Chat with Metro

Short notice and all, but those of you with a little spare time during lunch might check this out.

Got a question for Metropolitan Transit Authority president and CEO Frank Wilson?

If so, get to a computer at noon Tuesday, log onto www.ridemetro.org , then click on "chat" to take part in an hour-long once-a-month online chat room.

Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said in a statement Monday that Transit Chat "will give our customers an opportunity to ask Metro's top executives questions about Metro's programs and services, from the Q Card to the new light rail lines we're building."

"It will be live, but we do ask participants to exercise the same principles of politeness mandated on our blog," Roberts said. "Our guidelines: Be respectful, no name-calling, stay on topic."

If they're smart, they'll provide a transcript of the chat afterwards, so folks who can't attend can at least see what was talked about.

In related news, and with more lead time, Christof brings word of the Richmond Avenue Workshop:

It's not enough to put a rail line in the right street; it has to be done right, too. That involves a lot of "little" decisions that add up to a big deal: station designs, crosswalk locations, left turn lanes, sidewalk widths, street trees. If you do that right, you end up with a street that works well for drivers, transit riders, pedestrians, bicyclists, businesses, and residents.

[...]

That's the idea behind the Richmond Avenue Workshop, organized by Richmondrail.org and co-sponsored by Neartown Association, Museum District Business Alliance, The Menil Collection, The University of St. Thomas, Friends of Mandell Park, and the Gulf Coast Institute as well as CTC. It's a chance for you to learn about those decisions, to learn which agencies are making those decisions (it's not just METRO) and to learn how to have input in those decisions.

At the streetscape table David Crossley can tell you the difference between walking on a 3 foot sidewalk and a 5 foot sidewalk, at the traffic table Joe Webb will be able to explain how left turn lanes can work with the tracks, and at the trains and stations table I'll explain why you might want a staggered side platform station instead of a split center platform station. Then, when you walk into the city's University Line Urban Corridor Planning Workshop at the end of this month (pdf), or a METRO open house later this year, you'll know what to ask, and what to ask for.

Details here:

Saturday, January 19, 2008, 10am to noon

University of St. Thomas

Crooker Building (building 29 on this map)

Park free in the Moran Center garage at Alabama and Graustark, or ride METRO bus 78 Alabama or 25 Richmond.

Should be interesting. Drop by if you can.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 15, 2008 to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles