Commuting - Minneapolis Bus Strike...

Hello all,

To those that are living here in the twin cities, you are for sure aware that the bus union is currently on strike. I can't say that I blame them though, I mean offering a 0% raise the first year, I would vote nay also. I mean really isn't cost of living 2.5% or something?

You can read about it here...
http://www.startribune.com
just scroll down till you see the illustration of the bus.

What is a positive about the situation is that out of necessity many people have been forced to ride there bikes as a means to get to around. Today when I got to work, instead of just my bike on the bike rack like normal this time of year, there was 3 magnas and a older specialized. Two of the magnas look to be pretty new, makes me wonder if the whole situation has made target even more money they don't need. I am happy to see any kind of increase in bicycle ridership, even if it is on Magnas..

The real interesting part of the story should come here in about 3 hours when the snow starts to fall. The weather service is expecting at least 6 inches of heavy wet snow. I wonder how many people are just going to call in, opposed to traversing the slippery nasty weather.

Just thought it was interesting.

Damn you beat me to it!
One, I love the fact that I am not fighting with buses. I was tempted to tell some of the strikers I passed what a pleasure it was not having them on the road.
Second. I just got home in the start of that snow we are getting. It wasn't suppose to start till after 4am. In the 1 hour 45 min It took to get home it had dumped 2 inches of slush, snow and rain. What a pain! And what a friggin blast. Definately have to remount the Nokians for tomorrows commute!

The strike has started my biking season a little earlier than expected, too. Enjoyed last night's commute (a class that let out at 9 pm).

But with today's snow, I'm not as enthused. I've gotta get to downtown St. Paul (from NE MPLS) within the next day or two and I'm not looking forward to it. All the good winter gear for a woman my size is too pricey.

There shouldn't be any problem with the Saint Paul trip, the roads are a little slushy, use a pair of wind pants. I make the reverse trip everyday from Saint Paul to Plymouth.
As for the pricey stuff, all bike gear is. But I look at it, if I were driving a car, my winter gear would be a tune up, an oil change, or insurance on the damn thing.
Just some thoughts, luck on your commute.

Believe me, I'm all for paying once for good gear rather than twice for the "cheap" stuff. And I understand that good biking gear is far less expensive than nursing a beater car. The spirit indeed is willing; it's the bank account that's weak.

This morning was pretty bad, riding on lake street was quite the challenge. At least everyone gave me enough room on the left, of course this shot huge waves of snow/water all up and down my body. Even my goggles got dirty.

Once I got to the greenway it was perfect though, I was even able to draft close behind the plow for a little while. I didn't dare try and pass it though, not just because of the 7 inches or so he was moving. I swear if would tip those plow drivers who work on the greenway if I could, really even at 7am the trail is mostly clear...

The ride home was a breeze...

I actually don't use "biking" gear for my winter riding. I have mostly carhartt clothes (jacket, pants) and a pair of giant waterproof boots rated to about -25 f. Goggles and a giro snowboarding helmet, and I am good to go. I cannot see spending that much money for "bicycle specific" winter gear, when you can get similar clothing for much cheaper and more durable at a place like Kaplan Brothers or Fleet Farm...

Other than wet feet, the commute to the University and back from Plymouth was alright...

Was very nice to pull into an OfficeMAX en route and squeeze the water from my socks!

I need to start packing a bigger lunch for these long commutes...

Yeah, the ride to work yesterday started out miserable, with cars spraying me with the slush. Argh, and the bike lane on Summit nonexistent, but I got to Lunds on Lake/Lagoon and Irving for my Friday dose of Sushi, and the Greenway was a joy, even with the Easterly wind. My snow boots, I ride in, filled with water, so the ride home was done with plastic bags, which of course soaked my feet with sweat. I made pretty good time in all, got to work a little early so I could munch on the Sushi without a lot of people's comments on what I was eating.
Sushi and riding, what a combo!
Oh, to get back on topic. There was part of the article about the bus strike I found interesting, and is probably happening all over the Twin Cities, that's people going to their bicycle in the garage and finding it rusty and unkempt. The guy in the article that mentioned that, had me thinking of the LBS might be a busy place this week. I wonder if anyone will look into the sales of bikes in the Metro, during the strike. I would also think that there would be a rise in sales with summer forcasts on the price of gas. It could be time that Critical Mass' work in the Twin Cities sees fruition.

What really pisses me off is that the guy from the "Taxpayers League" who is notorious for their hardcore right-wing republican views. His comment was

"Transit just isn't that important to the smooth functioning of the Twin Cities transportation system," said league President David Strom. "That's the obvious conclusion to be drawn from the lack of chaos engendered by the bus-system strike."

