Minnesota Valley Transit Authority

[hp2ena]

23 hours ago, Glennwood Road Ent. said:

Have my condolences for them. Is this due to mass shooting in Minnesota and is Minnesota going to ban assault weapons soon?

Here's the link

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/burnsville-incident-with-weapons-law-enforcement-responds/

 

 

Some background for those who aren't in Minnesota:

On Sunday, a person shot and killed three people, two of whom police officers, one of whom was a firefighter-paramedic. The shooting happened in Burnsville, one of the cities served by MVTA, though no MVTA fixed routes go near where the shooting occurred. The shooter then turned the gun on himself. The incident was witnessed by one of his daughters.

The person who perpetrated the incident was convicted of a crime in 2007 that resulted in a lifetime ban of guns. Clearly that didn't work. 

I don't know if an assault weapon was used here. I will note that Minnesota has a culture of gun ownership for the purposes of hunting (among both left-wing and right-wing groups). I've also noticed a contingent of people who support gun ownership for the purpose of defending themselves, and it's often associated with the ethos that "no one can keep myself and my loved ones safe except for myself." I believe this ethos is rooted in distrust of law enforcement, especially given what some law enforcement officers have done to people in recent years. 

[JLiu1596]

Update on some former MVTA buses: a few have made their way to Luxxor Campus Shuttles, a private bus/limousine company, in Des Moines, IA. They have a mix of Low Floors and BRTs of varying lengths from MVTA and Metro Transit.

I saw 4730, 4732, 4733, and 4945 at the garage in November. There are more units but I didn't get some of their numbers, and some are still waiting to be wrapped (I saw a few white BRTs with purple roof, not sure which agency those are from Edit: they are ex-Concord, NC buses). Yesterday I also spotted ex-MVTA Nova Bus LFX 4258 at the garage. I believe the aforementioned buses are all wrapped for a shuttle service for construction workers at the new Meta facility in Altoona. A lot of their buses also have a stop sign installed like on a school bus.

There were a few more 35ft BRTs in the regular Luxxor livery. One of them is numbered 4405. Looks like Luxxor tends to keep the original fleet numbers and I don't see any 4400-series Gilligs for MVTA or Metro Transit, so I'm not sure which agency these came from. Edit: I believe they are ex-Concord Kannapolis Area Transit 500-series.

In addition, there were a number of 29ft Gillig Low Floors from Metro Transit. There also looked to be an ex-MVTA Gillig Low Floor still in the original MVTA livery with the front windshield broken. Metro Transit 2010 Gillig BRT 1202 is also there, as well as ex-Sioux City Transit 2004 Gillig Low Floor 1300, likely a parts bus.

[19adam99]

MVTA's April Board packet was posted, here's some interesting takeaways from it:

• MVTA will be applying for 3 funding requests through the FTA FY2024 Low-No (Low or No Emissions) competitive programs. Two applications are of interest:
  • First, MVTA is requesting funding to introduce zero-emissions vehicles through the possible procurement of 5 MCI electric coach buses to replace 5 existing diesel motorcoaches. This would also include supporting infrastructure, which involves equipping MVTA's Eagan Bus Garage with charging equipment, installing on-route chargers, and deploying a workforce development program. MVTA is hoping to leverage an existing relationship with MCI for the procurement of these buses, which would be D45 CRT or CRT LE 'Charge' models.
    • One thing of note, MVTA demoed a D45 CRT LE, which was unfortunately rather poorly received by the travelling public. Time will tell as to whether or not MVTA proceeds with CRT or CRT LE models.
  • Second, MVTA is requesting funding to support the construction of an MVTA-owned Mobility Station in Scott County, Minnesota. While MVTA operates in Scott County currently, there are no MVTA-owned properties in the county. This request will include funding for the acquisition of land, construction of a mobility station with parking and amenities (i.e. real-time signage,  electric vehicle charging, etc.), and will allow for a future expansion in Scott County.
    • This future expansion would see the addition of MVTAConnect coverage in Scott County through the construction of an MVTA Support Center with staff offices, a workforce development center, and a garage for additional Connect vehicles.

