Last week’s poll about using Dutch Ovens was a close one with a small majority of you saying that you have indeed used them. There were some interesting recipe ideas thrown around and I’m looking forward to using ours again soon. We have several camping trips coming up in the next couple of months (gotta get them in before it’s too cold again!) and I will soon be enjoying pizza, monkey bread, rolls, and several others via the Dutch Oven.
This week’s poll stems from an observation (not backed by data, yet, because the MVTA more or less refuses to release month-by-month statistics to the public even though they are mandated by law to do so) that ridership is down on the MVTA buses leaving Apple Valley. I can only assume that with the rising gas prices (why are we near $3 again?) people would be riding the bus more than ever, yet the Apple Valley Transit Station lot seems pretty even more empty than usual lately.
Last week I noticed that ridership was way down over any other recent time and I chalked it up to people leaving for their MN/WI vacation spots early. Well, the trend has continued through to today with the lot even thinner than it was even last week. So The Wife and I thought maybe it’s because people are starting their vacationing seasons now. What better way to determine if this is true but by asking people to submit to a completely unscientific poll (it’s been a year since the first poll appeared back in June 19th, 2008)! The choices are Winter, Spring, June, July, August, Fall, N/A so go ahead and vote on and let us know when you choose to vacation and then go ahead and comment on about why you choose to vacation then.
When Do You Vacation?
- Winter (28.0%, 7 Votes)
- July (28.0%, 7 Votes)
- Spring (12.0%, 3 Votes)
- N/A (12.0%, 3 Votes)
- June (8.0%, 2 Votes)
- August (8.0%, 2 Votes)
- Fall (4.0%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 25
Loading ...If you have another suggestion as to why the MVTA ridership is obviously so sharply down in the summer please go ahead and comment on with your feelings as I’m really interested in hearing your theories! After commenting please be sure to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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June 22nd, 2009 at 11:15 am
Spring and Fall.
We take one week long vacation in the spring and one almost week long in the fall.
Another reason that ridership falls off in the summer, I’m guessing, is that people have more things going on after work (t-ball, bbqs, happy hours) that they don’t want to rely on the bus or want to go directly to these places. Also a very small percentage in your area may be biking. I notice a drop off in the city in the nice months that seems to be due to biking.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
How about an option for All Year?
I get 25 days and I like to spread them out.
I think it’s definitely vacation though, I see this effect occur in my suburban office’s parking lot too. I can park closer sometimes, because I come in late.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Kassie, I could definitely see biking impacting Eagan (or even Burnsville) ridership but not Apple Valley. The only way to cross the river at this point in time would be via Eagan (or way down in Shakopee) and I have a feeling that most Apple Valley 477 riders wouldn’t be going for that route–at least not nearly enough to see any noticeable impact.
BK, I used to notice it on the roads but usually only on Fridays. This time it seems much more prevalent than any other time before.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:29 am
I tend to agree with Kassie on why ridership is down. I bet more people are driving because of committments after work–sports mainly. As for vacations, we haven’t taken a real vacation for a while-all of our trips involve visiting family back East. I wouldn’t call Youngstown, OH or Philadelphia hot vacation spots! :) But, we are going to DisneyWOrld next May so that will be our first real family vacation.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
I chose Fall because it’s when we took our last trip, and we plan on taking at least one, perhaps two this Fall as well. We really don’t travel much, though — I haven’t been more than 25 miles from my house since October. Usually when we travel is due to the timing of an event, such as the convention for her work that my wife attended on our last trip.
Kassie, I don’t think many people bike from Apple Valley to Minneapolis. Not just because of the distance, but also because there isn’t a place to cross the river without going far out of one’s way. I agree that it could be a reason in other parts of the Metro, though.
It’s interesting that ridership from the Apple Valley station is lower, because I haven’t noticed that on the LRT at all, and ridership on the 440 at the time I ride it has gone up quite a bit from when I started.
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I was at the transit station later than usual today and still could find a spot in the first row of the makeshift overflow lot. This is quite unusual even if I had been there by 7:15 but the small number of cars at 7:40 was absolutely crazy.
