trains. Maybe you don’t need it though if you can get the timing down.

This seems like a good place to break this post up at. My next post will focus on how I would change the routes with the suburbs, both bus and train. As always, feel free to add any thoughts you have to the comments.