Template:Did you know nominations/Metro A Line (Minnesota)

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 13:13, 2 December 2020 (UTC)

Metro A Line (Minnesota)

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A Line bus ~~stopped at~~at a station in Saint Paul, Minnesota

~~... that one transit expert described the Metro A Line in Minnesota (bus pictured) as "probably the best bus route in the US"?~~ Source: During the talk Spieler pointed to the A Line (Snelling/Ford bus rapid transit) as an example of a great, highly legible bus route, even going so far as naming the A Line “probably the best bus route in the US.”
- ALT1:~~... that bus ridership along the Metro A Line corridor in Minnesota (bus pictured) increased by more than 30% in the first year after opening?~~ Source: Bus Ridership in the Snelling Corridor increased more than 30 percent in the first year of METRO A Line service...

Created/expanded by Eóin (talk). Self-nominated at 00:07, 11 November 2020 (UTC).

Love to see Minnesota articles at DYK, especially transit ones! New enough (GA November 5), long enough (15,560 characters), neutral, well-cited throughout, no copyvio or significant close paraphrasing issues noted. Both hooks short enough. ALT0: broadly interesting (we don't get enough bus facts on the MP), cited to and in refs 30 and 31. ALT1: broadly interesting but I think less so than ALT0, cited to and in ref 8. No QPQ needed (second lifetime DYK as far as I can tell). Eóin, there's a lovely bus picture in the infobox...would you like to include it in the nomination? Everything else is good to go! —Collin^{t c} 18:10, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
- I think the image would be lovely to include. I tried to add it above. I'm happy you appreciate the article! I have had several DYKs before but it's been a while (11 years!) so the process has changed significantly since I have last done it. I did complete a QPQ at Template:Did you know nominations/Rui Pinto. Eóin (talk) 03:19, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

Looks great! Picture and QPQ are good to go. Thanks for your work getting this one to GA! —Collin^{t c} 05:33, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

Hi, I came by to promote this, but these hooks are hardly hooky. Why don't you try fashioning a more descriptive hook about services or amenities? Yoninah (talk) 18:32, 21 November 2020 (UTC)

@Eóin: any suggestions? —Collin^{t c} 18:56, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

I'm not wed to any of the hooks but I thought being described as a superlative of a large nation was pretty hooky. I just got an edit conflict that was going to ping you Collin! I will edit the article to make sure these facts are clearly stated shortly. -Eóin (talk) 19:10, 22 November 2020 (UTC)
Both statements are now included/supported in the article. @Yoninah: and @Bobamnertiopsis:, please let me know what you think. -Eóin (talk) 19:19, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

ALT2: ~~... that stations on the Metro A Line feature a pylon that shows real-time bus arrival information and blinks when buses are arriving?~~ "Station components are exactly the same as they were for the A-Line. They have the same amenities like the pylon which indicates where the station is, the blinking light that tells you when the buses are coming."
ALT3: ... that special buses were purchased to operate the Metro A Line that have wide rear doors, a unique paint scheme, free Wi-Fi, and internal digital displays that provide real-time service information? [1] [2]

Thank you, Eóin. When writing a hook that will appear on Wikipedia's main page, you have to be sure you're not advertising or promoting the subject. That was my objection to ALT0 and ALT1. ALT2 could be said about any bus terminal in the world. ALT3 is just another self-promotional hook. Try something factual but also interesting/hooky, like:
ALT4: ~~... that the Metro A Line in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, has speeded up bus service by 6 to 8 minutes by redesigning buses and shortening/lengthening the distance between stations?~~ Yoninah (talk) 19:51, 22 November 2020 (UTC)
~~modified~~ ALT4a: ~~... that the Metro A Line in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, has sped up bus service by six to eight minutes by redesigning buses (example pictured) and lengthening the distance between stations?~~

Although it will operate in traffic, it is expected to be faster than the workhorse Route 84 bus, which has up to 80 stops between Rosedale Center and the 46th Street Blue Line light-rail station in Minneapolis. In contrast, the A Line has 20 stations in high-traffic areas, with links not only to the Blue Line, but to the Green Line light rail at University Avenue, as well. The A Line will be six to eight minutes faster than the Route 84 bus, according to Katie Roth, project manager for Metro Transit.