The discrepancy between routes is why I requested information from the MVTA on their ridership numbers, by month, for each route. I have run into serious roadblocks each time with the MVTA being very reluctant to hand this information over. After an e-mail to Ruth Grendahl (Apple Valley City Council member who sits on the MVTA board as well), I finally received a report for 2007 and 2008 (year only, not month) which doesn’t give the information I want. After e-mailing Ruth again and CC’ing her contact at the MVTA I received an obnoxious e-mail from them stating that now that I got what they felt I wanted that they couldn’t understand why I was asking for more and that if I wanted it, I was probably going to have to pay for it.
Now, I’m all for paying for information that requires something special. Unfortunately for the MVTA, if the data is aggregated at the year level, it’s in a format which required more work on their part than just handing me the raw data (however it is stored, I would assume by bus number/route and time of departure). I haven’t yet responded to the MVTA’s latest ridiculousness just because I haven’t thought about how to properly respond to their inappropriately worded e-mail. I’m sure it’ll be more bullshit in response based on my prior interactions with them.
I know the MVTA reads this, so when you do please note that you should just send me the raw data for 2007 to current and be done with it. Thanks.
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I’m a work-a-holic. Came from my Dad’s habits i guess. I’m always on the edge of loosing vacation time accrued at work. I basically take vacation around a couple car related events, the Car Craft Summer Nationals, the BIR Muscle Car Shootout, and a couple other drag events in IA. Of course, I’m not a MVTA rider either.
I can notice the common vacation times the most on my commute up 35W from 185th street in Lakeville. When it comes to a complete crawl, no one is on vacation. When it’s only a temporary crawl, people are on vacation, when it’s free flowing it’s a government holiday.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I have no firm plans for a real vacation this year but usually do stretch out a few long weekends in late September and through October. As far as the emptiness at that MVTA lot, I’d chalk it up to fewer people working. A few points higher unemployment has made a huge difference in my commute and I really notice the lack of cars in the AM drive.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I said winter in response to the poll but it’s usually anytime from September through March. My job picks up in the spring and summer with a national client so I don’t/can’t do much traveling during that time. Maybe a short road trip here and there over the summer but that’s about it.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I needed to check more boxes than one. I take multiple vacations.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Yeah-h-h-h
April – always April – My YOUNG Bride is a teacher, and we are at the mercy of the $%@^$%& contract. However – having said that – we usually go at least twice a year – mostly when it’s cold here and warm there. As I age – (and I’m doing that as slowly as I can) I find that it’s harder to “like” the winters.
BTW – don’t tell anyone I said this, but we just came from TRA – like today! Just getting the lay of the land for her retirement. Pretty neat deal! So anyway – April will change for us after next year. Oh – wait! then it might be April AND march! (Huge Grin!!!)
Many Cheers
Irving
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I notice that traffic seems to always get a lot better after school is out for the summer. I think people burn a lot of their vaction in summer when the kids are off.
I also saw a month or two that traffic congestion was down significantly in the last year. The theory is that fewer people are working. Maybe the stations are more empty because of vacations and unemployment.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:50 pm
…and I take my vacations in summer. Summer is so short up here that you really have to make sure to get the hell out as much as you can. I usually suffer from Jan through April so I have plenty of time to burn in the summer. Lots of long weekends!!!!!!!!!!!
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 am
Hmmm vacation? I went to Club Med with Mrs S in 2000. That was the last one we took, it was summer if I remember. That 400 hour vacation balance at work is my retirement plan. Mrs S gets it when I keel over at my computer one day.
Every other vacation has been a trip to visit my inlaws (a couple times a year) camping in guest room with all our kids on the floor around us, sister in law and brother in law with their families in other rooms.. not exactly vacation if you ask me.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Winter. Would you want to walk 26 blocks when its -20 out? I try not to either.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Yeah, but Mailman Guy, I bet your calves are in AWESOME shape :)
When do I vacation? I take a mini Tasters Choice International Coffee commercial-type vacation every time I get to take a drink of coffee (ok, or any adult beverage too) without having to referee a child-centric conflict over lacrosse sticks or who gets to pour their cereal first. Gotta savor those moments. :)
June 24th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Whit, you can always enjoy rolling plastic Easter eggs down a small incline over and over again too!
June 24th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Hey, you thought the easter eggs were a hit, you should see the kid with an empty wrapping paper tube, acting out imaginary scenes from Star Wars, a movie which he has never seen, or engage me in a debate over who would win in a fight, R2D2 or Darth Vader?
June 24th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Now that is funny!
June 28th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
[...] week’s poll asked, “when do you like to vacation?” Those of you that responded were split between ‘Winter’ and July. I suppose [...]