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Twin Cities light rail line changes names
Rebranding is a huge waste of funds for little if any gain
Everyone knows the current line as Hiawatha and it runs next to Haiwatha Ave. Who is going to remember which line is blue and which line is green? They are fixing something that isn’t broke!
Everyone knows the current line as Hiawatha and it runs next to Haiwatha Ave. Who is going to remember which line is blue and which line is green? They are fixing something that isn’t broke!
Everyone knows the current line as Hiawatha and it runs next to Haiwatha Ave. Who is going to remember which line is blue and which line is green? They are fixing something that isn’t broke!
I live right next to the blue line, and I’ve rarely heard anybody refer to it as either the blue line or the Hiawatha line. Most people just call it the light rail or the tram. The renaming launch party was a low-budget affair, to the degree that the station I live near was not decorated in any way, shape or form, and I saw nothing different from the days before and after the name was changed. Even before the name change, the blue line had consistently been marked on maps in blue and the soon-to-be-opened green line has been marked on maps with a green dashed line. So, very little has really changed that much. The new Siemens LRVs are nice though. Their interiors are brighter, their exteriors are sleeker, though there’s a 1" gap between the floor and the bottoms of the doors that will make them a bit drafty in the winter. I hope that gets fixed ahead of the first snow.
An advantage of identifying transit rail lines by color is that maps using the various colors are much easier to read. Pittsburgh renamed its light rail lines a couple of years ago as “Red,” “Blue” and “Brown,” putting to rest the old numbered route designations. Riders refer only to the new labels now. I only wish we had light rail to the airport, as MSP and other cities do. Someday…
Nothing against colorcoding or branding transit lines by color but it just seems line designating rail transit lines by color has gotten to be like a disease. It’s almost like monkey see, monkey do. Change for the sake of change.
I’m with those who question the need to drop the Hiawatha name in favor of ‘Blue’. Guess they’re the same folks who insisted we rename the terminals at MSP Airport from Lindbergh and Humphrey to ‘1’ and ‘2’.