John Levin
jlstp.bsky.social
John Levin
@jlstp.bsky.social
Saint Paul (and Minneapolis) - public transportation - biking - reimagining urban form
Some days, following a lot of Chicago folks and not paying enough attention to details leads to some initial “Cook County” confusion.

I was trying to figure out the job duties analyzing moose and wolf counts, etc.
October 30, 2025 at 2:47 AM
That probably wouldn't have been feasible, but sadly we were too constrained to think of other solutions to that problem.
October 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
/ and one last tidbit: When the Southwest line was being planned, the routing via Midtown Greenway and up Nicollet would have the Blue and Green lines at the east end of downtown, resulting in three lines running every 10 minutes. for a total of 36 trains per hour on 5th Street.
October 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Finally, as @elindie.bsky.social notes, the introduction of the Green Line at the 35W Junction put significant constraints on the frequency and timing of the two lines. It would be challenging to reliably run 7.5 minute headways on both lines through that space /
October 29, 2025 at 6:19 PM
/ while many at-grade stations were built with two-car platforms but with room to expand them to handle three-cars. So expanding from two-car trains to three-car was far easier than it might have been. All this at a time when no one knew what to expect from light rail in the Twin Cities...
October 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
As a side note, we should commend the prescient planners of the Hiawatha Line. Despite claims it would a "train to nowhere" they forecast significant future demand. The complex stations, like in the tunnel at Lindbergh and on structure at Lake Street were built with three car platforms /
October 29, 2025 at 6:04 PM
And the peak schedule was also staggered, with roughly a 6 minute headway for the 2-car trains and a 9+ minute headway for the 3-car trains. Eventually, they had enough cars for a straight 10 minute headway all day.
October 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Pretty quickly Metro Transit realized they needed more peak capacity so they a) extended the shorter platforms to allow for three car trains, and b) purchased more cars. But at first there weren't enough cars for all 3-car trains, so it was a mix of 2 and 3 car.
October 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
The original Blue Line / Hiawatha Line was limited to two car trains due to both station platform length and the number of vehicles available. To provide adequate capacity the service ran every 7.5 minutes (well actually it was a 7 / 8 schedule...) DURING RUSH HOURS. The rest of the day was 10"
October 29, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Yes. I like the “feel” of can drives but I sense that cash goes farther if you can donate that.
October 25, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Yes. Thanks!!
October 25, 2025 at 12:57 PM
What are your pros and cons of who and how to support ?
October 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I seem to recall that the original PC version of SPSS has Minnesota roots but I can’t find details at this point
October 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Yours if you want. 4 feet. Not in pristine condition but pretty good
October 4, 2025 at 8:43 PM
I know I know. I concede. So embarrassed. I’m gonna have to drown my sorrows in a nice wurst.
September 18, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Woot!! Or should I say “Hot dog!!”
September 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Weinery?
September 18, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Eh. I find that most people who call e-bikes “cheating” don’t use bicycles for transportation anyway. So more likely they are selling their “cheater” cars with power steering+brakes and going back to manual transmission.
August 22, 2025 at 12:25 PM
I’m partial to El Norteño on east Lake Street
August 11, 2025 at 1:45 AM