4 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

I've updated the itinerary for our day in Memphis. It formerly left a 9-hour gap in activities, but now the afternoon is better planned including lunchtime, Mud Island (& the monorail ride), Riverfront Loop trolley, and dinnertime.

I expanded lunchtime from one to two hours, which allows things to be more leisurely. In addition, if concensus of the group is to go to a club-type sit-down place on Beale Street for lunch, this extra time will allow for that. I'm not finding menu choices particularly appealing or within budget for lunch, so I may still opt for Peabody Place or some other fast food place along the street.

The trip on the Riverfront Loop trolley was split into three segments. We would get off once to do Mud Island, then reboard in late afternoon on the way to dinner (2 hours allocated), and finally complete the loop after dinner. The schedule has us finishing at 7 PM at Central Station, our departure place later that evening on the City of New Orleans. With our DayPasses, we could opt to ride around the entire loop once more without the stops to kill time, once again ending up at Central Station. Perhaps it will be getting dark and we can see the sunset over the Mississippi from the trolley.

Mud Island itself I also gave a little under two hours (not including the two 3-minute monorail rides).

Now the MATA trolley system is a bit confusing, because as I've said before there is no definitive schedule. The times presented for it (and the monorail) are just guesses based on maximum expected waiting time and a purely estimated running time.

As I continue to strive to understand the system better, it becomes clearer that I won't learn things in full until we all ride the system together in July. MATA's site says that the Main Street trolleys run 10 minutes apart, and Riverfront 13 minutes apart. This would make sense in that the Riverfront Loop is a longer trip than the Main Street route. Another online source says that the headways are 5 minutes on northbound Main Street, and 10 minutes on southbound Main Street and Riverfront, so I guess we'll see when we get there which is true.

The headways on the northbound Main Street Trolley are much shorter because of the combination of regular Main Street cars as well as Riverfront cars making the circle back to the northern start of the southbound-only route. So therefore, it is entirely possible that the change of vehicles at Main & Auction between a Main Street trolley and a Riverfront trolley won't be necessary, if the one we board on Main Street is going through to Riverfront; we just stay on and ride it around. This could cut some time off our travels, or the wait could be longer if we are picky which trolley we board.

Furthermore, while only the Riverfront Loop has a stop immediately outside Central Station, the Main Street Trolley has its southernmost station a block up the street. So we have to watch for both if we want to catch the next northbound car up Main Street since it would either come from Riverfront (eastbound) or on Main Street (southbound) to the station where it would turn around to head north again.

Another aspect of the Memphis itinerary that may not be changed until after our visit is the transfer point between Main Street and Madison Avenue Trolleys. The transfer, as I understand, is not done right at this intersection, but rather at one of the stations along Main Street just north or south of there. The Madison Avenue trolleys thus make the turns between Main and Madison within revenue service, and use switches along Main Street to change direction.

Overall, we are not particularly bound for time since we have that 10:40 PM Amtrak departure. So if either meal or the time on Mud Island takes more than 2 hours, it's not a big problem for us.

Edited by KevinKorell, 08 April 2011 - 06:39 PM.

[KevinKorell]

Our host in Memphis, MATA, has updated the trolleys page on their website including a much better and clearer map of the three trolley lines. Print or save this .pdf file here: http://www.matatrans.../trolleymap.pdf

It makes it easier to understand the nature of the line along Main Street, and why service is more frequent northbound than southbound (Riverfront cars share the northbound track along Main Street, but use their own route southbound along the Mississippi River and adjacent to the CN track).

The major difference between this map and previous ones is that the colors were switched... now yellow is for the Madison Avenue Line, while green represents the Riverfront Loop. Also, for the first time it shows how one transfers between the Madison Avenue Line and the others ..... at Court Square.

In addition, MOST (but not all) hotels and attractions are shown on the map so one can see where the nearest station is. Not every station name is shown, but at least it's clear at what street you need to get on or off the trolleys.

I'll update the itinerary to reflect the new colors, and also improve on the station names now that they are known. It won't affect our times much, very open as it is with plenty of time to fill. Since we plan on getting off and on the Riverfront Loop a few times, perhaps we can take one final sunset or moonlight (depending on time of the evening) run after dinner to cover the entire loop once more. You really can't beat $3.25 for a Daily Pass !

[KevinKorell]

Another thing: The Riverfront Loop has a stop right on the northside of Central Station. According to the "schedule" it is served every 13 minutes. A short walk up Main Street to the endpoint of the Main Street Line, where cars turn, would yield us service every 10 minutes, PLUS if one of the Riverfront cars comes along, that's great too. So it may be best to make the short walk rather than waiting right by Central Station. Furthermore, service runs until 11:30 PM on the Main Street Line, and 11 PM on the Riverfront Loop, so we have to keep that in mind if we are an hour or more late. Taxicabs may be necessary if we arrive beyond those times. Service ends at 10:50 PM on the Madison Avenue Line, a consideration for those who would need that line to access hotels.

[steve4031]

This is a great help. Thanks Kevin.

[KevinKorell]

As promised last week, the Itinerary has been changed for 7/22 in Memphis, to reflect the colors on the new MATA trolley map. Times have not been changed. The transfer point between the Main/Riverfront and Madison lines was changed to Main & Court.