You’d have to be living under a media rock to not know that the GOP convention is coming to the Twin Cities in 2008. It’s been 24 hours, and the Twin Cities is all atwitter about the 20,000 or so Republicans visiting our grand state…and during the State Fair! We’re talking international exposure for our hotdish on a stick, people.

Now, the GOP convention will be held at St. Paul’s Xcel Center. And the State Fair is only a few miles from Xcel. Both events will bring an absurd number of people to the Cities. One of our members called yesterday and asked, “So…has anyone given any thought as to how we’re moving people around?”

As the Star Tribune attests, Metro Transit’s Brian Lamb is thinking about it. During the State Fair, he brings in 70-odd extra buses. Preliminary estimates show that we’ll need something like 250 to 300 extra buses for this convention. “Borrowing buses from other cities, such as Rochester, may be a possibility, said Lamb, as would slowing the number of buses Metro Transit normally retires in a given year. “That will build up our reserve fleet,” he said.

Also, I live in downtown St. Paul. Most of the streets are charmingly narrow. And the Xcel Center is located on a very busy intersection…which will most likely be closed for security. Lamb’s on top of the gridlock possibilities, though. The key, says Lamb, will be “scheduling these things in a precise enough way to avoid those kinds of gridlock situations.”

Great. I’m glad someone’s on top of this. And I must say…actually, I’ll whisper it. Methinks this the GOP Convention/State Fair combo will have people calling out, “Transit! Please!”

Oh, and the bicycles. Just think of the bicycles. No matter how good the transit is, the roads will still be packed. But the Midtown Greenway…that will be our secret weapon. Take to the paths, people. You’ll enjoy the beautiful late-summer weather, get to your destination before everyone else, and have difficulty wiping a smug grin off your face.

We’ll see how it shakes out.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 at 5:22 pm by Katie and is filed under Transit and Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.