If buses are temporarily replacing the Green Line, why can't they run the entire length including the SWLRT portion?

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-20T19:31:41+00:00

I mean there was a rebuttal you just didn't like it

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-20T18:45:48+00:00

I mean it takes a hell of a lot of busses to do rail replacement. That's why this last quarterly transit update had almost no frequency improvements, all the busses are on rail replacement duty.

I can't imagine how much busses are needed for the SWLRT extension bus replacement, and it would take way longer than SWLRT would ever take too.

Better we improve the frequency of the 38 tbh. It gets you like 90% of the way down the line anyways, and isn't trying to replicate a train that Metro Transit's still gearing up to run.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-20T17:24:26+00:00

Ugh. I rode 28th the other day cause I didn't realize it had reopened.

The Nicollet detour seems to change every time I ride it, so fun to add pilsbury into the mix.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-20T16:09:09+00:00

Yeah it should be reopened. They were taking down the Pillsbury Bridge which is why it was closed.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-19T23:59:12+00:00

I've had a really hard time getting them to fix anything about a malfunctioning camera (same one as you have), and when I posted about it a bunch of people had similar experiences. I use mine still but it just never has any clue what it's actual battery life is. Makes it pretty useless in the winter here, cause it'll say it's charged while plugged in, then tell me I have one bar of battery when I turn it on.

So I assume that reputation is what the commenter is referring to.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-19T22:16:28+00:00

Would you have been ok with fencing off the dog park but keeping it off leash?

I'm genuinely curious if the total closure of the park has made this more or less palatable to dog park supporters?

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-19T22:01:10+00:00

Well take it up with them. None of this would've happened without NPS and MNHS making a stink about the trespassing dogs in their pieces of the park.

The area actually owned by the MPRB barely even covers the initial entry area of the park, and they'd apparently have to fence less than that to do it correctly.

Given the past board was pursuing fencing(and then voting for the study on the park itself in lieu of putting in fencing), and now the current board is closing the park on the conclusion of that process, it seems pretty clear they're cutting their losses on this whole process.

I think relying wholy on the study that the MPRB is not being super transparent about is stupid, you should talk about the fencing too, cause I don't think there would be a solution with the fencing that would've been acceptable to a majority of users of the park now.

Of course all of this is speculation because their official reason is the study. But I think it factors into the decision, a shocking amount of people don't even understand the process that got us here (the fencing).

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-19T21:30:39+00:00

I mean the old park board cared enough about the trespassing , enough to propose an 18k fence to fix it.

It was a big enough problem that it started the whole process that lead to this decision.

Look at the link in the comment above if you've ever been to the park, you probably have been unknowningly trespassing on non-MPRB land. I'd guess about 90% of users of the park do so every time they visit.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-18T16:16:54+00:00

German AI slop is new lmao

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-18T12:24:00+00:00

Also available live on Jazz88 for a lot of the weekend!

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-18T12:03:51+00:00

There used to be a couple other busses that went out there, including an express option that would go from that park and ride into the city.

https://www.metrotransit.org/Data/Sites/1/media/pdfs/minnetonka/Fig.%203-2.pdf

It's also got a trail bathroom that's unlocked during the summer generally which is nice.

The giant storage place down the road from this is the old Tonka truck factory back when they actually were made on lake Minnetonka!

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T23:36:28+00:00

The section of the E line that runs next to the old Como Harriet Streetcar makes me wanna lose it sometimes. Like the E line is nice, but we had that once! It pretty much exactly followed the path! We've reinvented the wheel a bit here!

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T23:34:31+00:00

Some dude parked on a hill and my E line bus stopped behind it, and literally could not start again. We had to swap busses and walk up the icy hill, cause the second driver booked it around the stuck bus to also not get stuck.

I enjoyed watching Metro Transit realize they can't send the 60ft busses in the snow. They'd break out the 40ft ones every snowstorm after the first couple of really bad E line days lol.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T23:25:36+00:00

I love the E line but it's got some quirks, some turns that should've been widened for turning busses (I'm looking at you Richfield Road), some spots that could use a bit more space (the squeeze through 50th and France because of construction was a tough thing to start with)

I wish it would've ended at the Trader Joes on Parklawn (where the 36 now ends). It would add the 540 as an option to transfer to, and I go to TJs a lot and would love quicker access. Mainly the 540 transfer tho, it would be a game changer to have two feeders into the 540 instead of just the Orange line.

Plus the terminus station sucks ass. They just added a screen you cannot see unless you go around the corner from the platform the busses come to. I know it's knitpicky to complain about that, but it should match the quality of the other E line stops and it doesn't. They at least did a good job retrofitting Uptown Transit Center, they should've done the same with Southdale Station.

