Bob CollinsWith the increasing commercialization of transit vehicles, it was only a matter of time before some riders objected to the advertising message of one of Metro Transit’s buses or light rail cars. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Tag: Transportation
Mass transit is as much about economic development as it is moving people. A developer has modified original plans for an office park at the 494/94 intersection and shifted to a mixed-use, transit friendly development, just the kind of thing that scared Lake Elmo but keeps Oakdale chugging along. And on Friday, the project cleared an important hurdle in its funding. Read more →
We’ve heard this sort of thing before, but let’s play along anyway. In the not too distant future, we’ll get around in flying cars from Uber.
So says the BBC and Reuters today, claiming Uber and NASA are working on an aircraft to start demonstration flights by 2020, and service by the end of that decade.
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A roundabout in Worthington, Minn., was apparently too confusing for the driver of an RV. So he/she simply ignored it and took the direct route. Read more →
A Hopkins mayoral candidate says his opposition to Southwest Light Rail is because people from ‘Welfareapolis’ will end up with the sons and daughters of Hopkins. Read more →
One can hardly blame the airline for decision, reported by the Star Tribune today, to follow the path of the cheap airlines that advertise low fares and then add fees for every ‘frill’ the customer wants. Frills like overhead bin space, and the option to carry on luggage. And leg room. The airline is planning to put more seats in its planes. Read more →
The Pioneer Press’ well-documented story of a failed — so far — bus stop raises an important question for a region that often struggles to find its mass transit footing: Can you develop support by running so few buses? Read more →
In a smaller community, people know who the neighbors are that want traffic to slow down on the residential street and when restrictions come to the ‘hood, the whole ‘nice people in small town’ thing gets pitched out the window. Read more →
Last evening, Eric Saathoff, a teacher who lives in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, demonstrated what he calls ‘the pedestrian experience’ on St. Paul’s Maryland Avenue. It could’ve been anywhere in the city, however. It was hard crossing the four-lane section of the road. It wouldn’t take much to get killed. Read more →
Mike Schmidt, a 36-year veteran of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, represented the Minnesota culture well last evening when he considered then answered MPR host Mike Mulcahy’s question about being stuck atop the Stillwater Lift Bridge on Tuesday when its electrical system shorted out. Read more →
If there has to be a stuck-up bridge, isn’t Stillwater the perfect place for it? Read more →
County boards are faced with a choice: Provide the leadership on transportation issues that state leaders are unable or unwilling to provide, or wait for someone to somehow change the reality that Minnesota state government does not work. Read more →
It’s not hard to figure out why the Minnesota Department of Transportation desecrated a cemetery when working on Minnesota Highway 23? MnDOT says in five years of planning for the replacement of the Mission Creek Bridge in Duluth, there was no part of the process that called for consulting with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Read more →
Minnesota has the fifth-largest highway system in the country, and its citizens have historically hated the idea of tolls, even though every few years someone wants to study the idea Read more →
A lot of problems are going to be solved when self-driving cars become a thing. But first a big problem has to be solved: Consumers don’t want them. Read more →