Twin Cities Area Campfire BS Thread

[propforward]

They distract themselves from the horrible driving by texting people on their mobile phones.

[swann]

Sadly, there is a grain of truth there. Wish public transit had more coverage, especially the northstar commuter rail.

[Grainbelt]

Originally Posted by propforward

They distract themselves from the horrible driving by surfing ADV via Tapatalk on their mobile phones.

Bus riding hipsters have no such problems.

SW light rail seems poised to get done, that will be a boon for Hopkins / SLP / EP. There are rumors of bus rapid transit (just as good, really) connecting to the central corridor line.

I filtered half a mile at the 94 East / Lyndale Ave exit yesterday in stopped traffic. Poor cars, all stuck behind one another.

[propforward]

Well, we have the rail out to Elk River, but it's no use at all to me since they don't operate late into the night, and barely into the evening thus I cannot use it for a splendid evening of drinkies.

They have missed the point of a rail system somewhat, basically ferrying a few office workers to and from Minneapolis (but is no use for anyone who works a job where they may have to stay later from time to time - or all the time), oh and maybe if you're interested in a bloody twins game. The shitty dwellers seem to like it though.

Pity really, I would welcome a rail service into and out of the shitties, with extended time coverage, and weekend coverage. Maybe this will happen over time.

In any case, it won't solve the texting driver problem, simply too many of them.

[swann]

We've taken the Northstar a few times but just for fun. It's never been available for the airport, though I check every time we have to fly. Either the trip to the airport or the trip home from the airport are not available. There aren't any other mass transit options out here in the boonies. And hubby works in Hopkins so he's really been looking forward to the light rail link when it is available in a couple years. I used the trip planning feature a while ago and discovered it would take about 2 hours for him to get to work using mass transit (or maybe 2.5 counting drive time to the Elk River station?), and he can drive in less than 45 minutes. Even the Twins game we went to we didn't dare use the train in case our son couldn't make it through the whole game (it was Autism awareness day and we needed the option to be able to go home at some point during the game if he needed to decompress). The only option was about ten minutes after the game started. Just not enough schedule choices to trust that the northstar will meet our needs, which is really too bad. They'd probably offer more choices if more people were riding, but without more choices fewer people ride because the schedule is too limited. Round and round...then there's the article in the Star Tribune saying the Northstar is a failure. Grrr.

[propforward]

Originally Posted by swann

Just not enough schedule choices to trust that the northstar will meet our needs, which is really too bad.

That is why it is a failure. It's not that it can't or won't work, it simply has not been thought through, and the schedules are not flexible enough for people to rely on it. I cross the rail tracks in the morning and at night, and have often seen the train come by - there's never anyone on it.

Shame, because I'd go down town Minneapolis a lot more and check out some of the fabbo places if I could ride the train down there (and back).

Oh well.

[Grainbelt]

agreed, without punting this to the basement, the mass transit choices are a bit of a compromise, being at once inadequate and expensive, while not being bold enough to offer a meaningful alternative.

But I digress.

First Thursday is tonight, and should be largely squid and pirate free.

[propforward]

I never got as far as checking the price on the northstar, but I would pay a bit of a premium over what it would take for gas and parking to drive my pick em up truck down there, so it ought to be doable.

Anyhoo, I was considering coming to first thursday, but have decided against it after all. Laziness being the reason, and also there are chores to be got out of the way in readiness for the weekend.

In the end I decided that if I was waiting for a time when it was going to be squid and pirate free, I might just as well go on any non first thursday night and achieve the same thing.

[Metallic Waste]

Out for tonight. I-Cycle Derby planning this evening. Have a meatball sub for me.
-K

[propforward]

Are you on the committee then or something?

[dfc]

Originally Posted by Metallic Waste

Out for tonight. I-Cycle Derby planning this evening. Have a meatball sub for me.
-K

That was poor planning, you should have picked another night, or just had the meeting at Dulonos

[Klay]

Originally Posted by dfc

That was poor planning, you should have picked another night, or just had the meeting at Dulonos

I guess we're not getting another motorcycle.

[Metallic Waste]

Originally Posted by propforward

Are you on the committee then or something?

You could say that.
-K

[propforward]

[propforward]

I could really go for a bacon and egg sammich right now. Bloody mary not necessary at this time.

By the way, it's perfectly fine to start drinking at 10.00am on a sunday, dollar bloodies or not.

In fact, there's really no need to leave it so late.