[MVTArider]

June 3rd Service changes:

MVTA: MVTA service schedules adjust on June 3

• U of M service reduced seasonally during the summer period to match the decreased ridership demand. Select 465 and 475 trips suspended.
• AVTS will have the southbound bays lettered E, F, G to avoid confusion with the existing northbound bays A, B, C, D
• 489 will have a notable routing change which will remove the Ecolab campus loop, add the Viking Lakes area, and provide more direct service to the new Thomson Reuters campus / Prime Therapeutics. Additionally the route will continue to serve the existing Thomson Reuters campus via new access and also be extended to ETS for more connection options routing via Lexington, Lone Oak, and Pilot Knob. (Presumably this jaunt is to maintain coverage to USPS).
• 436, 445, 489 will all have timing modified for an updated routing to serve the existing Thomson Reuters campus.
• Bus stops on Dodd Rd at UPS will be removed (445, 489) due to safety concerns. Riders are directed to stops at Dodd/Opperman.
• 446, 470 will see some schedule timepoint changes.

I can certainly agree with dropping the Dodd/UPS stops, when the 445 was originally switched to bus stops only service it seemed like a really poor location instead of Dodd/Opperman. No sidewalk or crossing at Dodd/UPS traveling south, and then a hard merge from the stop to left turn onto Yankee Doodle for Dodd/UPS traveling north.

I'm also curious to see if 489 will remain as a peak period reverse commute only schedule, or if they'll add additional trips to make it more of a bi-directional all-day service. Personally I'd like the option of being able to get a bus from DTSP out to Eagan and back during the midday.

 

[19adam99]

Couple of buses listed for auction on GovDeals:

• 4604 listed here
• 4753 listed here

The exodus of the Detroit-powered MCIs has begun...

[MVTArider]

In today's MVTA board meeting packet it was mentioned they are looking at some possible TOD/housing for the Apple Valley Transit Station site and Savage P&R. Savage seems more likely to happen, while AVTS they are looking at options with an interested developer.

The 442 will be getting new bus stop signs, and they have updated the MVTA sign design to a new format. I think it's a nice improvement, though it would be cool if they could use a slightly grey background behind the MVTA logo instead of plain white to match with the buses. I hope they don't fade out to white after a few years in the sun like their last batch.

[19adam99]

19 hours ago, MVTArider said:

It's interesting, I saw that in the agenda packet and it looked nothing like the one they'd been displaying around the garage on the TVs.

Still a nicer design overall, and I hope they hold up better than the current ones.

[MVTArider]

https://mvta.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2182/files/attachment/1520

MVTA will be procuring 5 Karsan e-Jest units for use on their Connect service.

[19adam99]

MVTA's July Board packet was posted, here's some interesting takeaways from it:

MVTA has submitted 2 grant applications through the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) discretionary grant program.

• Autonomous Vehicles and Microtransit Expansion - $1.55M
  • MVTA applied to start what they are calling "A-Connect", a pilot program in cooperation with May Mobility to operate five (5) autonomous vehicles in and around Shakopee, MN, which currently lacks MVTAConnect service. This program appears to be similar in nature to SouthWest's...
• e-Mirror and Collision Avoidance Pilot - $333k
  • MVTA applied to install Rosco D-Cams on 20 Gillig buses in place of their existing mirrors, as well as install the Mobileye Shield+ collision avoidance system.

Ridership increases with MVTAConnect has lead to 15 vehicles on order for the service.

• 6 replacement Chevrolet ARBOC cutaways
• 4 Ford Transit vans (Upfitted by Driverge Vehicle Innovations of Ohio)
• 5 Karsan eJest electric minibuses
• All of these units are expected to arrive by the end of fall 2024.

Ridership updates!

• June saw record MVTAConnect ridership, with 13,876 boardings, with an overall Q2 figure of  40,226
• Fixed-route ridership has steadily increased, with a Q2 figure of 316,718, a 13% increase from Q2 2023.

Next month's service change might see new routes being added for the fall, so we have that to look forward to!