On September 6, 2024, the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners officially canceled the Riverview Streetcar. This freed up approximately $730 million in funding from the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority, along with a half-cent sales tax originally allocated to build this line as well as the Purple Line on the east side of St. Paul and the Gold Line, which serves downtown St. Paul and suburbs to the east.
Although I was disappointed to see a 26-year process end with nothing being built, the Riverview Streetcar project was expensive and had some major flaws — primarily in how the trains would have had to share a lane with traffic on West Seventh Street near the congested Xcel Energy Center. Plus, $730 million can potentially fund a lot of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines throughout Ramsey County, especially when combined with federal and state investment.
I was looking forward to the public engagement process to determine where this money would be reinvested. It could be used to build a new West Seventh BRT, or other Highway BRTs like the new Gold Line, which runs on dedicated lanes parallel to Interstate 94. It could also allow for Bus Rapid Transit projects that replace high ridership bus routes, while adding dedicated lanes and other improvements.
Metro Transit is currently selecting the BRT projects that the agency will be building across our metro (often known as Arterial Bus Rapid Transit or aBRT), but they are building only three projects every five years. A lot of bus routes in Ramsey County could benefit from this upgrade, and this money could be used to fund additional BRT lines beyond the ones that Metro Transit has identified.
Another option would be commissioning a study to identify all the places where buses ran into delays across the county, and then invest the money into quick-build projects to make the buses faster and more reliable.
West Seventh BRT
A few months after Ramsey County cancelled the Riverview Corridor project, the City of Saint Paul, Metro Transit and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) released their plans for the West Seventh corridor. Though I still wish it had bus lanes on both sides of the entire length of West Seventh, it had some impressive ideas.
The plan would:
- Build a new off-road bike path and transitway along an abandoned rail spur.
- Turn Smith Avenue near downtown St. Paul into a dedicated transitway.
- Build a brand new bike trail and bike bridge across West Seventh.
- And all of this could open in 2032 or 2033, which is quick for a transit project starting from scratch.
Fast forward to now, and with little notice and no public engagement, a business item slipped onto the Ramsey County agenda on June 3, 2025, containing a reference to “Use of County Transportation Sales and Use Tax Funds” regarding the newly named “Transit and Transportation Investment Plan.” This plan is the result of three internal Ramsey County workshops to determine where county officials want to spend the Riverview Corridor money.
Unfortunately, although this plan claims to make investments in transit, those proposals are miniscule compared with the amount of money originally earmarked for transit back in September. Most of this money would instead be funneled to road reconstructions. It will not fund the Riverview Streetcar, and it promises no new transitway projects.
New Plan, New Priorities
The plan does have some promise. Federal grants for transit are less predictable under the Trump administration, so it’s encouraging to see Ramsey County include funds for reconstruction of Maryland and White Bear avenues, where the Purple Line would travel. Reconstructing these roads with transit lanes will discourage speeding cars and help to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled, thereby improving pedestrian safety both here and across the county.
Larpenteur Avenue is another corridor that lacks transit service seven days a week, but it is one of Metro Transit’s candidates for Arterial Bus Rapid Transit. That project could be an opportunity to improve transit and reconstruct the road all at once. Otherwise, will Ramsey County take the initiative to add dedicated bus lanes, or will Larpenteur be reconstructed without transit priority? This plan doesn’t say.
Outside of Larpenteur, Maryland and White Bear avenues — all busy roadways — it’s hard to see where the transit is in the Transit and Transportation plan. Engagement from Ramsey County’s All-Abilities Plan showed that a large portion of people want to take transit more often, but many don’t because bus service is infrequent, slow and unreliable.
Ramsey County has complete control over the speed and reliability of transit on its roads based on how we design our infrastructure. If a project isn’t significantly improving these factors, it is not a transit investment — it’s a road investment.
Funding Categories
The following categories in the Transit and Transportation plan allocate the majority of their funding toward something other than transit investments. In the following bullet points, I’m defining regular transit service as a bus route that runs at least every 30 minutes, seven days a week, during peak hours and the middle of the day.
- $12 million to intersection improvements: Only four of 12 projects identified have any transit on them, and only two of 12 have regular transit service
- $250 million to interchange improvements: While there may be benefits to pedestrians and bicyclists, the benefits to transit would be minimal, especially compared with the substantial amount of spending in this category.
- $200 million to corridor Improvements: Only five of 10 corridors have transit on them; only two of 10 have regular transit service.
- $35 million to the Rice Creek Commons spine: ABRT service was proposed here in the past, but it is not guaranteed. Likely this will result only in adding regular bus stops to a refurbished road.
- $80 million to Union Depot: The only transit improvements mentioned are to Amtrak passenger rail service, and none to the local bus and rail service that Ramsey County citizens rely on every day. Union Depot is a vital statewide transportation resource. While Ramsey County was crucial in ensuring that it exists today, we should be pushing the state to take responsibility for funding improvements and not sink valuable transit dollars into this building. Hennepin County doesn’t pay to maintain the MSP Airport or Interstate 35W. Similarly, Ramsey County should not pay for a similar transportation investment that benefits the entire state.
- $20 million to railroad barriers: Only three of six barriers (also known as crossing gates) have transit on them; only one of six has regular transit service.
- $7.5 million each year for 10 years toward a Ramsey County grant program: This competitive grant program would invite cities and townships to apply for up to 20% of a project cost, provided the monies were used for transit, bike/ped or road projects.
- $5 million to tree planting: This would replace trees removed during construction projects (think Summit Avenue).
- $20 million to regional trail and greenway improvements.
Many of these projects would improve our community, but only two categories in this plan would designate a majority of their investment toward improving transit service: $1 million to transit priority/signal upgrades and $2 million to mobility hubs, with a focus on locating these around Metro Transit stations.
Ramsey County’s Transit Future
Going from $730 million of funding dedicated primarily toward transit to $3 million is a major defunding of public transit in Ramsey County that will set us back by a decade if it’s allowed to pass. If residents of Ramsey County were calling for this reallocation, I could understand (though would still disagree with) the significant divestment. But without consulting with any residents, Ramsey County officials have betrayed the tens of thousands of people who rely on transit daily, and who know all too well the need for new investment.
Meanwhile, Hennepin County officials are actively moving forward by funding studies on three Bus Rapid Transit Lines on Highway 55, Highway 169 and American Boulevard. But here in Ramsey County, outside of any additional Arterial Bus Rapid Transit projects that Metro Transit may award, we have only the Purple Line in our official plans, and nothing after that. Not even the West Seventh BRT.
This plan, if allowed to pass, will set Ramsey County back a decade from its stated goals of improving transit ridership and equitable transportation options. County commissioners need to take the lead and identify corridors to be upgraded without waiting on the whims of another agency.
So, Speak Up!
Reach out to Ramsey County commissioners before they vote on this plan tomorrow (Tuesday, June 10). Although no public hearing is scheduled, you could also show up at the Tuesday meeting at 9 a.m. in the Ramsey County Courthouse (Saint Paul City Hall) in downtown St. Paul.
A change of this magnitude shouldn’t be implemented without any community engagement.