Category: Transportation

by Roxanne Mindeman

We've all heard it a thousand times...."light rail will never be used enough to justify the cost." Lets just call it the "Krinkie Fit". Next time you see his smirky face blabbering from the Almanac couch, and berating light rail at every opportunity, remember this KSTP article.....

Riders Complain Metro Transit Line Is A Tight Ride

The certain Krinkie response - "Oh sure but that's just on baseball days." Ah, but not so. Look at the rest of the article. Light Rail traffic at Target Field is so high that discussions are underway about creating a new metro transit hub at that location - with additional parking facilities - and maybe an office building. And in 2014 the Central Corridor will hook up with the North Star and the Hiawatha at Target Field, and further increase traffic.

The Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come.", philosophy is pretty severely overused, but in this case history documents that it's a pretty good fit. If we look at the history of transit development here and in major metro areas across the country, it's pretty consistent. In most cities, from the day that transit is open for business, the trains are packed, new businesses start to appear along the lines and at the hubs, economic activity increases, previously stagnant property values start to climb, additional construction is needed, and aging downtown areas previously hanging on by a thread become thriving city centers. And often, it doesn't take very long.

So sure, its about Target Field, but it's also about the fact that thousands of metro area residents can now get to a baseball game without a car, parking fees, or traffic backup. And as the baseball season passes the halfway point, we start to see more and more sports fans and families - including my own - getting off the light rail a stop or 2 early, to grab a bite to eat, pick up tickets in the theater district, or shop at a place they previously didn't know existed. It doesn't take much to convert a sports fan using transit, to a transit fan.

Oh, and about those baseball days when people claim to be packed in like sardines, I'd just like to point out.... First, 81 home games a year means that before we even start to discuss any other use, light rail trains are packed to capacity and probably beyond, nearly one day of every four.

Second, if you think the sardine stories are exaggerated... consider this light rail baseball transport "Kodak moment". Dave may have hammed it up a bit (not much) because we knew we were taking this one for Phil Krinkie!

Category: Transportation

by Dave Mindeman

Conservatives continue to bad mouth the light rail system at every opportunity. A commentary on the MPR website by Tom Steward of the conservative think tank, the Freedom Foundation, trashed the fledgling North Star rail line. He tells us that the proposed extension from Big Lake to St. Cloud that would complete the NorthStar line should not be build because the BUS line ridership that is currently hooking up the gap is not meeting expectations.

His analysis only deals with the bus. He doesn't tell us about the NorthStar line itself. If he did he would be telling you....

"We've had a lot of requests for weekend service, for Twins service, and we found that there is a way that we can adjust our service schedule to accommodate what the riding public wants," he said.

Rail projections are nearly on target...

Gibbons says ridership will likely improve with this new night service, and changes Metro Transit made in April to the weekend schedules based on riders requests. He says Northstar ridership is meeting 98 percent of expectations.

The first six months had a solid report;

Ridership has surpassed 2,000 per day. And the start of the baseball season has added to the number of riders, an average of 2,000 per game. “April really picked up. We exceed 61,000 per month," said Byers. “That’s a 19.9% increase over March. It’s primarily due to serving five Twins games.” Sherburne County continues to lead in ridership figures. During the first half of May, Elk River had the most passengers boarding, with Big Lake second.
On-time performance is also improving. Except for last November, when commuters were still learning how to purchase tickets, how to ride the system, the train has surpassed the goal of 95% on time service. It reached 98.1% in April.

But Mr. Steward insists on sticking with the bus ridership report:

Official Northstar statistics back up those results. In May, about 1,700 rides were taken on Link buses, roughly half the average projected monthly ridership. Total ridership for the first six months or so of service falls well short of expectations, with about 13,000 rides, according to FFM analysis.

Well, Mr. Steward, maybe the lower bus ridership indicates that people really wanted the light rail they were promised. NorthStar was intended to complete the line at St. Cloud.

Maybe your study could figure out that with the town of Big Lake (pop. 7,904) being second only to Elk River (pop. 23.194) in ridership along the line.....and that Big Lake is currently the end of the line, that maybe, just maybe, people from St. Cloud and parts in between are DRIVING to Big Lake to catch the rail. People do prefer riding the rail to riding the bus.

Maybe, Mr. Steward, your Freedom Foundation study could have looked into that? Possibly?

Category: Transportation

by Dave Mindeman

I noticed MPR had another article about rail transport in Minnesota. And as usual, it points to the continuous and ongoing problem that has plagued Minnesota's transportation blueprints all along.

Lack of vision....lack of implementation.

The sentiments in MnDOT's ideas in this article are basically good:

Minnesota Department of Transportation officials have proposed finding up to $5 billion to spend over the next 20 years to help restore and rebuild Minnesota's freight rail infrastructure, as part of the state's overall transportation plan earlier this year.

The fundamental problem is that they don't have the money. So, they pass it back to the rail companies:

State officials propose three-quarters of that money come from railroad companies.

Except they don't have that kind of money either.

Mark Wegner, president of Twin Cities and Western and the Minnesota Prairie Line, said it will be a challenge. TCW is one of Minnesota's 14 shortlines. "With internally generated revenue they could maybe come up with half of that," Wegner said.

Considering the economy, I think even proposing to generate half of that proposal inidicates that the rail companies are more than willing to commit their fair share. That is a good sign.

But the legislature has to act on this as well. The problems are not new. Far from it. We have been trying to bypass rail freight for some time because of cheap gas prices in the past. Trucks have been the carrier of choice. Sometimes its faster, but it is not always less expensive.

But the additional problem has been that trucks have been carrying heavier loads on our highways. Loads that have hastened the deterioration of the highway infrastructure.

Unfortunately, the answer to this has been granting exemptions to trucking companies on weight limits.

That's not an answer. Even Republican State Representative Mike Beard gets this one:

State representative Mike Beard said trucking companies are routinely granted waivers to carry heavier loads that hasten road wear. The Shakopee Republican says railroads deserve more public investment to help restore balance to the state's transportation system.

"If we're going to continue to do that, and not make trucks pay their way, and that's a public policy decision then I think it's only reasonable and fair that we help these railroad authorities rebuild their roadbeds too," Beard said.

Did you hear that? "Railroads deserve more public investment.." And from a Republican no less.

Well, welcome to the club. Watching light rail fight tooth and nail for every dollar it can get, or watching MnDOT scrimp on road and bridge repair, or just observing the length of time it has taken to even get the Crosstown project underway....its all too familiar.

When you starve government of resources as we have for nearly this entire decade, the basics of maintaining what we have start to pile up.

Rail has been an option for transporting goods. We neglected to keep it on the table and now....now that we need it again, the costs of bringing it back are horribly daunting.

We are going to need some real political courage to bring Minnesota back. It will take revenue and smart thinking and a full and complete vision.

We need a full light rail system. Bring back rail transport. Repair our roads and then reduce the burdens that damage them. Fix and modernize bridges and compete for high speed rail dollars.

We have fallen so far behind on all of this. And why? Because we have politicians with no vision, no courage, and no sense of ownership.

We have got to quit thinking so small and so cheap. As our economy recovers, let's think about real investments.

Solve some problems for once and don't create more.