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Metro Transit Explaining Northstar is so true lol

The moment when 3 of the S Bahn lines are for the most part following interurban trolley lines that used to exist (Zielenople is using 2 different ones from the same network that closed in 1932). The Washington and Charleroi ones basically revive the parts cut off from the T network in 1957.

4:40 We prefer the term "OreDiggers". Go Mines!

All this will never happen but we can dream about it tho. It would be awesome if it did. You’re gondola idea is the one I like the most. Pittsburgh might be the only city where that type of public transportation might be the best in some areas.

CTA L Operator Here! I think you guys make some great points in the video and I agree that sending every other pink line down to the Dearborn subway would certainly help relieve congestion in the loop which is a much needed strategy to improve overall speed and reliability. I want to mention that there are some actions being taken in the next month or so to improve wait times including bringing back Orange Line trains to Kimball and Brown Line Trains to Midway to reduce congestion in the loop as well as doubling the amount of Southbound Blue Line Trains that end their Service at UIC-Halsted to increase the amount of trains in the Loop and Ohare Branch. One thing that a lot of these videos dont mention is the reliablity of the Trains themselves. Many of the trains in service have been around since the 80's and 90's meaning they breakdown all the time. The current plan is to reduce the number of cars on trains during off peak hours for 8 to 4 whcih should help the issue, but ultimatley is a band-aid on the problem. The only way to fix this is by building new trains that are also reliable. The major thing holding CTA back is the lack of trust in leadership from the public, which diminishes public willingness to both use and fund the service.

The slow door closing time is a security thing and only takes some seconds. If they close too fast and somebody is standing in the door, it's dangerous for this person. Stadler builds trains since a long time, they know how to do this.

This is the best transit video on TH-cam. Keep them coming.

What an awesome video bro!!!!

Fell in love with greater Seattle as a kid visiting the 1962 World's Fair. Its always been progressive, but this ongoing project is a huge step forward. Thanks for the update.

The "unusual ROW" you mentioned at Colorado Blvd and I-25 is actually the old Denver to Colorado Springs C&S route. There aren't rails anymore, but it would be cool if that old ROW saw rail service once more.

The editing is atrocious I love it!

I like putting transit videos to go to sleep but I was way too engaged by your comedy and editing. Insta subscribe!

Also, as someone living in North Hollywood for years, this busway, G Line (formerly Orange Line) previously use NABI 60-BRT before switching into New Flyer XE60s in 2021. Which is why you may see former Orange Line NABI 60-BRT being used in Silver Line (J Line). I also normally use G line everyday for college at Northridge after stopping at Reseda and transfer to Line 240. What I’ve seen from the comments below, yes this line will convert into a LRT in the next 25-30 years but I am excited to see LRT being constructed in the Valley (outside of LA) with connections to G Line on their East SFV Project. Judging by the prototype of railroad crossing gates but Busway variant, LA Metro is planning to build a crossing gates for G Line Busway Cross (making it first in U.S. and in California) which is a hint for future conversion into LRT.

👍👍👍👍

I don’t understand why bilevel train cars are used. Surely it would be much better to procure single lever coaches since they have advantages like more space and allow for quicker boarding

I’ve gotta say, good riddance to the gallery cars. I’m thankful for their service but I’m more than happy to move on from consistently terrible ride quality, lack of amenities, and inaccessible design among many complaints lol

Do you think the commuter trains could make those curves you propose downtown? As regular trains, they don't enjoy as tight a turning radius as light rail. Also, under Union Station is the bus terminal. Much as we might like to forget it, they have to go somewhere... I like BRT on dedicated right-of-way. Whether it's light rail or bus, anything that shares a road with ordinary cars sucks and isn't worth doing. Only a dedicated right-of-way can hope to cancel out the obtuse routing and frequent stops that contribute so much to the miserable ineffectiveness of public transit and provide a potential reason for people to leave their cars closer to home. The best improvement RTD could make would be to overhaul their schedules. This should be executed by someone who has used public transit. I used to live near Leetsdale and Quebec. I made frequent use of the 73 and 65. They are one of my favorite examples of brain dead scheduling that relegates use to only the most desperate people without alternatives. The 65 and 73 begin together by Walmart, separate slightly, and reunite heading toward the Tech Center. They are always scheduled to follow each other immediately. If you miss the 65 on Monaco, you have also missed the 73 on Quebec. If RTD staggered the schedule instead, spacing out timing by 15 minutes (assuming twice hourly service) then most users would enjoy 15 minute headways. This would present a threat RTD has never experienced before: the provision of a useable service that is not utter trash. This incredible useability improvement would require the purchase of exactly zero new equipment and the hiring and training of no additional personal. I tried to explain this on the last round of public hearings to no avail. Their level of disconnection is terminal. The 65 + 73 is hardly the only example of zero-cost fruit ready for immediate harvest. Serious consideration should be given to disbanding RTD outright. They can build the world's best transit system and it wouldn't matter. They need to re/gain the trust of a public who rightfully considers them a joke.

