Originally Posted by
iaflyer
Thank you for the detailed post - since Compass is new, I haven't heard much about the internal workings like this, with types of trips and the like.
It sounds like you're MSP based - are DTW trips similar?
I am MSP-based so I don't know what DTW lines have historically been like. Off the top of my head, I can think of one active poster that's DTW-based (BOHICAagain), I'm sure he'll be along shortly or you can PM him for info.
I can give you the rundown on Detroit's January lines. There are a lot fewer lines & pairings than MSP so they're easier to analyze.
39 total lines: 29 hard lines, 2 buildup, 8 reserve
1x 18 days off, 1x 17 days off, 2x 16 days off, 4x 14 days off, 5x 13 days off, 9x 12 days off, 15x 11 days off.
2 lines of Monterey daytrips
3 lines of mostly 2-day trips
5 lines of all 4-day trips
The rest of the lines have a mishmash of 1, 2, 3, and 4 day trips. A block of working days is often composed of several trips strung together, ie 2+3 or 1+4, so I assume a commuter would be spending a little quality time in the Detroit Clarion.
Other than that, of the 29 hard lines, 14 are very commuter-friendly (which I define as no more than 1 early show/late release at the beginning/end of your workweek). It looks like they made the effort to keep the commuter lines "pure," the others have a *lot* of early shows & late releases.
8 lines with all weekends off, 10 lines with some or partial weekends off.
Hope this helps.