Light rail linking Minneapolis, St. Paul downtowns goes green June 14

[OhioGuy]

The announcement was 2 weeks ago, but I didn't see anything posted here on SSP.

Light rail linking Minneapolis, St. Paul downtowns goes green June 14

The first light-rail trains linking the downtowns of St. Paul and Minneapolis will rumble along University Avenue beginning June 14, doubling the size and scope of the Twin Cities’ 10-year-old light-rail system.

The project, which cost $957 million — half of it supplied by federal funds, with the balance divided among state, regional, county and city governments — includes 18 new stations in addition to five to be shared with the Blue Line in downtown Minneapolis.

By 2030, the Met Council projects, more than 40,000 people will be boarding the Green Line each weekday.

This seems like such a great light rail line connecting the two major cities in the area AND the University of Minnesota. As noted in the article, the line will be open just in time for people to use for accessing Target Field for the MLB All Star Game festivities. Hopefully this spring one of our forum members will be able to do a photo tour along the line.

[BrennanW]

I agree - it's huge for the city and mobility - and will be the first rail line since the exodus of the streetcars in St. Paul. I really like the Hiawatha Line operation. This addition is a very smart addition and will incite transit envy in the rest of the region, I'm sure!

[seaskyfan]

Great news!

[mrnyc]

wow its almost online!

[Eightball]

Excited for MSP - St. Paul - hope the ridership exceeds expectations!

[Muji]

Congratulations! These truly are great times for light rail in the United States.

[miketoronto]

How much faster will this LRT be compared to the limited stop bus route it replaces?

[Chef]

It will be about 6 minutes faster. The main argument for this line when it was being planned was based around the cost/benefits of capacity expansion rather than improved speed. It will run on the same headways as the combined 50 and 16 bus routes with higher capacity than the articulated buses that are currently packed like sardine cans. Apparently expanding the bus fleet to increase headways would increase day to day operations costs significantly more than switching over to LRT.

This whole corridor is primed for transit oriented development and is already receiving a significant amount of it. It is likely that within a few decades it will be dense enough that the federal government would be willing to pay for a cut and cover tunnel, at that point travel times will increase significantly.

It is worth noting too, that most transit use on the current bus lines is not downtown to downtown, but between various points within the corridor. In addition to the two downtown, the line also serves the University of Minnesota, the state capitol, all of the metro area's major sports stadiums and arenas, a plethora of medium density residential neighborhoods, a swathe of University Avenue that is considered the upper Midwest's Asian main street and another that is full of St Paul's everyday shopping destinations (two large supermarkets, a Super Target, Walmart, lots of independent niche stores etc). Connecting the downtowns is actually secondary.

[Chef]

From today's Star Tribune:

Green Line may offer 24-hour LRT service
Article by: PAT DOYLE , Star Tribune
Updated: April 21, 2014 - 9:06 PM

Met Council leaders agree it makes sense to offer later service.

The new Central Corridor Green Line light rail linking the Minneapolis and St. Paul downtowns probably will run 24 hours a day when it opens this summer — a concession to some Minneapolis City Council members.

Metro Transit recently agreed to schedule roughly hourly service between 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. seven days a week, with more frequent service resuming later in the morning.

Metro Transit’s decision came in response to a request by council members Kevin Reich, Jacob Frey and Cam Gordon, who wanted later departures. Gordon and Frey represent wards that include the University of Minnesota and downtown, where bar traffic can last well into the wee hours of the morning.

“I share your view that the public-transit needs of the people living in and visiting the areas served by the Green Line extend beyond 1 a.m.,” Metro Transit general manager Brian Lamb wrote the council members.

http://www.startribune.com/local/min...256103351.html

[fflint]

^Hourly overnight service sounds like a great idea.

[Chef]

Because the line serves two of the three main nightlife areas of the city it will help a lot of people get home after a night on the town. I think that is an underrated element of transit, if it is done right. Because this line runs through 10 miles of central city, it is more able to do that than the more typical, commuter oriented, suburb to core LRT lines.