Really pisses me off.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/373/4648115.html

Let me tell you, that the reason there hasn't been any noticeable difference in traffic in the twin cities is that the majority of the people affected DON'T HAVE CARS. I know quite a few people who have been quite inconvenienced by this. Just because this guy doesn't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I mean what about all the people who work downtown and have to commute for a second job at the MOA or something?

Just pissed me off, we should find out where this guy lives and critical mass up and down his block.

What really pisses me off is that the guy from the "Taxpayers League" who is notorious for their hardcore right-wing republican views.Just pissed me off, we should find out where this guy lives and critical mass up and down his block.

Members of the Tax Payers League, convince themselves that the more services and taxes are decreased, the better the ecomony will be. These views are self serving, and they will never think about what people less well off than themselves must do, to lead a happy productive life.

Irritating them with more biclists could possibly be helpful. I'm sure that they are blind to the bus commuters' plight. If there are enough bikes in their way, they might see the value in getting some of these people back in busses.

But we'll reach our critical mass, with or without The CM org, right? I personally have a problem with the extreem in your face attitude of The Mass. We just need more cyclists out there.

Good points, and one thing I always consider is how, at least to me, CM is usually a group of "fringers." Although I have wanted to participate, and have thought of taking the day off just to ride in a CM, I haven't and not many of the commuters I know have. It would be nice if the "face" of CM changed and it wasn't a "carnival" atmosphere. A lot of commuters are like me, I don't need the added stress on the road brought on by the Mass. I want easy access to the routes I need to take to and from work.
Yesterday's paper had another cyclist on the Metro page riding in the snow. He is a cyclist I pass on my commute. He, like me, rides every day, the strike isn't going to affect him, or me, except that the ride through town now doesn't include dodging buses.
As the strike wears, I was wondering what the regular people who use the bus were doing, not everyone who utilizes the MTS are capable of bike riding, due to being overweight, health or socio-economic reasons. Past articles brought up alternatives, such as car pooling, and biking, telecommuting, or sitting with the DSL/cable connection and doing work from home. But that isn't a help to those people who depend on the MTS to get them to a movie, or the grocer, or even their kid's place across town.
Depending on this summer and the length of the strike, it could become a boiling morass.

I sure as hell can't wait for the busses to run again...great inconvenience for me!

Past articles brought up alternatives, such as car pooling, and biking, telecommuting, or sitting with the DSL/cable connection and doing work from home.

[pull out soap box]

I realize this is a generalization, but when I lived in Uptown, I saw very few folks at the bus-stop who could benefit from telecommuting. Not many manual labor jobs out there can be done from home. The bus strike is costing these workers their jobs.

Granted there were always a handful of suits waiting for the bus as well, but as always, those well dressed men and women will get by just fine...until they outsource their jobs, that is. Then the manual labor guys and gals will get the last laugh, because they know that you may be able to do West Group's legal analysis and print 3M's Post It notes from overseas, but you can't sweep a floor in Bloomington from a call center in India.

As far as CM goes, drivers already see me as a pain in the a**, all CM does is elevate the hate.

[return soap box to under desk]

What really pisses me off is that the guy from the "Taxpayers League" who is notorious for their hardcore right-wing republican views. His comment was

"Transit just isn't that important to the smooth functioning of the Twin Cities transportation system," said league President David Strom. "That's the obvious conclusion to be drawn from the lack of chaos engendered by the bus-system strike."


Folks. These Republican Neocons are a bunch of anti-poor, anti-transportation morons who are only concerned about themselves. I'm so glad to be in Manhattan where public transportation strikes are illegal and the city funds our bus/subways with billions of dollars.

As far as tax savings, their Republican president wasted billions of dollars in two wars while cutting back Transportation and road construction which is why we are seeing the problems in Twin Cities. Folks. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND ROAD CONSTRUCTION IS A JOBS PROGRAM AND THESE ESSENTIAL SERVICES HAVE BEEN CUT BACK SEVERLY!

To those that are living here in the twin cities, you are for sure aware that the bus union is currently on strike. I can't say that I blame them though, I mean offering a 0% raise the first year, I would vote nay also. I mean really isn't cost of living 2.5% or something?

What is a positive about the situation is that out of necessity many people have been forced to ride there bikes as a means to get to around. Today when I got to work, instead of just my bike on the bike rack like normal this time of year, there was 3 magnas and a older specialized. Two of the magnas look to be pretty new, makes me wonder if the whole situation has made target even more money they don't need. I am happy to see any kind of increase in bicycle ridership, even if it is on Magnas..