Thank you for the clarification and suggestion, Yoninah. I hope this citation clarifies the change in distance between stations and supports the hook. -Eóin (talk) 21:18, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

@Eóin: You're welcome. But the reason I didn't know which word was correct was because this fact wasn't mentioned in the article. Please add this fact to the article and cite it there. Thanks, Yoninah (talk) 21:25, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

@Yoninah:, I've added the fact to the article with this edit. -Eóin (talk) 21:43, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Thank you! See how I added more from the source there. ALT4a is ready for review. Pinging original reviewer Collin. Yoninah (talk) 22:01, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

@Eóin: I tweaked the picture caption but I would like to know if this bus reflects the redesigned buses. The picture was taken two years ago. Yoninah (talk) 22:04, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

@Yoninah:. Thank you for your assistance. I can confirm that this bus reflects the redesigned buses, the original buses that were delivered in 2016 are still in use. -Eóin (talk) 22:18, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

A Line bus at a station in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Great! Here is a tighter crop. Yoninah (talk) 22:32, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

ALT4a: Cited to and in article (ref 12). Hook is longish (191 characters; I changed "speeded" to "sped" but wrote out the numbers) but not too long. Could the hook be improved somewhat by focusing in a little more exactly on how the speed improvement was accomplished? I think the thing that stands out to me is the huge reduction in the number of stations—80 for the previous route traversing the same distance, but just 20 for the A Line? Maybe something like ALT5: ... that while its predecessor had 80 stops, Minnesota's Metro A Line (bus pictured) has only 20 and completes the same route six to eight minutes faster? How does something like that feel? —Collin^{t c} 04:37, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

ALT5 sounds great! But you have to qualify that it's in high-traffic areas:
ALT5a: ~~... that while its predecessor had 80 stops in high-traffic areas, Minnesota's Metro A Line (bus pictured) has only 20 and completes the same route six to eight minutes faster?~~Yoninah (talk) 13:50, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

Hmm. I think what the source is saying is not that both buses had the same number of stops in high-traffic areas but that the A Line consolidates its stops across the same route into the areas on the route that have the highest traffic? The source says "the workhorse Route 84 bus, which has up to 80 stops between Rosedale Center and the 46th Street [station] ... In contrast, the A Line has 20 stations in high-traffic areas..." Whereas the article says "Moreover, in high-traffic areas, the system has only 20 stations..." but we know from elsewhere in the article that the entire route has only 20 stations, implying that the entire route is the high-traffic area. I think the solution is to align the article with the source, maybe something like "Compared with earlier bus routes along the corridor which had up to 80 stops, the A Line has only 20 stations, spaced further apart than their predecessors and located at high-traffic areas along the route, allowing buses travel further between stops." Something like that, but maybe less clunky? —Collin^{t c} 17:18, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

I agree with Collin about what the source says about the high-traffic areas. I like ALT5 but I'm fine if the high-traffic part needs to be included. -Eóin (talk) 02:01, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

Eóin, can you reword the article to reflect the meaning of the source vis-a-vis high-traffic areas? Thanks for your patience as we work through this together! Kindly —Collin^{t c} 02:16, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

I've edited the text to now say "Previous buses in the corridor stopped at up to 80 stops, while the A Line travels further between stops and has only 20 stations located at high-traffic areas." Is this suitable, Bobamnertiopsis and Yoninah? -Eóin (talk) 17:01, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

ALT5 now reflects text in the source and text cited to the source in the article. Also short enough (154 characters). Image is good to go, all other requirements are fulfilled. —Collin^{t c} 23:21, 25 November 2020 (UTC)