Public Transit News / Current Events (MN only)

[Trademark]

Minnesota Democrats consider tax and fee increases

I can't tell if the plan is to raise the transit tax to or by 0.75%. Presumably the increase would be to fund local portions of the LRT lines and accelerate aBRT?

The transit tax would be raised by 0.75% metro wide with most of the money going towards operations. (Metro Transit is facing a $260 million operating cliff in 2026 and that's with only returning 90% of precovid service). Other things it's going towards are some free fare pilots, better bus stops, paratransit, microtransit, planning of highway BRT, and aBRT.

Technically it's only going to be 5/8th of a cent as the last 1/8th cent is going towards safer roads.

[twincitizen]

Would the current 0.5% sales tax levied by Hennepin & Ramsey counties (for LRT & highway/guideway BRT) remain under county control, or would Met Council get control of those purse strings too? If we get an elected Met Council (and honestly, even if we don't), I think I'd favor Met Council taking over those monies and terminating Hennepin & Ramsey Counties' Regional Rail Authorities (assuming proper checks and balances so that funding can't be raided for other purposes in the future).

Zooming out a bit, if we get a democratically elected Met Council, I'd be in favor of de-powering the 7 metro counties. Sort of a "soft abolishment" of the 7 metro counties as far as transportation planning/funding. The counties would still exist, as there's probably no choice but to keep their social service functions as-is (there is simply too much federal grant funding tied to HHS / Public Health stuff to untangle or merge), but they would no longer do anything with transportation in the metro area. Met Council would fund, plan and operate the transit, and MnDOT metro district could take over County Roads and such.

[Trademark]

Would the current 0.5% sales tax levied by Hennepin & Ramsey counties (for LRT & highway/guideway BRT) remain under county control, or would Met Council get control of those purse strings too? If we get an elected Met Council (and honestly, even if we don't), I think I'd favor Met Council taking over those monies and terminating Hennepin & Ramsey Counties' Regional Rail Authorities (assuming proper checks and balances so that funding can't be raided for other purposes in the future).

Zooming out a bit, if we get a democratically elected Met Council, I'd be in favor of de-powering the 7 metro counties. Sort of a "soft abolishment" of the 7 metro counties as far as transportation planning/funding. The counties would still exist, as there's probably no choice but to keep their social service functions as-is (there is simply too much federal grant funding tied to HHS / Public Health stuff to untangle or merge), but they would no longer do anything with transportation in the metro area. Met Council would fund, plan and operate the transit, and MnDOT metro district could take over County Roads and such.

I think it would still stay under local control. It would also be separate pools of money as the .5 is for capitol not operations.

[DanPatchToget]

Here's Metro Transit average weekday ridership data up to February of this year. Includes separate graphs for regular bus, each aBRT route, the Orange Line, each LRT route, and Northstar. Interpret it as you will. https://www.metrotransit.org/performanc ... SNHtohadhk

[Tom H.]

D Line looking like a champ.

[daveybabymsp]

Makes you wonder what kind of numbers it would have put up pre-pandemic

[Trademark]

The D Line is outpacing the weekend pre-covid ridership of the 5, and is around 90% of pre-covid weekday ridership.

[Tcmetro]

Plymouth Metrolink is replacing the Dunkirk P&R with new park and rides at the Plymouth Ice Center and the Northwest Greenway Pavilion. They will also restructure the 774, 776, 777, and 790 express routes. These changes are anticipated to begin on May 30th.

https://www.plymouthmn.gov/Home/Compone ... s/7885/246

[StandishGuy]

That ridership info is fascinating as it demonstrates the huge hit in boardings caused by the pandemic. It seems that the Blue Line's ridership is recovering much faster than the Green Line, which has only slightly higher ridership than the Blue Line now. Pre-COVID the Green Line was in the high 40,000s passing 50,000 one month. Now it is generally less than 25,000 per day.

The Northstar ridership is pretty jarring with around 2,500 daily riders pre-COVID to now only around 300 per day. Oof!

IMO the Orange Line ridership is pretty low, particularly when compared to the ABRT ridership on the C and D lines. 1,000 to 1,200 daily riders is a fraction of the 8,000 predicted.

