Nightlights and new tricks

Let's face it - construction has gone from exciting, to frustrating, to endlessly long. For a few weeks, the only thing I could get behind was the seemingly magical drop-off-only buses running on University. I don't really get it, but I like it...a lot.

But then, I go for a walk and notice that things are happening - still- new things all the time. Here are a few of my favorite University Avenue additions.

1. The medians are actually planted. Yes, it's ok to look twice. The pile of industrious weeds that had sprung up are starting to be replaced with real plants, and even some (gasp!) flowers. Did you ever think you'd see the day when flowers were planted down the middle of University Avenue? Only in my wildest dreams.




2. Bike racks. While I don't own a bike, and am not quite sure if the median is the most functional spot, I am now beginning to understand that getting bike parking installed is only slightly less difficult than, say, buying a unicorn or finding the Northwest Passage. It's hard. We'll take it. Did you ever think you'd see the day when bike racks were installed down the middle of University Avenue? Only in my wildest dreams.




2. Advance stop bars. Say what? Oh, yes, that fatty stripe on the street isn't just for looks. And if you don't think it makes a difference, I should note that TWO vehicles stopped and waited for me to cross when I paused to take this photo. Looks like it isn't that hard to teach an old dog new tricks.




3. Neighborhood-scale nightlights. You always hear people talk about light pollution and streetlights shining in their windows and commercial lighting generally ruining humanity. Well, I moved to the city so I can have the luxury of walking my dog without a flashlight, and I can't get enough of this LED bonanza. More is more. Beautiful.

Location:Westgate station

A train by any other name

For many years we've called it the Central Corridor. But it's going to be the Green Line, and since the signs are already going up, well, it's time to make the switch.

I am kind of attached to Central, but the color system is less about what we're getting rid of, and more about what we're getting: maps. Real, beautiful, abstract, big city metro maps. I don't have the Transit Maps of the World book on my coffee table for nothing, people.

The good news is, I possess some cartography skillz myself. The bad news is, the hardest thing to map is something stylized and beautiful and unrelated to coordinates on the earth. Cheating in GIS is so difficult! For this job, we need to throw out the projections (sorry, Mercator!) and bring on the graphic designers. And when I started looking around, it seemed like these folks may already have a head start...I like where this is going!

[See this and other prototypes at Carticulate!]

And speaking of things I want to design, I am thinking about creating some transity nerd green line tshirts - something to express my localized enthusiasm, like you see in places like Toronto and New York. I'd like a shirt or a bag with every Twin Cities local* bus number printed on it. It would come with a sharpie keychain so that you could proudly cross off routes you've used, or put a heart around your favorite line. I mean, instant street cred of course, but also people might say "oh, you've been on the 64 - can you tell me where I need to transfer to catch that downtown?" Now how useful is that? We transiteers should self-identify and make ourselves useful.

Also, these shirts could double as matching uniforms for our opening day flash mob. I mean, there is going to be dancing in the streets, right?

*Sorry, suburban express riders, but this is kind of a city thing. Maybe you could make blingy seat covers or coffee cozies with your route on them?

Home improvements

Either they're putting in a huge whirlpool tub at Cedar and 5th, or that's just more guideway work.

Perhaps I have been watching too much HGTV this summer...

Mind-bending, face-melting

This is going to sound terribly nerdy - there are few things that make me as happy as this map. We seem to have won the transity jackpot, my friends. 

This week I have been spending a lot of time telling people about the SAINT PAUL OF THE FUTURE [outer space voice]. SPOTF is a place where I can get to Bead Monkey or Seward co-op or Highland on one bus. One bus! These bus improvements have been a bit of a Central Corridor dark horse for me - who knew that we'd save so much from the 16 & 94 that we'd be able to plow it into obscene* amounts of service? I have ridden transit despite the crummy transfers and the 30 minute headways at rush hour. Soon, I'll be able to ride transit because it's easy. Easy? Whoa.

Equally mind-bending is this travel time chart from the same open house last week, where I confirmed that the train will cut fifteen minutes off my 50 bus commute. Fifteen minutes. Each way. Holy bananas.

What am I going to do with an extra half hour every day? Loosely translated, I could hit about five more snooze buttons, or actually make dinner before I get too hungry and just eat popcorn.

Or, I could for-reals learn to knit and (yarn) bomb things.

Or, I could play with circuits. On way home last week, I stopped by this interactive pop-up studio next The Edge. 

The friendly duo, Beatrix*Jar, had created a workshop of rewired toys. Think Axman meets Toy Story meets electronic music. Brilliant.


Beatrix*Jar from mn original on Vimeo.

Yes, I think playing with some face-melting robot keyboards could be the perfect way to spend my newfound time!

*Obscene by East Metro Standards.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location: 50 bus

This is really happening, people

See? 

Some days I just have to say that out loud.

Stuck in the middle with you

Facts.

1. I have zero tolerance for people that smoke. (If we banned smoking at bars and restaurants, how hard could it be to ban it at bus stops?)

2. I go to great lengths to avoid sitting by smokers on the bus - that includes taking the 16 when I see them get on the 50, and making sure I am the last one to board the bus as to maximize seating distance, and getting off a stop or two early if it means a little more fresh air.

3. If you are carrying a cigarette that is partially used, you will make the whole bus stink. Contrary to popular belief, you can't snuff out something that was just on fire, and then get into a confined space with 40 people. More reasons why we should ban smoking at the bus stop.

This morning I was caught off guard by an unusually full 50 bus - of course, old Smokey McSmokes decided to sit right next to me. Panic ensued. I fumbled awkwardly with the sliding window that was behind my seat. Fail. I held my breath a couple seconds and then tried again. Big effort this time, flailing around to use both hands. Smokey looked at me awkwardly and I gave him the panicked face. Recognizing me as the crazy person on the bus, he quickly switched seats. Sometimes subtlety is overrated.

Speaking of things that aren't so subtle - cough - the bollards and chain for the intertrack fence finally went up. I can honestly say it's everything I thought it would be - which is to say, I'm still not a fan.

Fences are meant to keep people in or to keep people out, right? This one does neither. Somehow I feel that will be its downfall.

And as long as we're stuck in the middle, er, median, I'd like to point out what happens when you get 800 inches of rain in a month. What used to be a gravel placeholder for our median planting area has become a lush forest of volunteers.

The good news is, something is able to live in the middle of University Avenue. I've never been so happy to see a pile of weeds.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Give me a sign

Forget a case of the Mondays - I've had a pretty crummy week. So by the time I got home today, I needed more than a lift. I needed a sign.

I got two.

The great thing about this project is that these major, mind-blowing things happen on the days I least expect them. As a side note, the "St." Paul looks awfully casual. Who let the Minneapolitans order the signage? Is that how they think we spell it?

I'm also warming up to the army green that they recently painted our station. I had kind of hoped all the stations were going to be a more neutral color (even the same color, boring and practical as it is), but this green and copper duo is already starting to blend in a little for me.