The Quarterly Transit Report–March 2022
Aaron Isaacs offers a run down of changes to Metro Transit service for the quarter.
Author: Aaron Isaacs
The Quarterly Transit Report–December 2021
Two opposite things are happening on December 4–a big service increase and an even bigger service reduction. The increase is the opening of the Orange Line bus rapid transit on I-35W from downtown Minneapolis to Burnsville along with new or upgraded feeder routes. Together they add 1342 weekly bus trips to the system. Metro Transit […]
The Plight of Transit in 2021
I used to post a Quarterly Transit report, but that stopped with the onset of the pandemic. There was little to report and it was bad news anyway. I confess to have been in mourning for the transit system I helped build during my Metro Transit career. The transit system is now about half of […]
The BRT/Local Service Dilemma
Thanks to new funding, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is picking up steam. Work on the B, D and E lines is underway with others soon to follow. Based on the available pre-Covid data for the A and C Lines, total ridership in those two corridors increased by about a third. On the surface, that’s wonderful. […]
Questioning the B Line BRT
The State Legislature has approved the bonding to build the bus rapid transit (BRT) B Line, which would replace much of Route 21 Selby-Lake from downtown St. Paul to Uptown. They’re at the conceptual planning level, but there are still some crucial details to work out. This includes the shape of the remaining local service […]
Rerouting the Bottineau Blue Line
When Hennepin County prevented the BNSF and Canadian Pacific railroads from building a freight connection where their lines crossed in Crystal, that killed any chance of light rail sharing the BNSF right of way for seven miles through Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, Crystal and Brooklyn Park. That alignment is no longer available, so what now? I’d […]
Urban Eagles; Year 2
This is a follow-up to my March 20, 2019 post, “The New Neighbors,” about the pair of bald eagles that moved into a big cottonwood tree two doors down from me in the middle of my south Minneapolis neighborhood. They actually have a street address. Last year, the eagles built a nest, although it looked […]
Decoding the transit ridership numbers
You may have noticed recent press coverage of the latest Met Council transit ridership numbers. They report that light rail and arterial BRT have increased, but not enough to offset the continuing decline of regular bus ridership. The staff report to the Council includes much finer grained detail and analysis that hasn’t made it into […]
Hennepin County Endangers Transit Funding
In a shocking 4-3 decision, the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority (which is to say the Hennepin County commissioners) voted last month to divert transit sales tax revenues to roads. At a time when transit funding is facing a crisis in the state legislature due to Republican opposition, it’s hard to imagine a more cynical […]
A Look at Future Rapid Bus Lines
A wave of faster limited stop transit services will arrive in the next few years. The Orange Line BRT (I-35W Minneapolis-Burnsville, replacing Route 535) is fully funded and construction is underway. The B Line (overlaid on Route 21 Selby-Lake), D Line (overlaid on Route 5 Chicago-Fremont), E Line (overlaid on Route 6 Southdale-Hennepin-4th Street SE), […]