The Red Line generally has less than 350 riders per day.

Finally, the "Regular Bus" ridership looks bad, but I suppose the Route 5 numbers were subtracted last fall when the D Line service began. The huge ridership of the #21 will further subtract from the "Regular Bus" numbers when the B Line starts in 2024.

[DanPatchToget]

At this point I don't know why the Red Line is kept running. Just have MVTA run a slightly more frequent service on the 440 and 442, which serve several more destinations than the Red Line's few stops along a gigantic car sewer. Maybe have the 475 serve the MOA as well so there's still a limited-stop service available along Cedar/Highway 77. If Eagan and Apple Valley get serious about densifying along this corridor then talk about bringing back the Red Line.

[mattaudio]

The Red Line was not about transit, it was about adding through lanes and turn lanes to Cedar Ave in Apple Valley, consolidating access, replacing millions of dollars worth of aging stoplights, etc. If 350 people get to ride a bus each day that's just a bonus.

[Tom H.]

I also imagine there's some strings attached to the FTA FFGA, where if service were suspended/eliminated then the federal transit dollars used to construct the line would have to be repaid in some fashion.

[Bakken2016]

I also imagine there's some strings attached to the FTA FFGA, where if service were suspended/eliminated then the federal transit dollars used to construct the line would have to be repaid in some fashion.

Red Line didn’t have federal dollars used if I recall correctly. It was all local funding.


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[Tiller]

Would anyone know where to find some data on the operating Cost per hour and/or mile for minibuses? I've been digging through study/report PDFs from Google for a couple hours now trying to find some. It doesn't have to be laser-accurate.

The only one I found was from the 1980s - but I don't trust that the rate of inflation for transit operating costs would be close to the general rate of inflation for operation costs from 40 years ago.

I can find information on operating costs for normal buses - minibuses have some lower level of operating costs compared to normal buses though, right?

[daveybabymsp]

Metro transit published March ridership data:

https://www.metrotransit.org/performance

Some highlights: D line ridership keeps climbing, just short of 10,000 average weekday ridership in March. Seems like it is cannibalizing some C line ridership, which has been declining since the D line opened.

Orange line had a noticeable jump in ridership. When you look at the axis, it is only ~100 additionally riders per day, but that represents an almost 10% boost compared to last month.

All other lines outside of northstar seem to be trending in the right direction, although some of that is just seasonal


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[seanrichardryan]

Won't the Twins opener boost Northstar?

[Bakken2016]

Won't the Twins opener boost Northstar?

It would if Metro Transit could run the service, Anoka County is not willing to pay their share of funding, so between Hennepin and Sherburne funding all Metro Transit can afford is 2 weekday round trips.

[Trademark]

Until other peak only express services rebound in ridership, I don't see the point in investing in more trips for Northstar. The omnibus bill is studying intercity rail to Fargo and St Cloud, and I think that would get far more ridership per trip then Northstar

[Bakken2016]

https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetin ... 3_106.aspx

Metro Transit is starting the transition for a fare system upgrade, that could include fare capping, account based Go To Cards, and NFC payment with credit cards.

[Bakken2016]

Metro Transit: June 17th Service Changes

Service increases on a good variety of routes, and some detours due to construction.

Pocket Schedules are attached to each route on this page: https://www.metrotransit.org/quarterly- ... ay-june-17

METRO Lines:

METRO Orange Line:
Trip frequency will improve to every 15 minutes during midday on weekdays.

METRO C Line/METRO D Line
Schedule and trip times will be adjusted to account for Osseo Rd. construction.
New routing will be in effect to accommodate Osseo Rd. construction.

Minneapolis/St Paul Local/Express Routes:

ROUTE 3:
New temporary routing on Robert St. begins due to construction on Minnesota St. and Kellogg Blvd.
Trip times on all days will be adjusted in downtown St. Paul.

ROUTE 4:
Schedule times adjusted for northbound weekday rush-hour trips.
Downtown trip times adjusted for accuracy on Saturday and Sunday.
New timepoints at northbound 4th St. & Hennepin Ave. and southbound at 3rd & Hennepin Ave. will replace Washington & Hennepin timepoint.

