Kate Wolford’s Star Tribune commentary calling for more transit was spot on. Our peer cities (Denver, Portland, Charlotte, Salt Lake City, hell, even St. Louis!) are ahead of us in terms of built rail miles, lines and stations. We must do more than catch up to remain an attractive metro area for all. Rail miles, [...]
Tag Archives | transit
A transit solution in the sky
Since we won’t build rail transit investments where they are really needed, and we can’t even study better bus service because we might build slower streetcars, we have to get creative if we want transit improvements in Minneapolis’ densest and least car-dependent neighborhoods. Enter 32 Magazine and Frog Design, with the urban gondola. 32 Magazine [...]
Saying Goodbye to the “Passenger Mile”
Last week I made a terrible mistake. I accidentally clicked on a link to a radio story from APM’s Marketplace, a “freakonomics” segment that argued that transit wasn’t as environmentally efficient as its supporters would like. Quickly, my brain began to fill with intellectual pollution. Eric A. Morris, the “freakonomics” writer was basically parroting a [...]
Transit and Density are (Gasp!) Related?
If you listen to the press, bikes are all the rage and new rail transit lines are still the darlings of politicians and transportation planners. Incredibly, what is still overlooked in the mainstream press is the intricate relationship between transportation and land use. Even when it is mentioned, it is often a one-size-fits all scenario. [...]
What if we closed Hennepin?
What if we closed Hennepin Avenue S. to through cars? It is illustrated in the adjoining map. The Design Suppose you created a Hennepin Transit Mall, similar to Nicollet Avenue in downtown or Washington Avenue at the University of Minnesota, with room for bikes, pedestrians, and a high-quality fixed-route transit service connecting Uptown with Downtown [...]
Why urbanists and others should love the coming of the robot car (Part 2)
In this second and final post in a series, I’m responding to Bill’s reservation about robot cars. In my first post, I responded to Bill’s objections to robot cars. Now I want to draw attention to some benefits I think he (and others) overlook. So here, in no particular order, is a list of some of the [...]
Cross-subsidies
We subsidize transit to spur development. Finance & Commerce: Apple Valley hopes BRT line can spur development near transit stations Metropolitan Council: Twin Cities regional transitways will spur economic development – May 2011 message from Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh Mass Transit: New Lechmere Station for MBTA Spurs Development We subsidize development to spur transit [...]
Upcoming Metro Transit Meetings
Big changes are coming up at Metro Transit, which in Minnesota means big meetings. Next week will be the first meetings on the new Rapid Bus concept, aka Baby BRT. I wrote about this last fall on streets.mn’s predecessor site, TC Streets for People, and twice on my personal blog. The following week will see [...]
(Greater) Minnesota Transit Index
From the Minnesota Legislature’s Session Weekly, an index of Minnesota transit statistics. Here is a sample: 62% of Greater Minnesota transit users have household incomes of $20,000 or less. 51% of Greater Minnesota transit users do not have a driver’s license 86% of Greater Minnesota transit users ride at least twice a week 50% of [...]
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The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure
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Three Half-Assed Freeways That Nobody Will Miss
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Rails to Trails…to Rails
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No Parking and De-Signing Streets
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Free transit? A thought experiment.
From the network
- The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure [@ Streets.MN]: We have a political situation in the United States where Democrats are too eager to build anything if it creates a job and the Republicans are too willing to call a project a boondoggle without first...
- If Washington Ave doesn’t deserve bus lanes, what does?: According to Hennepin County, around 7,500 bus riders will travel on Washington Ave at peak hour (4:30-5:30 PM) between Hennepin and 35W on an average weekday in the year 2035. For some perspective, t...
- The Politics of Dumb Infrastructure [Revisited]: We have a political situation in the United States where Democrats are too eager to build anything if it creates a job and the Republicans are too willing to call a project a boondoggle without first...
- Why transportation doesn’t get the money it “needs”: In the transportation community we tend to think surface transportation is underfunded. We think there are “needs” unmet. National reports from industry groups say more resources are requ...
- Bicycle Registry, Zap Twin Cities Update, Changing State Demographics: Luther Krueger of the Minneapolis Police Department joined the Encouragement, Enforcement, Education, subcommittee last week. His message: register your bike with the city of Minneapolis. It could...
- All the Best US Cycle Tracks are Street Level: There has been a lot of discussion in the local bicycling scene about cycle tracks lately. “Cycle track” is a bit of a generic term. It may refer to a one-way or two-way facility. It may r...
- Three Twin Cities freeways that no one would miss: streets.mn The world’s longest on-ramp, on the west edge of downtown Minneapolis.We’ve been down this road before. Urban freeways impact their neighborhoods through noise, pollut...
- The Gun Metaphor: Why Bikes are the Guns of Transportation Policy: [Second in the highly unpopular "metaphor series" of blogposts.] [Lyndale Open Streets.]I just learned Open Streets this weekend is going to have an exciting new event this year.For those who don't kn...
- Water for our future: Over at streets.mn I have a new post on the importance of water supply planning for the next regional plan. What does all this have to do with Minnesota? We have tons of water, right? Well, on the...
- The Zoning Battle Over Al’s Breakfast – A Form Based Code With a Side of Bacon: “Why would anybody ever eat anything besides breakfast food?” – Leslie Knope “People are idiots, Leslie.” – Ron Swanson When I heard Al’s might get redeveloped, I thought the end of the...
- What is the Constituency of a Local Land-Use Decision?: cross-posted at Streets.mn In the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, a local entrepreneur put together a proposal to develop a surface parking lot into a 5-story condo building with retail s...
- A Timeline of Los Angeles Transit Agencies: This timelime and diagram of Los Angeles transit agencies is impressive. It presents an honest history of transit agencies in Los Angeles and doesn't promote the false idea that there was some type of...
