Comments on: Take me out with the crowd: Trains, buses pack riders in

By: MJ

MJ — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:37:00 +0000

“The economics of public transit can be counterintuitive.”

Not really. Whenever you set prices below marginal cost, you will always run deficits.

By: Froggie

Froggie — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:51:44 +0000

And yes, maudio, that’s exactly what I was thinkig of as far as subway lines…under Nicollet and under 6th St.

By: Froggie

Froggie — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:50:59 +0000

There’s a number of reasons why…the Governor is only a small part of the equation.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:19:34 +0000

Ask Pawlenty why there isn’t more mass transit.

By: barryS

barryS — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:34:03 +0000

Will the Central Corridor go 3-car from the start then, given that the DT platforms are almost all 3-car ready?

I’m surprised that the WH District - Hennepin stop is 3-car ready. Everytime I look at it with 2 cars, I try to imagine it with 3 and it always seems like it would stick out about 8′ into 1st Ave.

By: maudio

maudio — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:10:01 +0000

Although the modifications needed to make the Gov. Ctr. station 3-car ready would be *minimal* — very very minimal.

By: Roadguy

Roadguy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:09:45 +0000

Point of clarification: All downtown stations are 3-car ready except for Government Plaza (I learned this while covering Central Corridor meetings).

By: bsimon

bsimon — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:36:19 +0000

“How many stations are currently not 3-car-length platforms?”

Good question. I think most of the stations along Hiawatha are not 3-car ready. The MOA, Lindbergh terminal & downtown stations are full-size.

By: maudio

maudio — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:22:16 +0000

How many stations are currently not 3-car-length platforms?

It looks like Minneapolis/Hennepin County thinks that there will be two lines, continuous Southwest-Hiawatha and Bottineau-Central.

At some point, there should be consideration for a subway tunnel downtown with concourses spanning multiple blocks and direct connections to many buildings.

Ideally, there could be an E-W subway under 6th Street and a N-S subway under the Mall. I’m pretty sure this is similar to the ideas Froggie has on his site.

There’s obviously demand for additional transit — let’s do it right so the momentum keeps growing.

By: bsimon

bsimon — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:16:29 +0000

“And doesn’t Metro Transit plan for the postgame crowds?”

There’s only so much they can do, given the lead time to buy additional cars; the number of cars they own now, etc. I did notice that they are already talking about expanding stations in order to accomodate 3-car trains - the nokomis east website has some info on the plans for the 50th street station.