I got some different ideas: If we built a connecting track between the Central Platte Valley Spur and the line to the Central Business District, maybe a light rail loop, sometimes street-running but also partly underground, could make sense? I could see it being extended from Union Station in a tunnel, surfacing near the Coors Field Stadium where only a parking lot would need to be destroyed anyway. Then running in the street, northbound on Market Street and southbound on Blake Street, with the line then turning east, eastbound trains running on 22nd Street and westbound trains running on Park Street West. After meeting the L Line, trains can run back south into Downtown Denver on existing L Line tracks. The new service could be known as the J Line, since there is no other line with that name.

Now the Red Line originally terminated at Harvard. In the 1970's the T planned to extend the Red Line to Lexington Via Arlington. The problem was Harvard the original 1912 station was in the way so they have to completely close Harvard and rebuilt it in 1980. Also the residents and the mayor of Arlington did not want any Railroads, not even for a temporary extension. There was a Railroad which began operation in 1846 and shut down in 1977 which is the Lexington branch went from Bedford to Boston via the current Minutemen Bikepath. Due to the pressure of the residents in Arlington the Red Line was only extended to Alewife. For JFK/UMass it originally opened first on the ashmont branch in 1919, the Braintree branch was planned to start from Andrew, it opened in 1971. JFk was contructed for the Braintree Branch in 1988. The problem of constructing a Flyer over Junction South of jfk is due to the Braintree branch going on a bridge, the Commuter Rail underneath would require jfk to shut down for 7 years.

Now the reason these aren't happening in reality is budget and usage. Before 1964 there were tons of Railroad Branches in Massachusetts which have been discontinued and abandoned. Now the D Line was actually a railroad Branch called the Highland Branch went from Back Bay to the Worcester Branch and Needham Line. The Highland Branch got shut down in 1958 due to passengers shortage and people preferred using Streetcars. So that's why the D Line is a streetcar car Branch. Also there has been plans on Extending the Blue Line to Lynn. Actually there was a railroad Branch called the Lynn & Revere Railroad went from Lynn to North End, Boston from the 1840s and shut down in the 1940's due to the greate depression and rider shortage. The reason the Blue Line terminates at Wonderland, cause the residents and mayor don't want a railroad from Lynn to Wonderland. There has been plans to extend the Blue Line from Bowdoin to Charles/MGH but the problem is Bowdoin Station. Bowdoin Station opened in 1916 as a tunnel loop, in which the platforms are tight and cannot be extended further. If they want to re-extend the Blue Line from Bowdoin they would have to spend billions of dollars and also to completely close surface level roads at Bowdoin Square and would take 7 years for it to be constructed. Various politics and gambit were involved. In 2008 a financial crises broke loose, and the T had $5 Billion dollar debt from the Big Dig project. Also the current Red and Orange Line rolling stock was falling apart. Do to various reasons these did not happen. There was a commuter Rail Branch from Needham junction to rode island but shut down in the 1950s due to profit los.

All these new stops look pretty cool but I can't help but feel like expanding the Sounder would be better than expanding the Link. I live a fair bit northeast of Lake Washington and I dream of the day I can just drive a few minutes to Woodinville or Bothell and hop on a train to Everett or Lynnwood or Bellevue instead of going through the hellish impenetrable traffic around those cities). I'm not strictly a Seattle hater, and I know the primary purpose of these mass transit systems is for metropolitan commuting, but I'd like to be able to travel on a train from small/medium city to another without going to the big city.