Folks. Public transportation and road construction have been cut back tremendously which is why we are seeing these problems. Thanks Bush!

I hope these folks change those tires on the Magas as those things get flats and blow after 150 miles! I have a toy store bike and the tires were the first thing I changed after the rear exploded!

I commute with a toy store bike and there's nothing wrong with it providing you fix the front brake and change the tires. I hope they don't have huge hills or those bikes can get REAL HEAVY!!

I'm a slow rider and a guy on a Magna passed me the other day. I could have passed him but instead stayed behind him as it's better to sometimes have a riding buddy. Now when I think about it, this guy must have been in GOOD condition to ride up those hills on a HEAVY Magna without shifting to a lower gear! (Magan's can't shift gears after the 3rd week of use) An argument can be made that you'll get a much better work out commuting on a heavy Magna than an efficient road bike. Mabye we should all commute on Magnas and at the end of the month, we'll be ready to challenge Lance any day of the week!

Interesting story on cyclists enjoying the respite in today's Strib:

Bike riders, cabbies don't miss the bus
Richard Meryhew
Star Tribune
Published 03/10/2004

Dan Abellera makes his money building and repairing bicycles. And for the better part of the week, he pedals one through the streets of south Minneapolis on his way to work.

So when Metro Transit bus drivers and mechanics hit the picket lines last week, Abellera couldn't help but take notice.

Traffic moved a bit quicker, the streets were quieter and the air seemed just a little fresher.

"It used to be stop and go on Hennepin," said Abellera, 23, who works at the Alternative Bike and Board Shop on Hennepin Avenue. "Now, it's much quieter. Traffic is moving. It's not sluggish or anything."

For all the turmoil and discouragement the Metro Transit strike has caused for strikers and bus riders in the past week, there is a flip side.

Cabbies are getting more fares. Suburban bus companies are seeing -- and possibly winning over -- more riders. Bicycle shops are scrambling to keep up with requests for tuneups.

And motorists and bicyclists are finding, much to their delight, that traffic in the right lanes of busy bus routes -- University Avenue, Lake Street and Hennepin among them -- has loosened up nicely.

"Usually the bike and the bus are fighting for position," said Steve Post, a daily bike rider who works at Calhoun Cycle in Uptown Minneapolis. "But now, it's definitely quieter. And I kind of like it. There's less on the road I have to deal with."

Post compared a city bus pulling away from the corner to a "big, grumpy uncle getting out of the easy chair during the football game. You hear this big roar and groan, and that's what the bus sounds like when it's taking off from the curb."

Some residents who live on or near bus routes say it's a sound they don't miss.

But David Bernick, who owns the Riverview Cafe at 42nd Av. S. and E. 38th St. and lives a block away, sees two sides of the issue: He's lost some morning customers who would routinely get off the bus and stop at the cafe for coffee. But as a biker and homeowner living on a corner lot, he doesn't miss the congestion.

"It's been a negative on the business side, but a positive on the personal side," he said. "The positive is that I'm a cyclist and there aren't buses on the road."

Some say the quiet is almost spooky.

Post, who lives on Bryant Avenue S. in Minneapolis, compares it to the days after 9/11, when air traffic was grounded for days.

"It's weird," he said.

"It's really eerie driving downtown," said Amy Gaspard, whose family runs a neighborhood gift shop at the corner of 42nd Avenue and 38th Street. "Like on Nicollet Mall, there normally are buses going by every two seconds."

Said Caroline Cannon, who lives only a few blocks from the Riverview Cafe: "I'm used to seeing people standing around, waiting for the bus. Now they're gone. And I'm not used to not seeing them."

Cabbies stay busy

While the streets may be quieter, phones at cab companies have been ringing in the days since the strike began.

Suburban Taxi and Green & White Taxi, two of the larger taxi cab companies in the Twin Cities, have been getting "hundreds more calls" daily, according to a spokesman for the companies.

Steve Osiecki, a dispatcher with the Yellow Cab Co. in St. Paul, said business has picked up by 10 to 15 percent since the strike started. Pete Peterson, a dispatcher with City Wide Cab in St. Paul, said the company, which owns 31 taxis, also has seen a bump in business.

In the first days of the strike, business jumped by 100 to 150 calls, he said. And it probably will increase as the strike continues.

"The first week or two, everybody volunteers" to help out and carpool, said Peterson, who drove a cab during the 1995 bus strike, which lasted about three weeks. But after a few weeks, he said, that will change as carpoolers grow more impatient and ornery.

