Crystal
LightNews LightNews
banner
ccolby.bsky.social
Crystal
@ccolby.bsky.social
200 followers 160 following 390 posts
Digital accessibility advocate, transit fan, and native plant gardener in the Twin Cities. Everyone watches women's sports.
Posts Replies Media Videos
ccolby.bsky.social
I noticed the app was set to metric months ago but apparently never fixed it 😅 It's about 1,041 miles.
Screengrab from the Transit app. You literally went the distance this year: 1,676 kilometers across 354 Go trips!
December 13, 2025 at 6:02 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
Well, this is cool.
Screengrab from the Transit app. 2025 year in transit: I was in the top 2% of Go riders this year. A volleyball with a crown is at the right. A Green Line icon is straddling the left margin, with a big number 65 in the middle and a smaller 3 on the right.
December 13, 2025 at 5:55 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
Getting off the bus on the trip back was just as bad; they didn't clear snow during the day. Got stuck trying to climb over this snowbank kitty-corner from the previous post. (In a skirt, no less.) Haven't sent this one in to Ramsey County yet but you can bet I will do that. #MSPTransitExperience
Tall snowbank with a couple footprints. A Metro Transit bus is immediately behind it, stopped behind a crosswalk.
December 12, 2025 at 4:24 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
Is "atrocious" too strong a word to describe the condition of the sidewalk and bus stop at Rice Street and County Road B? I don't think so. It's right across the street from a Metro Transit park-and-ride, too. I reported this to Ramsey County Public Works this afternoon. #MSPTransitExperience
Looking out of a bus shelter. The sidewalk is covered in deep snow. People have worn a footpath to the street, though it's so tall at the street that it's only a narrow v-shaped opening at the end. Standing in a crosswalk and looking at the spot where there should be a curb cut and sidewalk. But it's covered with a 2-foot snowbank. Standing in the street and looking at a bus shelter, the opposite view from the first photo. The snowbank appears several feet wide from street to sidewalk. A track in the close side of the snowbank shows that someone slipped down to the street.
December 12, 2025 at 4:21 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
I noticed that too! The artist is Kao Lee Thao. www.innerswirl.com
Colorful watercolor poster designed by artist Kao Lee Thao with people and buses weaving through Saint Paul, Maplewood, Oakdale, Landfall, and Woodbury. Includes a dragon boat, flowers, patterns, and much more. Commemorated the opening of the Metro Gold Line on March 22, 2025.
December 12, 2025 at 2:13 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
Follow-up question if you reply "yes" above. Wish I had opened the app at my stop this morning so I could have answered this question; the bus shelter and sidewalk hadn't been cleared at all after 6 inches of snow.
Screengrab from the Transit app. Question asks Has snow been removed from this bus stop? Options are Not at all, More or less, and Well cleared.
December 11, 2025 at 10:21 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
Timely new question in the Transit app!
Screengrab from the Transit app. Question asks Is there snow on the ground? Options are No, Yes, and It's snowing right now.
December 11, 2025 at 10:11 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
Bummer that it's not route 3 becoming the E Line tomorrow. Metro Transit could have made a fun gif of the number 3 flipping horizontally to become an E in their ads. 3 ➡️ E

www.metrotransit.org/route/eline
Metro E Line logo. Metro Transit's red circle with a white letter T is at the top left. The word Metro is next to it in capital letters. Below is a gray box with E Line in white letters. Formerly route 6.
December 6, 2025 at 1:03 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
Glad to see an alert on the route 6 schedule page about tomorrow's switch to the E Line. Could be more obvious on the page (the default is Schedules & Maps, so you have to know to click Alerts), but at least it's there this time.
www.metrotransit.org/route/6 #MSPTransitExperience
Screengrab from Metro Transit's Route 6 Local Bus web page. An Alerts tab is open and says Service Change Upcoming. Effective Saturday, December 6, service changes begin on Route 6. Route will be discontinued and replaced by the new Metro E Line.
December 5, 2025 at 2:51 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
Speaking of The Arena Formerly Known As Xcel: are people using its new name? Or is it going to continue to be called "The X" for the foreseeable future? It always takes me a minute to remember what it is now.
Xcel Energy Center was renamed Grand Casino Arena on September 3. Photo from November 13 of the arena with its new name in capital letters on top.
December 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
The B Line is finally updating its onboard announcements for downtown Saint Paul. As recently as last Tuesday when this blurry video was taken, they were saying Xcel Energy Center. Now the arena name has been (temporarily?) dropped from the Smith and 5th Street Station message. #MSPTransitExperience
December 4, 2025 at 3:59 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
And that was better than the median I crossed on foot to reach my second bus, which wasn't cleared at all. (Reported to Ramsey County Public Works, which I believe is responsible for this area.)
In a crosswalk looking down at a triangular median ahead. It's covered in snow, with brown snow piles from the road at the edges, and lots of footprints.