I think the best case scenerio for the Bloop would be to not make it an actual circle line, but to make it sort of like a London style Spiral Line. Basically to avoid the awkward frequency halving caused by the Yellow Line and Franconia-Springfield Branches, you could reconfigure King St - Old Town to have an extra 3rd platform for terminating trains (either Spanish Solution or just a 3rd side platform), and have National Harbour side trains terminate there (meanwhile the trains on the Pentagon side go to Franconia). This would solve the operational headaches that would be caused by running a circle line, whilst also (sort of) improving wayfinding by removing "clockwise" and "counterclockwise" nomenclature. The only real problem is that this would lead to National Harbour trains being labelled as terminating at King Street which could cause some confusion, but this could be remedied with "VIA" nomenclature, such as "King Street-Old Town VIA National Harbor".

Another reminder that the Central Subway has grown the T ridership so much that it's now the second highest ridership Muni Metro line. It's grown 2x since the Central Subway opened. Let me know if you need a nice hat to munch on or if you have your own.

It's all very well to talk about a new idea, but if you can't get your proposal to the table then it's just a waste of time, and a distraction or delay for going forward. The other Metro proposals already have cost-benefit analyses, and if I'm not mistaken the blue line loop has the biggest bang for the buck, as well as high ridership estimates. I do think you're dismissive of the value of the Blue line crossing the Potomac at Wilson Bridge to connect Alexandria to MD. While I'm not sure where commuters start from and end to cause all that car traffic, it could be a good start to creating a "purple line" loop for commuters who don't go downtown. (Likewise getting people who commute from near Rockville to Tysons Corner onto a Metro crossing the Cabin John bridge, might have real benefit). I think the problem has been that the D.C. contingent isn't interested in new lines that don't serve their residents. Personally, I see Metro expansion in VA as a good thing, but that could be another option after the blue line loop, and a different color (black, white, pink?). I think the current system leaves out the hospitals (Fairfax Hospital, Alexandria Hospital, Mount Vernon Hospital, Fort Washington Hospital, UM Laurel Medical Center, Medstar Montgomery Medical Center in Olney, Georgetown Hospital, Sibley Memorial Hospital, etc.) which are employment centers as well as for outpatient procedures and visitors. Some of these could be served by expansions of existing lines into the suburbs (green-Laurel, yellow-Mt. Vernon, red-Olney).

We need the garages for our cars because MOST of us don't have busses we can ride. I am about 4miles from a bus stop so it's not feasible to walk for an hour in my normal commute. 😮 I would have to drive to the bus stop, park, wait for a bus, ride the bus to the train. Why would I park for a bus when I am already in my car. The main value of the train is the parking lot where I can park and then ride the train into the city. Driving in the city is a madhouse without parking, tons of blocked roads for construction, one way streets, etc.

Luckily VRE can now increase their service levels. On one line at least.

Stopped using Seattle area mass transit a couple years ago. Disgusting, inefficient, inconvenient, etc. Such a bottomless money pit.

Thank you for covering this long overdue but incredibly important transit network extension. When my family moved to the area in 2021, I became aware of the LINK extension projects through RMTransit's Seattle Explainer video. Little would I know, this would start my journey into learning about New Urbanism. I then made a google map of all the LINK extension stations and mandated our family would live in a property within walking distance of one. Well, 3 years later and the payoff is here! I made it a point to take off work and take my daughter to the opening day of service just as we did for the Line 2 grand opening in Bellevue/Redmond. She has become a burgeoning train nerd and even is able to manage the Seoul Metro and Seoul Bus system using Naver Maps when we visit family even though she's not even 10! Channels like yours are so important alongside the big juggernauts like RMTransit, Not Just Bikes, CityNerd, City Beautiful, Oh the Urbanity etc. etc. Channels as yours give us a great and thorough local look at what's happening in our area which is an invaluable function. It grows the community and creates a great and positive sense of local pride. Please keep up the excellent work!

Quit hating on SFH and drivers. They are the majority in this country.

One thing I didn't hear: A simple thank you to the productive members of Sno-King-Pierce who pay insane tax rates to fund your rides.

