a serious question

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by IncredibleKaren

At this point with gas being high everybody is complaining. If I could I would take the bus to work but there are none available.

Mostly this is because the newest suburbs voted down the Met Council's offer of bus service ten or fifteen years ago. "Gas is cheap" "Buses will never be viable here" "dirty city people" "A waste of taxpayers money" and other myopic quotes were spewed ad nauseum. Now that you actually need a bus you get to walk to Apple Valley. Lakeville, with more than 50,000 people, does not have a bus system. They tried, none of them listened. I can't really say I feel bad for them.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by Simple Living

I'd still rather have a horse than a car. And oats are cheaper.

Not with the price of agricultural goods they aren't; thanks alot corn ethanol.

[JenLee]

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

Mostly this is because the newest suburbs voted down the Met Council's offer of bus service ten or fifteen years ago. "Gas is cheap" "Buses will never be viable here" "dirty city people" "A waste of taxpayers money" and other myopic quotes were spewed ad nauseum. Now that you actually need a bus you get to walk to Apple Valley. Lakeville, with more than 50,000 people, does not have a bus system. They tried, none of them listened. I can't really say I feel bad for them.

I live in a second tier suburb on he north side of the Cities and we've been trying for years to get bus service up here. The MTC pulled the buses about 12 years ago and are unwilling to put even one line back in this area because they don't think it would pay them to do so.

The MTC thinks that a number of suburbs shouldn't have a say in the light rail or any central commuter system because (according to them) we wouldn't be using them!

So I don't think you should blame the suburbs for the poor mass transit service; blame the MTC and the Metro Council for a myopic backwards view of how people used to commute to work.

[golfgal]

The bus system out of Apple Valley is maxed out. They either need to expand or get the lightrail. Their ridership has exceeded the number of buses available and they don't have parking to accommodate all of the riders. They are with the Minn Valley Transit system not the MTC though. The problem is that their service area for rush hour is limited. Not everyone works in downtown Minneapolis.