December 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
Yesterday was my first time on transit since it snowed last weekend. The stop where I got off my first bus wasn't shoveled so our driver let us off almost in the intersection. #MSPTransitExperience
Bus shelter at the right. A partially cleared sidewalk in the middle. Uneven and uncleared snow wider than the cleared area is on the left, higher at the curb. A bus is at the top left.
December 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
Border battle for the regular-season finale at the Pav and on the B1G Network now. #GopherVolleyball
Stella Swenson setting the ball to Carly Gilk during warmups.
November 29, 2025 at 2:04 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
72 eastbound buses *still* have sign issues. I rode one without the front number again on Saturday. And I rode another that said 72 outside, but the onboard sign was not great. It displayed an error message briefly, along with the incorrect time: 4:29 p.m. when it was actually 5:42 p.m. Yikes.
Inside view looking out the front of bus 1627. The digital sign above the windshield says Address = 01 in red. Same sign about 10 seconds later, reading Sat 4:29 PM.
November 25, 2025 at 4:13 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
Always an adventure when the bus is so late that the Transit app doesn't know what happened. (It arrived 2 minutes after I saved this screengrab.) Interesting that the 3 upcoming times shown are all "scheduled" rather than using real-time data. #MSPTransitExperience
Screengrab from the Transit app with information about the B Line while waiting at a stop. Top says to wait for the B, then has a question below: Did the bus come? Options are No it hasn't come, Yes but I'm not on it, and Yes I'm onboard! Also shows the scheduled arrivals at this stop, in 8 minutes, 20 minutes, and 33 minutes. All are noted as Scheduled in full caps, instead of showing a real-time icon like I usually see.
November 23, 2025 at 3:59 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
Bus bunching. I see this often for the B Line on the Saint Paul side. #MSPTransitExperience
A tall digital Metro Transit sign at Selby and Dale that shows one B Line bus is due, a second is set to arrive in 4 minutes, and a third is set to arrive in 5 minutes. Also shows two upcoming arrivals for route 72 and two later B Line arrivals.
November 23, 2025 at 1:04 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
4,486 fans watched Minnesota sweep Penn State at the Pav. #GopherVBall
The whole Gopher team celebrating on the court while 2 levels of fans cheer in the background.
November 15, 2025 at 4:08 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
Question that shows up in the Transit app when you're waiting for the bus after dark. #MSPTransitExperience
Screengrab from the Transit app. Question asks is this bus stop well lit? Options are Way too dark, Could be better, and It's well lit.
November 14, 2025 at 1:42 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
They're back. More muted tonight; I was questioning my eyes and a camera was helpful. But any night with northern lights is a good night.
Large pink smudge covering most of the image, with a short pink streak at bottom right. Trees are at the bottom left and right corners, and stars are at top right.
November 13, 2025 at 4:41 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
I saw really great northern lights twice last year when I was up north, but nothing like this color! Didn't expect to see something so bright, even with the naked eye, among street lights and house lights in the Twin Cities.
A dark pink streak running from left to right at a slight upward angle against a dark blue-gray background. Just past the midpoint of the streak is a wiggle up and then down before straightening out again.
November 12, 2025 at 5:28 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
If you cut down old plants this year but haven't yet taken them to the compost site, it's too late for the season: insects are hibernating. Saturday I pulled saplings off a pile and found 3 wooly bear caterpillars. Don't know why they chose thistles! (Carefully covered them back up after the photo.)
3 round caterpillars laying in a pile of dried thistles. The middle caterpillar is mostly brown with a small black sections on its ends. The two others are mostly black with a little bit of brown. The one on the right is harder to see under a thistle stem.
November 11, 2025 at 6:59 PM
ccolby.bsky.social
3 weeks ago, this sign was not yet displaying times. Route 6 was in the spot where it says E Line now (compare with above post). According to project FAQs, the 6 won't run in this area after the E Line opens, though it will still travel on Xerxes and Hennepin. www.metrotransit.org/e-line-faqs
Bottom of the same sign showing mostly the same routes, with 6 in the first spot instead of the last, and no E Line listed. A note below the route numbers says it's the 4th Street and Ridder Arena stop.
November 3, 2025 at 3:30 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
The new digital schedule sign is working at the U of M bus stop outside Ridder Arena as of at least yesterday, a month ahead of the opening of the E Line. (Route 6 is on the board until then.) Nice to see the integration of campus transit and Metro Transit info on one sign. #MSPTransitExperience
Tall digital sign at the Fourth Street and Ridder Arena transit stop at night. There are upcoming bus arrival times listed, plus an ad for riding transit to sports events. The bus routes are listed as E Line, 2, 33, campus routes 121 and 123, express bus drop-off, and 6. The 6 is out of numerical order.
November 3, 2025 at 3:30 AM
ccolby.bsky.social
Yes. These were blooming earlier than I remembered, but still autumn. (September 4, 2020.)
Two blooming white violets with yellow centers.
October 31, 2025 at 10:46 PM