Metro Transit has big plans for 2025 and beyond with several new major bus lines and service improvements in the works, and is hoping to hear more from riders about their desires for the system.
A public comment period is open for Metro Transit’s Network Now plan through November 15. The plan seeks to expand service by 35% and increase the rate of metro area jobs accessible by a 45-minute transit ride by 25% by the end of 2027.
“Network Now is really coming at a pivotal time for us,” Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras told Sahan Journal. “We want to learn from riders about what they need now.”
Public transportation was derailed by the pandemic, but is continuing its gradual rebound. Metro Transit ridership is up 9% from last year, and is averaging 142,067 riders each weekday.
But the way those riders use the system is different. Gone are the packed express routes carrying workers to 9-to-5 gigs downtown. Today’s riders are using local buses and riding light rail and bus rapid transit routes at all hours of the day to run errands, go to work and visit family.
Metro Transit spent the last two years seeking customer feedback to help develop its plan, which is currently in draft form. The agency received more than 6,000 survey results and spoke with hundreds of riders across the system, according to Adam Harrington, director of service development.
The agency knows riders want service at pre-pandemic frequency levels, but wants to hone in on exactly how people want to bring it back, Harrington said.
Getting more people to ride public transportation is key to achieving Minnesota’s goal to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation is the leading source of Minnesota’s emissions today, according to a 2023 state report. Climate change is the motivating factor for Move Minnesota, a nonprofit that advocates for public transportation improvements statewide, according to Interim Executive Director Elissa Shufman. The organization is excited about the Network Now plan, but believes more could be done to improve transit equity, she said.
“Public transit should allow and encourage people to meet most of their daily needs,” Schufman said.
New lines coming
Metro Transit will roll out the Network Now plan in 2025 with the launch of three long-awaited bus rapid transit lines. The Gold Line will begin service between downtown St. Paul and Woodbury in March; the B Line will transport riders from downtown St. Paul through south Minneapolis along Marshall Avenue and Lake Street starting in June; and the E Line will connect the University of Minnesota to Edina’s Southdale Center via Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis with service beginning in late 2025.
Bus rapid transit has been a bright spot for Metro Transit in recent years. The bus routes use larger vehicles, stop less frequently and collect fares before riders board, all of which saves time. Existing routes like the A Line on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul and the C Line, which runs on Penn Avenue in north Minneapolis, have seen the largest ridership growth in the system.
But Network Now is going beyond bus rapid transit, with the goal of boosting frequency on 65 routes across the system, 15 of which are high-frequency routes that run every 15 minutes or better. It also aims to bring 20 new bus routes online and run light rail trains every 10 minutes, which hasn’t occurred since the pandemic.
The buildout for future bus rapid transit lines includes new, better-equipped bus shelters along major transit corridors and red, bus-only lanes along portions of Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue that are already benefiting riders.
“Part of the excitement is, we’re doing some of these things now,” Harrington said.
The planned improvements are paid for by a new sales tax in the seven-county metro area approved by the Minnesota Legislature in 2023 that went into effect in October 2023. The 0.75% tax has been critical to Network Now, Kandaras said.
Move Minnesota lobbied at the Capitol for a decade to help pass the tax, and is pushing Metro Transit to invest that money in more frequent, local service, Schufman said. The group is pleased with the ambition of the plan, and believes it will make taking transit easier for most people. But the plan could be better oriented toward racial and income equity goals, she said.
Network Now aims to create a system where 29%* of metro residents live within a 5-minute walk of transit that comes every 15 minutes or better, which includes goals to have high-frequency routes within a 5-minute walk of 44% of all low-income residents and 39% of all residents of color.
Metro Transit is disproportionately used by people of color, who made up 55% of users on core bus routes and light rail service according to a 2022 Metropolitan Council survey. Move Minnesota believes the plan should aim to have high-frequency routes within a 5-minute walk of 50% of the metro’s low-income residents and people of color.
“We’d like to see them take additional steps on that,” Schufman said.
Rider desires
Judy Stewart depends on Metro Transit to get around and is mostly pleased with the system. On a cool early November morning, she rode Route 94 from Minneapolis to St. Paul, where she would board a local bus to visit her daughter. She also uses Metro Mobility, an on-demand service for people with disabilities or health conditions.
The final service changes of 2024, scheduled to be implemented on December 7, include frequency improvements to buses like Route 94, an express bus linking the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The bus will start running every 20 minutes on weekdays, an improvement from every half-hour. That frequency boost will be nice, Stewart said, but she’s been content with current service.
“I’m very pleased with riding the bus and Metro Mobility,” Stewart, 62, said. “It’s just the train I have a problem with.”
A thief stole Stewart’s purse on the light rail about 10 years ago, and every time she’s ridden the trains recently she’s been disturbed by smoking and other bad behavior. She wants to see more police presence before she rides again.
Metro Transit is ramping up its security presence on trains with a mix of police and Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) agents, who don blue vests, check fares, enforce the agency’s code of conduct and offer navigation assistance. The presence has noticeably increased in recent months, and crews wearing blue are now a common sight on the train. But the agency continues to hear complaints from riders about drug use and other antisocial behavior.
“We still have work to do,” Kandaras said.
Syed Hussein lives near the light rail in Minneapolis and uses it semi-regularly. He used to ride the train more before the pandemic, and appreciated the all-hours service that kept trains running well past midnight. He’s been leery of smoking and drug dealing on the train in recent years, but said he’s seen improvements lately as he rode the Green Line on November 8. He’d like to live car-free, but feels like the current transit system in the Twin Cities isn’t good enough to do that.
“It has a ways to go but eventually I think it will get there,” Hussein, 31, said.
*Correction: An earlier version of the story misstated the percentage of residents Metro Transit hopes to serve with high frequency routes.