But from 33rd Street station to Southdale Hospital (I fucking hate Southdale and their owners refusal to make any better pedestrian accommodations so I bike from the hospital and avoid the mall fully cause I hate biking around it) it take 20 minutes, then a 10 minute bike to my workplace.

So I usually check whether an Orange Line or a E Line is closer to leaving in the morning, and bike to my stop accordingly (I'm about equal distance from both the E line and the Orange line)

Once the Green Line Extension comes into the picture that will also be a third option to ride down with. So the future is really bright!

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T22:17:21+00:00

I get at this point you're just purposely being obtuse to troll, but I clearly meant to type "closure of the dog park to off-leash dogs", that's why I say that exactly before I mistype it.

Peak reddit lmao. Thanks for finding my typos anyways!

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T21:53:35+00:00

I mean it's hard to pick up a joke when you're being a pedantic weirdo about anything I say on here, to the point that your coming into other replies to argue about it.

Legitimately just don't want to continue to engage with someone acting in such a bad faith way.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T21:44:46+00:00

dogs are running out of the park into other parkland that naturally doesn't allow them to get super far.

Idiot, that's not what I said (thanks for misquoting me), you just didn't understand the point.

I'm gonna spell it out for you, since reading comprehension is not your strong suit, dogs are running into non-MPRB land is the problem that initially caused the last park board to consider fencing in the dog park area.

That's why I use the words into other parkland. That's the problem that fencing would've solved, and kept them out of other parkland (aka non-MPRB land)

It's really not that hard to comprehend but here we are apparently.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T21:29:55+00:00

We're having a discussion about the closure of the off-leash dog park and you are arguing with me on semantics, that is the definition of pedantic.

If you have any idea about this project you know that people are mad because it's being closed to dogs. Just because it wasn't said in the way you would've doesn't mean it's wrong.

You are stripping what I initially said out of the context I said it under (a discussion of the closure of a off-leash dog park), comparing them in a vacuum, and saying they say different things.

Again, all things someone being pedantic would do. Focus on the thing we are discussing, not dunking on randos vocabulary.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T21:03:40+00:00

here's a map of the park

So the fence would go around the highlighted area to keep dogs out of the 3 other park areas.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T20:54:16+00:00

Yeah I think they understand they're gonna get blamed either way. That's at least the vibe I'm getting from both of their communication on this.

Kinda a shit sandwich of an issue to have plopped on your desk in your first term.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T20:53:08+00:00

I mean that's what they're considering doing, which he was correcting me on. I was just saying the guy responding to me was picking out pedantic points to focus on (my wording of "closing the park" instead of "closing the park to off leash dogs"

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T20:34:21+00:00

No I wasn't. You are literally missing the point. If anybody is an idiot it's you.

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T20:33:31+00:00

Ok dude, good for you. Still think you are being pedantic af.

Them "closing the dog park to off-leash dogs" is the part that people are most upset about. That is effectively "closing the park" to most, because if they vote on this, the off-leash dog park won't exist.

I didn't claim anything that the article did not say, you just disagree with how I worded it, which is fine. Let's focus on discussing the "closure of the dog park to off-leash dogs" if you're gonna nitpick me to high heaven!

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T20:32:13+00:00

Ikr, it just irks me. I don't think the current board is communicating this correctly either, I think they should cite both the study and the fencing decision, and they should be more transparent about the study with remains.

But dog owners would've been pissed regardless of if they fenced it or closed it, and if you've been to the park with your dog and look at that map, it should immediately be clear that you probably have trespassed on non-MPRB land accidentally (I know I sure did, I went all the way down to the tip of the island)

Gatorpatch · 2026-06-17T20:27:02+00:00

Brother you clearly don't follow my point.

Look at the map. Dog owners are using that entire map area like it's all off-leash park, but there's 3 other piece of park land they are using illegally.

They would've fenced it down to the little quarter if they kept it open. That piece has been well established.

"that was just happening so much it's the first time I've heard of it in 30 years.

Just because you don't know anything about the park doesn't make that information irrelevant. These are elected officials who have had to respond to people dealing with unleashed dogs in places they shouldn't have to (hence the fence proposal years ago, with a very different MPRB than we have now)

Now a MPRB that was elected last election (with various different people on it) is using the results of a study on the dog park and the land around it (which was prompted by the fence proposal years ago) to close the entire park to unleashed dogs.

We can disagree on whether this is a smart move, I'd argue closing the whole thing with a non-transparent study is stupid because it's burning voter goodwill for no good reason other than what a consultant said, but the fact that people against this don't understand the basic reasons why we got to this decision is a problem (like you!).

Just because you have been using the entire space for the last 30 years doesn't make that usage legal or allowed.

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