Finally, back on campus

Well, unfortunately, I wasn't at the Gophers-Air Force game on Sept. 12 to welcome on-campus football back to the University of Minnesota. But, I can proudly say, I watched the entire game on the Big Ten Network; and for me, it was fun seeing a Gopher home game in a setting other than the Metrodome.

The commentators raved all night long about how the stadium "was done right." Still, others have commented to me that TCF Bank Stadium, "looks just like the old one." Well, maybe not EXACTLY like the old one.

Memorial Stadium was the last on-campus stadium at the U of M, vacated in 1981 for the sterile Metrodome a couple miles away. And, there were plenty of things missing in that stadium that are present in TCF Bank Stadium. Memorial Stadium, aka "the brickhouse" had all bench seating. TCF Stadium has about half bench seating, half chair-back seating. However, the University has taken an interesting approach to the bleacher seating. For a little over $40 a year, season ticket holders in the bleacher areas of the stadium can have a stadium seat installed professionally.

This site: http://www.twinsballpark2010.com in a post entitled "A Football Place - Nuts and Bolts" has some good pictures of what the installed stadium seats look like.

And of course, TCF Stadium has a much larger, hi-def video scoreboard, private suites, artificial turf (that really does look like grass) - all amenities that were absent at Memorial Stadium.

Amidst the excitement of being back on campus, and high praise from TV commentators, the opening was not without a few glitches. Many reports said that entry into the stadium was slow - with security measures and all. A big complaint was the concession operations. Apparently, the concession stands at the stadium don't have cash registers. They use a barcode system for each concession item, then add the total on your basic Texas Instrument calculator.

Hmm...almost $300 million to build the place, and no cash registers. Alcohol is also absent from the stadium. You might remember there was a big discussion about alcohol sales at the stadium, whether it should be available in the high-priced seats only, or to everyone. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty basically put it all into perspective, "it's available to everybody, or nobody." So, they went with nobody.

Parking can also be a nightmare over at the U. Matter of fact, TCF Stadium was built over four very sizable parking lots. Many were told to park in ramps on the west side of the river and take a shuttle to the stadium. You can take the Hiawatha Light Rail to the Metrodome station, and take a Metro Transit bus to the stadium as well.

We will just have to wait and see how the U handles these small little glitches. Hey, every stadium and arena in the country has at least a couple on opening night. And, the university is already dealing with noise complaints from neighbors around the stadium, saying the public address system is too loud.

Perhaps, maybe college football stadiums do concessions and gate entry procedures differently. The Metrodome, the home for the Gophers for the last 27 years, hires union employees to take tickets, sell hot dogs and show people where their seats are. Most if not all of the people working at TCF Stadium, are student volunteers.

It seems that there are some opportunities for the U to ramp up the PR, and do what they can to solve the small glitches as much as they can.

In any event, Gopher football is back on campus, the excitement is back, the Gophers have probably won several fans back, and gained new ones. And, we're undefeated in our new home.

Ski-U-Mah.

PR challenges of a new mode of transit

Taking a cue from a recent article in the StarTribune about the new Northstar Commuter Rail (http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/56664627.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU) I thought I would make some comments regarding what the editorial was talking about.

To summarize the article, the writer felt that Metro Transit has a challenge ahead of them in the PR department regarding the new Northstar Commuter rail that will start officially on November 16. The challenge is how to educate people on using the rail line, a mode of transportation that is new to the Twin Cities area.

Putting it simply, light rail and commuter rail can be differentiated by capacity and frequency. This is the issue that Metro Transit will have to deal with, come November 16. Light rail offers high frequency, but lower capacity (each car, like a city bus could probably hold 90 people safely, sitting and standing). When the Hiawatha line opened in 2004, Metro Transit did a great deal to educate customers on the use of light rail, which in 2004 was also new to the Twin Cities area.

The authority released pamphlets on "how to ride" the rail: from describing that fares were paid before boarding the train instead of fareboxes that you see on buses, to the frequency of the light rail, that at times, even surpassed bus frequency.

Here's the issue with the commuter rail that Metro Transit will need to work with. Commuter rail is about capacity, not frequency. Commuter rail is designed to transport a large number of people at an optimal time during the day - rush hour. Metro Transit will need to inform people that it is very unlike the light rail, in that, there won't be a train waiting every 7 1/2 minutes.

The article in the Tribune talked about Twins games at the new Target Field. The Northstar Commuter Rail will stop at an "intermodal" (several modes of transit, light rail, buses, commuter rail and the Cedar Bike Trail will converge here) station on the north side of the ballpark. Fans will need to understand that, the Northstar will not operate with the frequency the light rail does; so considering the Northstar as an option to a Twins game, might not be the option of choice, especially during the midday games, when the Northstar will only run one trip.

Also, remember this is the first run of the Northstar rail line. If the ridership surpasses the projections (the Hiawatha light rail has already surpassed ridership projections for the year 2030, after being open for only five years), the schedule may be adjusted to allow for more. Metro Transit had to specifically negotiate the schedule with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad - because the Northstar line will operate on tracks owned by BNSF.

Metro Transit could only operate at certain times, because the BNSF tracks are still very active. The transit authority did its best to operate to coincide with times that people regularly start work: 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8 and 8:45 am. Conversely, they did the same with the return trip times, running at 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5 and 5:30 pm.

Informing customers that the Northstar line will be used for what it was designed for, commuters, will be a big task for Metro Transit. It needs to be done. I'd hate to live in Big Lake (where the line will start) take a train down to a Twins game that goes extra innings, and lets out at 10:30, and there's no Northstar train to take me back.

Metro Transit did a great job informing this area about light rail. How to use it, the changes it proposed for other drivers (especially downtown), how often it ran, etc. I can only think that they will do just as good a job when the Northstar Commuter rail opens in November.