East Lake Harriet Farmstead
"Candidate/Journalist"; Registered Lobbyist for We the People; Writer-wing
Republican, etc.
NEWS AND ANALYSIS â MN âBetter Transitâ promoter lays out 2017 Legislative
Agenda; Rep. Loonan (R-Shakopee) will introduce Transit Commission Legislation
(part 1); Incredible secret plans (patents to be filed) âin the worksâ for
parts 2 & 4 (Feb & Apr)
Note 1 a .pdf version of this News Release, with graphics, is attached
Disclosure: âCandidate-Journalistâ Bob âAgainâ Carney Jr., (âbobagainâ) a
registered Lobbyist for âWe the Peopleâ -- an informal association -- has
announced a campaign to win a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on
âthe unfolding and unraveling Southwest Light Rail disasterâ and on Minnesotaâs
transit future more generally; he has launched a Crowd Funded video series, and
is launching a for-profit public benefit corporation for better transit
solutions.
Minneapolis 1/13/17 â Catalytic âBetter Transitâ promoter, registered Lobbyist
for âWe the Peopleâ (an informal association) and âCandidate-Journalistâ Bob
âAgainâ Carney Jr., (âbobagainâ) today rolled out a four month, four part
âBetter Transitâ Agenda for Minnesotaâs 2017 Legislative Session. Part 1
features a Legislative Commission plan to study and report back on how to
greatly improve Reverse Commuting. Rep. Bob Loonan (R-Shakopee) will
introduce Legislation in the House to launch the Commission. Loonan represents
the district where Amazon recently opened a distribution and fulfillment
warehouse â with about 1,000,000 square feet of space. Fifteen hundred full
time workers have already been hired â Amazon has announced plans to hire one
thousand more.
âWe need to get some immediate solutions in place for Amazon â but beyond that
we need to greatly improve both our bus commuter system and our reverse
commuting system across the board,â Loonan said.
Loonan recently visited the flagship commuting park-and-ride hubs for both
Southwest Transit and the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority â the two biggest
suburban âopt outâ Transit providers in the Twin Cities. These providers
supply rush hour luxury coach bus service, with interiors that are like
executive jet planes -- featuring plush first-class seats, overhead storage,
and free Wi-Fi. Each AM rush hour over 700 buses arrive in Downtown
Minneapolis â the same fleet flocks back each PM for homeward bound journeys.
Marquette Ave. and Second Ave. are reserved for these express pick-ups and
drop-offs â with two dedicated bus lanes each way from Washington Avenue on the
North to 12th Avenue on the South.
Loonanâs goal was to find out directly â from the riders themselves â whatâs
working and what isnât; he talked with about 100 commuters.
âEveryone I talked with was really happy with the AM service -- the amenities
are great, and the on-time performance is excellent,â Loonan recounted.
âUnfortunately, the reports I heard were almost equally universal in recounting
serious deficiencies with the PM homeward bound rides,â Loonan concluded.
Bobagain developed a spreadsheet system to assess how many of these suburban
commuter buses could also do âreverse commutingâ runs â where people travel
from a Downtown hub in the morning to job locations in the âburbs. In the
afternoon, when Downtown commuters ride back to the suburbs, the reverse
commuter routes return suburban workers to Downtown. Currently, only about 90
of the 700+ regular commuter buses run a âreverse commuterâ route â many of the
others flip on a âNot in Serviceâ sign and go back for another run, while some
are parked â in storage â waiting for the afternoon rush.
Bobagain found that if you add 10 minutes of extra time for buses to return to
where they started from, over 400 commuter buses could head back on the
freeway, with a short detour for a one or two mile door-to-door service reverse
commuter run. This is a win-win situation for both employers in the suburbs
and minorities and low income people living near downtown. After the reverse
commuter run, the buses have enough time to do another regular commuter run to
downtown. The whole system runs in reverse for PM rush hours.
The Legislative Commission will hire some smart college interns to produce a
detailed plan for the system. Final reports, including any minority reports,
and proposed implementing legislation, will be due February 1st of 2018 -- in
time for the next Legislative Session to make a decision on implementing the
full plan. The Commission is strongly encouraged to produce an interim report
ASAP, to get workers out to jobs at the Amazon warehouse in Shakopee, and at
other locations where itâs determined immediate action is both possible and
vitally necessary.
But wait⌠thereâs more!
The Legislative Commission plan is Part One of a four part âBetter Transitâ
plan for Minnesota. Parts Two and Four require patent filings, they are
scheduled to be rolled out in February and April. âWe need detailed plans for
bus based and automated driving based alternatives to giant Light Rail
construction boondoggles â thatâs what Iâm working on,â bobagain concluded.
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