ROUTE 5:
Schedule and trip times will be adjusted to account for Osseo Rd. construction.
New routing and timepoints will be in effect to accommodate Osseo Rd. construction.

ROUTE 6:
Schedule times adjusted during weekday afternoon rush hour and Saturdays.

ROUTE 7:
Weekday frequency will improve to every 30 minutes during midday and evenings.

ROUTE 9:
Weekday midday service will improve to every 30 minutes between Louisiana Ave. Transit Center and 46th St. Station.

ROUTE 23:
Weekday frequency adjusts to every 30 minutes during midday.
A new weekday westbound trip will leave MN Veterans Home at 11:10 p.m.

ROUTE 25:
The Route 25L trip from Cedar Trails to downtown Minneapolis will remain after school is out for summer. It will become a year-round trip.

ROUTE 62:
New temporary routing on Robert St. due to construction on Minnesota St. and Kellogg Blvd.
Route segment on Wabasha from Kellogg to Fillmore is temporarily discontinued during construction.
Schedule and trip times will be adjusted for all days.

ROUTE 67:
New temporary routing on Robert St. begins due to construction on Minnesota St. and Kellogg Blvd.
Schedule and trip times will be adjusted for all days.

ROUTE 68:
All trips will serve commercial destinations on S. Robert St. as far as Marie.
New Route 68C/68J routing on Oakdale from Marie to Thompson. Route segment on Thompson from Oakdale to Robert will be discontinued.
Weekday Route 68G south of Inver Hills College operate only on afternoons and evenings and will run later until 11 p.m.
Evening service, all days of the week will retimed to every 30 minutes for better transfers downtown.
Sundays will have more trips serving 75th St. & Concord.
Schedule and trip times will be adjusted for all days.

ROUTE 71:
Schedule and trip times on all days will be adjusted.

ROUTE 75:
New temporary routing on Robert St. begins due to construction on Minnesota St. and Kellogg Blvd.
Route segment on Wabasha from Kellogg to Fillmore is temporarily discontinued during construction.
Schedule and trip times will be adjusted.

ROUTE 94:
Service during morning and afternoon rush hours will improve to every 20 minutes and every 30 minutes during the midday.

Suburban Local/Express Routes:

ROUTE 225:
Weekday and Saturday service will improve to every 60 minutes.

ROUTE 227:
Weekday and Saturday service will improve to every 60 minutes.

ROUTE 250:
New southbound trips will leave 95th Ave. Park & Ride at 6:01, 6:58, and 7:27 a.m. These trips will not serve Co. Rd. H Park & Ride.
New Route 250N northbound trips will leave 2nd Ave. S & 11th St. at 3:30 and 5:01 p.m. These trips will not serve Co. Rd. H Park & Ride.

ROUTE 270:
A new eastbound trip will leave 2nd Ave. S. & 11th St. at 3:47 p.m.
Frequency will improve to every 30 minutes in the afternoon.

ROUTE 355:
Service returns with limited trips between Woodbury Theater Park & Ride and downtown Minneapolis.
New westbound trips will leave Woodbury Theatre at 6:43 and 7:15 a.m.
New eastbound trips will leave 5th St. (Ramp B) at 3:58 and 4:25 p.m.

ROUTE 615:
Weekday and Saturday frequency will improve to every 60 minutes.
Schedule times will be updated with additional morning and evening trips.

ROUTE 645:
Weekday frequency will improve to every 30 minutes during rush hours.
Weekday service to Mound returns.
Weekend frequency will improve to every 60 minutes.
Routing through the General Mills parking lot will be discontinued. Buses will stay on Betty Crocker Drive.
Schedule times will be adjusted.

ROUTE 705:
Route 705B branch will return, improving overall route frequency to every 60 minutes.

ROUTE 766:
Routing and timepoints will be updated due to W. River Rd. & 117th Ave. Park & Ride closing.

ROUTE 804:
Weekday and Saturday frequency will improve to every 60 minutes between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

ROUTE 805:
Weekday service will improve to every 60 minutes.

ROUTE 850:
A new southbound trip will leave Foley Park & Ride at 6:43 a.m.
New northbound Route 850F trips will leave 2nd Ave. & 11 St. at 3:52 and 4:22 p.m.