"Minnesota Nice will wear out," Peterson said. "Everybody volunteers now, but they don't volunteer after awhile."

Ridership has also increased for regional bus companies.

Robin Selvig, customer-relations manager for the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, which provides bus service to about 7,500 riders to downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis from several southern suburbs, said some buses have been so crowded in recent days that some riders have had to stand.

It's the same on the Plymouth Metrolink, which provides daily bus service from Plymouth to downtown Minneapolis for about 1,500 customers.

On Monday morning, a 65-space park-and-ride lot in Plymouth was packed with more than 100 cars. "We couldn't get the bus into the lot," said Pat Qvale, transit administrator for the city of Plymouth, which operates the bus service.

"I was hoping it would kind of ease off, but it's not going to," she said. "But if there is a benefit to it, it's that hopefully, somebody new is going to ride our services and we'll pick up regular riders."

Those working at bicycle repair and sales shops, too, see the strike an opportunity.

Abellera, of the Alternative Bike and Board Shop, said that in the days leading up to the strike, "everyone brought their bike in for repair." Some of the rush could be attributed to warm weather, he said, but some clearly was caused by concern over the bus strike.

It's been busy, too, at Calhoun Cycle.

"Which is fine with us," said Chris Smitherman, a sales representative at Calhoun Cycle. "The more bikes, the better."

Richard Meryhew is at richm@startribune.com.

© Copyright 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

thanks for the post and confirming some of the stuff mentioned in the posts so far.
I am unsure if everyone knows there's a strike on. Yesterday I passed several shelters with people sitting in them like they were waiting for the bus. I also saw the bus shelters, as just that, a shelter: about 5 shabby dressed gentlemen passing a bottle in a paper bag, watching life pass by their shelter, like they were watching TV.

It was very sad reading that story. The poor and the elderly are now paying for expensive taxie rides because of this stupid bus strike. I understand the cyclists enjoying this as the bus is often the enemy on the streets. Netherthless, bus service is needed badly as it is the poor mans motorcar.

Actually there was a news item that said the city was saving money using Metro Mobility, to move the disabled and elderly, rather than the bus systems. It surprised me to hear that bit of news. Makes me wonder if the guys out on the picket line might feel unneeded.
I also had a thought, what if passengers struck? Like one day be called don't use the MTC, just to show the MTC and it's union that the city gets along fine with out them, that they need us.
And that note above about the corruption and skimming and diverting funds, well, wait and see.

On my commute through the city I am noticing more bikes locked up in the down town areas. I am not sure if this is due to the weather or the bus strike. I am thinking of getting Friday off to ride the Critical Mass, and see if they'll ride by the striking drivers as a show of force that they haven't shut the city down with this 23 day old strike.

There's this story in today's Star Tribune. One of the reasons listed for the long strike is the lack of public outcry. I thought that was interesting.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/373/4684281.html

No new updates as of now.

Yeah I was riding downtown lastnight around 12, and the drivers were still sitting out there with signs.. I just wish it would actually end soon, enough already..

Well, I'll have a bike locker at the U starting tomorrow. At least that will make it somewhat more convenient...

Finally over all, buses start running Monday...


6 weeks, now I will have to contend with more traffic, perhaps I should put brakes back on my bike...

Brakes couldn't hurt...

Not like it adds much weight...

I'm happy to have the bus as an alternative if the weather is not cooperative...

I can go either way on this bus thing, but it is nice to know that if I have a serious breakdown I can jump a bus for the ride home. I belong to the "Chain Gang" and get two free bus rides if I need it.

Finally over all, buses start running Monday...


6 weeks, now I will have to contend with more traffic, perhaps I should put brakes back on my bike...

Unbelievable. I can't believe it lasted this long. This is a very sad commentary on the city of Minn. What an outrage! If this strike has been in New York City, the mayor would have been fired!

Unbelievable. I can't believe it lasted this long. This is a very sad commentary on the city of Minn. What an outrage! If this strike has been in New York City, the mayor would have been fired!

Actually, large cities such as NYC have it as against the law for public transportation to go on strike...

Which I find a good idea.

The mayor had little influence in this strike. Not his jurisdiction—though I hear he did try to lean on the governor to settle. The gov't. principals were the Metropolitan Council (governor appointees all) and behind them, Governor Pawlenty. They are who need to be fired for causing it in the first place by underallocating funds for transit (while hugely bumping up support for road building) and for letting it drag on.

This state, and particularly this region of the state, are run by and for the suburbs. The city of Minneapolis (or the city of St. Paul, for that matter) isn't to blame.