u/humantraf

This sign is at the westbound CMU stop. There is black tape covering where it says "EB" after each route number. Below that it even tells them to catch the bus at the WB stop instead (not that anyone would ever be catching an eastbound SouthWest bus at UMN anyway?)... so why is this posted on the WB side with "EB" covered up? (As far as I know there ARE only eastbound closures -- someone correct me if I am wrong.) Is there a westbound detour only affecting SW and no other routes? I don't even ride SouthWest, just thought it would be good to clear this up for those who do. It's all kinds of confusing to me -- maybe I'm just having an off day intelligence wise and one of you can make sense of it for me. I'm questioning everything y'all. Otherwise someone at SW just doesn't know what they're doing.

Look I'm pretty radical and outspoken when it comes to accessibility and disability rights. And I have to say, wtf is up with the D45 CRT LE? It's a coach bus with a low floor area so that you can roll on and sit all by yourself in a presumably more vulnerable section of the bus. Is there a fare box down there so you can easily pay upon boarding? Is there a way to communicate with the driver if need be?

As I'm sure is the case for most of us, my only real-life exposure to this model has been SouthWest Transit. EVERY time, without fail, the buses pull up to the UMN Coffman Union stop, line the back door up ✨️FLAWLESSLY✨️ with the lamppost (see photo), and do not open the back door. In my opinion, a bus is not actually accessible to those with mobility devices if the accessible entrance is only available upon request and/or hassle. (And I don't buy the argument of, "but maybe the driver only opens the door if they see a disabled person waiting at the stop 🤓!" -- there is no one way people with mobility impairments "look.") And I don't even need to explain why the lamp post thing is a problem.

Clearly SouthWest wants us to think they have accessible coach buses for their disabled customers, but do they ever board customers via the accessible entrance? They don't seem super prepared to do so. It's safe to assume this (in combination with having their entire fleet be exclusively coach buses 💀) deters people with disabilities from riding in the first place... "Expect the Best" my ass.

Shouldn't we be shifting our focus from making sure every express service has comfy, extremely inaccessible coach buses, to trying to improve the comfort of the more-accessible low floor buses? It COULD be done. I get that the Gilligs and New Flyers are rattley and miserable to many. I'm sure there are some super innovative ways future low floor models could be made more comfortable without sacrificing accessibility (and hopefully actually increasing it!).

These are my opinions and I know they are strong. Someone please explain to me if there are reasons not to hate these MCIs! Although I may be difficult to convince. 🙃

It could still happen 🥺

I miss seeing these homies out and about. The Siemens are great trains, just not as endearing.

I can't be the only one...

Do they... know? Do they care?

MTC's marketing campaign from the late 1970s, The OughtaMobile. You gotta admit, "A service of the Metropolitan Council" just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Photos courtesy of John R. Borchert Map Library and Hennepin County Library.

Here is a map from back then that I pieced together (shout out web.archive.org). Hopefully it uploaded in decent quality. Definitely a work in progress, not perfect by any means. As you can see there are a few slots (e.g., North St. Paul and Cottage Grove areas) left empty because I was not able to access those pages for whatever reason. Also the southern suburbs are just kinda hanging out down there because they were scaled differently. Lastly, full disclaimer most slots are from 1998, but in a few cases only 1999 or 2001 was available, so I used those instead. If anyone has a more comprehensive system map from this time period, I would love to see! And if anyone has any maps and/or timetables from earlier in Metro Transit/MTC's history, I would be super interested to see those as well!!