This video format is supremely well done! Super informative and hilarious. Keep up the fire content!

I'm glad LINK keeps expanding but it is annoying how the extensions keep subsidizing the suburbs while many densely populated urban areas of the city still don't have a plan for rail.

There’s essentially zero reason for anyone from elsewhere in the city to travel to these stations, especially with my kids in tow. All you’re greeted with is parking lots, parking garages and a loud freeway. There’s no food. No groceries. No museums. Just pavement. At least one stop has a trampoline center. It really is a shame that we’re designing a system almost exclusively to move commuters into downtown, when the reality of post pandemic is that many of the downtown offices are empty.

A question about subsdising drivers by providing parking? Maybe you forgot that the largest funding source for ST3 comes from the vehicle excise tax (annual car tab fees). The drivers have more than paid for their parking. Not everyone lives on a convenient bus route, and many people with families have no desire to move into a small apartment next to a transit station.

You could house a lot more people by dispensing with all of the expensive art, too. If you can't get people from their homes to the trains, they won't take the trains.

Century III has been gone since well before this video was made. Though transit along PA51 would be helpful. A park-and-ride at the 51 end of the PA43 toll road would make that road actually useful. For now, its is almost always empty. And the extension is doubly-useless since it goes to a place nobody wants to go.

Lou Malnatis makes me constipated.

Community transit is also going to DELETE the express bus routes that take you from the suburbs directly into the city leaving little to no redundancy.

I live near a station open next year. I can’t wait to used it for a better commute to Seattle and other surrounding cities. They have more plans coming up from 2025-2030. I can’t wait for all the new stations opening this 2025-2026.

OK so I'm a Chicago DSA guy. The "two-person crews" idea is a union demand. Talk to the ATU rank-and-file about that. And trust me, they also get it - we're not asking to half service. Upgrading service is a bigger priority for us than two-person crews are. We definitely want Dorval out too.

The blind and visually impaired can ride for free

As a Retiree from cta. There are a number of problems. 1) Young people don't wanna come to work and stay. 2) Money $$$ 3) Automation takes $$$ 4) An old system that needs to be rebuilt

I have to go downtown once or twice a month. I used to take the train, because it was cheaper and if traffic on Lake Shore Drive is bad it can even be faster. The last time I rode a mentally ill homeless lady got right up in my face on the Sheridan platform and started yelling racial slurs: "you a white mother*ucker and you evil," etc, etc. Then people were smoking weed and cigarettes on the train. A homeless man was so dirty I could smell him across the car. When I got downtown the State Street Subway smelled like a urinal. The final straw was when I started hearing bad news reports, like this one guy getting stabbed on the Loop in broad daylight for his phone. So now I drive downtown and pay $25 to$40 to park my car. It's expensive but it's better than dealing with everything I mentioned. Someone told me the current CTA President is a former preacher who got the job through friends. That reminds me of when Bush appointed an Arabian horse breeder to run FEMA. When Katrina hit New Orleans that guy didn't know what to do. It seems like the CTA needs someone in charge who has some real understanding of transit. Let this guy go work some useless job in City Hall.

if only it didnt take decades to get stuff built around here. Im glad its all being build at least

Been to San Francisco a few times since the Subway opened and it is a shame that the North Beach extension was not done because that is a high activity center for ridership. In addition continuing the line to Fisherman's Wharf would be a game changer for residents and visitors to travel there.

The G line will get converted to light rail sooner than previously stated, especially since the new proposed SFV light rail line will start construction soon and will connect to the G line. The G line will then exist between a light rail and subway line. That will pose a huge demabd capacity issue that the G line will have trouble meeting. The community will demand the conversation to light rail sooner.

Seattle and Los Angeles building the most public rail transit in the USA! West Coast!

Congratulations, Seattle. Well done!!!

Call it the Chicago W problem solved

Automation is a big lift for a system that's as far behind as CTA. Building some of the pieces now like platform screen doors would have other benefits - like keeping people off the tracks and preventing track fires. However, the big thing to fix that could really help the L right now is fixing slow zones. Slow zones mean trains back up coming out of fast moving and high traffic areas like the Loop, which reduces train capacity across the system. In the month of August CTA removed ZERO slow zones.