Part of the new transit plan to alleviate traffic in the South Metro are BRT vehicles (aka Bus-Rapid-Transit) which the county believes will be an economical solution in lieu of light rail.
According to the Thisweek article I linked, BRT is a bit different from traditional bus service because it runs even more frequently than the current schedules, the buses get traffic light priority and they will link up with the light rail at the Mall of America. Now, the bus rider in me likes the idea of more frequent schedules and the lack of traffic lights impeding my speedy delivery downtown but the skeptic in me notes that they are saying it links up with the light rail at the Mall. Why are they planning on making another stop there? Are they thinking about dropping Apple Valley riders off at the MoA or 28th Ave LRT station and then thinking that we should take the train from there instead? While that would definitely cut down the round-trip time for the buses making that loop, it would increase the average riding time for Apple Valley transit riders almost two-fold (at least for the times that I normally ride).
If I leave the Apple Valley Transit Station at 7 AM (it’s usually ~7:08 AM) I will get downtown before 7:50 AM or about 40 minutes. If instead we make a stop at the Mall of America, have to get off the bus (which takes time, I never clocked it though), wait for a train, board the train and then ride the ~45 minutes to Minneapolis, it will come to be about an hour or more! While this scenario isn’t laid out in the article I have read, I wonder if that’s what they really plan on…
They are going to have one of these vehicles on display, most likely at the Apple Valley Transit Station, on July 15th and 16th. While the final location wasn’t specified in the article, I would guess they’d have it there being that the work is almost complete on the new lot across the street (parking lines were even painted yesterday) and there will be plenty of room in the old, and much smaller lot, at the transit station proper.
Check out the article for more information on county meeting times and dates where you can find out more information about the future BRT plans.
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June 20th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Bus Rapid Transit, on the outside, sounds like a good idea but when it adds that much time, a straight-thru type route makes more sense. If only there were more options out here in the SW burbs.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Sornie, I’m not sure what kind of time it will add as the details are kinda sketchy right now but based on the little bit of information in the article it would appear that the hypothesis I laid out could very well be their plan.
As far as the lack of transit options everywhere, I agree and I wish that there were more. As gas prices continue to skyrocket due to forces outside everyone’s control and while the media continues to obsess over it in the news I hope that more people choose mass transit options (why people are willing to sit in traffic all the way to Minneapolis, every day, I’ll never know) and then we can hope that they will improve.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I take the train to work and enjoy it, but at the same time it does sometimes seem like faster transit options are sacrificed to justify it. For example, there used to be an express bus from downtown Minneapolis to the MOA that made pretty good time — about 20 minutes or so IIRC. Of course, they got rid of it once the Hiawatha Line started operating, as they did with some other lines in south Minneapolis.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:22 am
It would be different if they had express trains but because the fucking thing makes so many stops it just takes forever. Without more track I assume express just cannot become an option and while the train is good, buses are still better at busy times of the day.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I thought the SW Metro had a similar system to the MVTA. (?) Isn’t there a hub with those fancy looking black and gold busses down in Eden Prairie, etc?
As for the sitting in traffic, it’s unfortunately a necessary evil for a lot of people. I don’t have the flexibility and consistency in scheduling that would enable me to commute by bus, nor the 75-90 minutes it would take each way (vs. 30-60 by car). A combo bike-bus (or train) commute would be 50-60 minutes which is an option for me.
I’m working on it. I used to enjoy working downtown and commuting by bus, and biking to work when I was in Eagan. I hope to get back to it soon.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:40 am
MSPD, yeah but the SW Metro is quite a bit bigger than just Eden Prairie and the transit station is a bit out of the way for those coming from say Shakopee. Why would you go all the way over to 212 when you’re heading for downtown Minneapolis?
They should have put the transit station over off of 169 and 494. That makes a whole lot more sense to me but IANACP (I am not a county planner).
June 20th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Huh. I thought those SW Transit covered a lot more of the ground down there. Admittedly, I’ve never looked at a transit map for that area…thanks for the correction.
June 20th, 2008 at 11:58 am
MSPD, oh they have park and rides and other pick up zones but many (all?) feed through the transit station in Eden Prairie before heading downtown.
While you could certainly ride from a park ‘n ride elsewhere, transfers are a pain in the ass and take time.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
According to this article over at Thisweek Live, the bus will be on display in Apple Valley on Wednesday July 16th.
Check the article for times and events throughout the day.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I’d like to just add another point of view to the substandard level of mass transit: my husband has three option for commuting from the eastern Apple Valley/Lakeville area. (1) drive to the MOA and take the light rail, (2) drive the entire distance himself using the direct highway/interstate path, (3)drive the backroads between Cedar 77 through Portland to downtown.
–the quickest time is with the backroads, about 35-45 minutes each way
–second is driving the interstate, adding about 20 minutes each way (even with the carpool lane)
–the worst is taking light rail, adding 40 minutes each way.
it’s ridiculous, and just doesn’t work in general people from the south metro. I can also go on about the wastefulness of having a transit station so far south as my home. getting on a bus this far south would be a HUGE increase of time spent on the bus. It’s better to drive to another station, on the same bus line.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:41 am
somber angel, why can’t he take the bus from the Apple Valley Transit Station?
BTW, I will be looking at the BRT vehicle today at Cub Food (I believe that’s where it will be from 4-6pm) but if anyone has any pictures from this morning or the test ride this afternoon, please share them :)
July 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
[...] a follow-up to my post a month ago about the Apple Valley Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Display, I had Kim run over to the Apple Valley Cub to snap some photos of the North American Bus [...]