Regarding the Metrodome events and the use of LRT. The question of why this
is an issue is a good one. 80% of transit riders are riding to get to work.
75% of transit riders ride during the peak periods of 7:00 - 9:00 am and
3:30 to 6:30 pm. Transit is basically for two purposes: 1) to get people to
work during peak periods and 2) to provide a basic level of transit for
people who have no other alternative. Neither of these functions has much to
do with providing transportation for special events like the Vikings. As
such, I would argue that this isn't really a fair criterion to judge the
effectiveness of LRT.
Carol Becker
Longfellow
----- Original Message -----
From: ferma001 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 5:26 PM
Subject: Re: light rail and Metrodome games
> Jack Ferman's take on this subject. What percentage of
> Viking/Twins/Timberwolves fans live in reasonable proximity of LRT
> stations? I am told that after games 35W north & south, 394, and 94 east
> & west are jam packed. So why does anyone even mention the Hiawathas LRT
> as being a player in this issue?
>
> >Beyond what David posted, the design specs for Hiawatha lrt sets the
> >capacity of the electrical substations to be sufficient to run 3-car
> >trains no closer than 5 minutes apart. And that was the original, I'm
> >not sure whether it was cut back to save money. That means that even if
> >there was a special track for the dome, the trains couldn't go anywhere
> >quickly. Remember that the round trip from the Nicollet Mall was
supposed
> >to take 62 minutes, 75 with layover time. That'll be a few more with the
> >extension to the warehouse district.
> >
> >I don't know whether there is going to be a cross-over point between the
> >dome and the downtown end of the line. The extra cars could come from
the
> >Cedar-Riverside yards, but might have to go all the way to the end of the
> >line to cross over to the right tracks.
> >
> >Some cars will be occupied with scheduled runs that departed downtown
> >before the game, so you would have 2 to 6 cars not available for the
> >fans' specials, depending on how many cars per sccheduled run.
> >
> >So, even if you had the trains configured with three cars (meaning 5 to 6
> >total trains), you could serve around 360 riders per train. A total of
> >2,160 riders per set of trains with the following schedule for a game
that
> >lets out at 6 pm:
> > Time Cumulative riders
> > 6:00 360
> > 6:05 720
> > 6:10 1,080
> > 6:15 1,440
> > 6:20 1,800
> > 6:25 2,160
> >then a wait until the scheduled trains that left before the game come
back,
> >probably no earlier than 7:00. Needs a big waiting area. And the
numbers
> >above only work if you can load 360 people in less than five minutes.
> >
> >Bruce Gaarder
> >Highland Park Saint Paul
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
>
>
> John Ferman
> Harriet Avenue
> Kingfield Neighborhood
> Minneapolis
> Ward 10 Pct 10
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