[Chef]

From today's Star Tribune:

St. Paul makes a bet on revival with Green Line light-rail train
Article by: KEVIN DUCHSCHERE , Star Tribune
Updated: June 12, 2014 - 7:13 AM

When light-rail trains begin picking up riders Saturday in St. Paul, the city will enter the realm of 21st-century transit using the basic technology it rode to prosperity more than 100 years ago: rails.

It’s hoping that a similar boom results, in ways both tangible and symbolic.

From the Union Depot, the newly renovated train palace overlooking the Mississippi, to the State Capitol and then along University Avenue — the ancient path of ox carts and streetcars — the Green Line is said to represent St. Paul’s best shot in years to turn around a stagnant downtown and revitalize what was once the Twin Cities’ busiest strip.

Of the $2.5 billion in investment that the Metropolitan Council credits in part to the 11-mile Green Line (7 miles of which is in St. Paul), $681 million is for current or planned projects in downtown St. Paul and $218 million is for projects in the Midway district from the city line to the Capitol.

Mayor Chris Coleman said downtown and University Avenue already look different: “The rapid change that we’ve already seen and the investment that’s already occurred, I think, has been pretty striking.” The Green Line is significant in other ways for St. Paul. The $957 million project not only underscores University Avenue’s historic role as the oldest link between the Twin Cities, it recasts University as a gateway for the city’s neighborhoods, ethnic dining, music scene and sporting events.

The line will make it easier for nearby residents, many making low to moderate incomes, to reach jobs elsewhere. And it simplifies travel to St. Paul’s many colleges and medical centers, as well as the state government.

“More and more people are getting exhausted with the automobile,” said John Diers, a former Metro Transit superintendent who has written histories of the Union Depot and the local streetcar system. “I don’t predict the suburbs are going to be abandoned anytime soon, but with light rail you’re going to see much more attention to St. Paul.”

more...
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/262811201.html

[fflint]

I'm excited for the Twin Cities, and can't wait to ride the new line. I've been to Minneapolis, but not to St. Paul (that I know of) precisely because I didn't have an obviously easy way to connect the two--the Green Line solves that problem.

[MSP]

61,000 people rode the green line on opening day, 107,000 for the weekend.
https://www.metrotransit.org/107000-...pening-weekend
Not too shabby. I have a feeling the green line is gonna have good ridership.

[Centropolis]

this is awesome, i want to check it out. it's great that you can take light rail from the airport to downtown minneapolis AND st. paul now.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by MSP

61,000 people rode the green line on opening day, 107,000 for the weekend.
https://www.metrotransit.org/107000-...pening-weekend
Not too shabby. I have a feeling the green line is gonna have good ridership.

Wouldn't any riders be considered good ridership? What would you consider to be poor ridership?

[Chef]

So far the average weekday ridership is 40,400 which is 500 short of the 2030 projections.

https://twitter.com/McLaughlin_P/sta...41250049601536

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Chef

So far the average weekday ridership is 40,400 which is 500 short of the 2030 projections.

https://twitter.com/McLaughlin_P/sta...41250049601536

That's just for the new line alone? Damn!

Prior to the Green Line, there were only 24,600 average weekday LRV riders in Minneapolis. This dramatic increase vaults M-SP's light rail system up into the top tier of US systems--congratulations!

P.S. Would love to see photos!

[Steely Dan]

what, only 16 years ahead of projections?

j/k, that really is awesome! i knew the green line was going to be a major success. connecting the two downtowns of a bipolar metro with rail is so obvious, and then you throw in one of the nation's largest universities along the route and it's like "holy shit, why wasn't this done ages ago?".

[ardecila]

Weren't there some comments earlier about there being more ridership potential if they built the line along I-94 instead?

Seems like the alignment running through neighborhoods has been a crazy success. Skeptic that I am, though, I wonder if the poster on Twitter confused his data somehow.