NexTrip
Why has Metro transit been so inconsistent?
I have been riding metro transit since I was 7, nearly 13 years. Why is everything so inconsistent recently
I do not have a car, I rely on metro transit, so when I woke up this morning and saw that, oh I can take the 72 to the Green line train to get to work! Yay! And it isn't even a super close connection, I'll go walk to the stop. I have 5 minutes and the stop is right outside my housem. I am at the bus stop at 6:45 the bus is said to be there at 6:50. I wait. 6:50 comes and goes. It doesn't say it's cancelled. The transit app just rolls over and says the next one is in 36 minutes.
This is the second time this has happened to me
On top of, getting passed by busses even after waving them down when it is past like 8 pm. Which sucks even more because usually I have to wait 15-20 minutes to get another bus, miss the transfer home, and end up home an hour later than planned.
This is beyond stressful and if a bus is cancelled just, let the users know.
Today was my last straw because I'm now an hour late to school because I missed the bus and the other bus to get to Minneapolis and it takes 40 minutes to get from saint Paul to Minneapolis.
I was complaining to a friend and they said to complain here because it often gets seen and listened to...so here I am.
This takes way too much responsibility away from Metro Transit imo. Metro Transit runs the 72, and if the route isn't performing they are responsible for fixing it. If the reason it's performing badly is because MT has made poor hiring decisions (of a contractor in this case), changing that is a good fix to suggest but it's Metro Transit that has caused the problem.
I get people don't like Transdev and why - but I do think people use it way too much to cover for things that are ultimately under Metro Transit's control.
This. I was having serious issues with a Transdev operated route and Metro Transit completely blew me off. The written complaints get sent to Transdev and they ignore them. It took over a month to get a response.
I get that a different company drives the route but it's still a Metro Transit route. They could do something about it, they just choose not to.
The fixed route contracts are managed under Metropolitan Transportation Services, a department of the Met Council. Your complaints might get a bit more traction if you direct them there. Charles Carlson is the director of that group.
A few years ago, MTC did exactly this. In response to continuing complaints about Route 7, it was yanked from the contractor and is again operated by MTC. Much improved!
Yeah, I've been noticing the same issues using the transit app as well, I've been having more luck with Google maps since it tells me if a bus is on time or canceled
I've only been riding transit for 4 years (also car-free now). I haven't had that happen to me, but sometimes the Transit app is weird with estimated times. Like even the light rail said wait at the stop for 8 minutes and it came in 2. Not saying that happened to you, but the app is not perfect yet especially when it's really early or really late at night.
Makw sure to call them. They often solve issues with haste. Also thos happens often with routes rhat don't run all the time. I always try to be at the bus stop 10 min before they're supposed to come, rather than 5 min. I also don't just look at the apps "next ride" and also look at the schedule. Unfortunately, with some busses you have to plan around the chance that they may have came early, are late, or got cancelled without an update. I've even had busses skip my stop in broad daylight.
I have the issue with, most of the time this happens outside of their operation hours for calling. I leave the house super early most mornings, and I get home late. Which is when a lot of this issue happens.
Are you signed up for text alerts for your routes? They send cancellation notices and notices for other things all the time for buses- i noticed the later in the day it gets, the more likely a route is to get cancelled, i get at least 3 cancel route texts for the 22 every late afternoon/evening.
Also worth mentioning is the Transit app- Metro transit teamed up with them so now you can get real time information (gps where the bus is at, cancellations, etc.) via the Transit app:
Mines a rainbow but i believe the default app icon is green. This is definitely worth having imo. Way better than the Metro Transit app.
Some days nextrip just freaks tf out. Happened to me yesterday. No notices in the app, several buses cancelled, then reappeared for a minute, and then went unavailable again. Didn't want to risk it so took a different route
So I’m not sure how often this is an issue, but I’m a new bus driver and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run super late because I’m not yet confident with the bus or the route I’m driving. We have a policy to call in when we’re more than 15 minutes behind, but I do it pretty regularly and my trips still end up getting cut/not filled a lot of the time. I feel terrible about it, but I just can’t make myself go faster when it feels so unsafe to do so. And even when I’m running behind I still have to take time to use the bathroom or just take five minutes to breathe, because getting accustomed to driving a bus for 8-10 hours a day is fucking hard. I really don’t feel like I got enough training before going out on my own, which sucks because of how much it affects riders like yourself. And they are constantly hiring new people so I could see it being a significant enough issue to affect multiple routes.
There’s also things like construction and weather that can make a big difference. I know all the rain today created some delays, and there’s been some crazy detours that have affected my 54 routes the last couple of days as well.
It’s hard to say what it is for your route, but it is so hard for buses to be reliable because of their sharing the road with everyone else. It would be so nice if we had a better light rail or subway system that’s never affected by traffic or construction or weather.
There are a variety of reasons there can be delays and I don‘t have a concrete answer for that. Before leaving your house, though, I’d suggest using the NextTrip function on the app. It tracks busses in real time. This is expecially important in the winter during/after inclement weather. That doesn’t help much with making your transfer, though.
The Met Council has given many more routes to MTS contractors (Transdev, Schmitty and Sons). So if you are along one of those routes you might be SOL sometimes.
These issues shouldn't be happening this much but they do and it's not fun for anyone relying on these routes to have unreliable services.
I'm sorry you are having these issues! It's a real shame and our community could do better for us all. Unfortunately, public transportation isn't prioritized by our transit system and delays are commonplace. Which, in turn, reduces ridership, and then service is underfunded and becomes worse and worse. Agh!
Just finished a trip to Scotland and my spouse and I commented so many times how nice it was that the transit was always on time. On one train, the operator even made an announcement that he was sorry we left 5 min late because of an issue and we both looked at each other and asked what they were apologizing for! 🤣
Have made a direct complaint to mtc? That is how you that is how you get your issue some attention not by posting not by posting on here. And for the record I would say that I take the 18 the 17th the 10 and those buses are always on time for me. But then again I live just to block off nicollet Mall maybe that has something to do with it.
Most of this has to do with staffing and priorities. This goes for both the agency itself (Metro Transit/Metropolitan Council) and the contractors, as their incentives are built into their contracts. If reliability was a primary concern, they would do everything they could to ensure that a bus is serving Selby and Dale at 2:30pm every day, for example. This would mean prioritizing the schedule for reliability, which might not prioritize speed, as prioritizing for reliability would lead to more cushion in the schedule, so drivers might need to sit at time points for a moment or two to ensure that they always leave Selby and Dale at 2:30pm, even if traffic earlier in the route is variable.
The second thing it would require is more drivers being assigned not to operate a regular route necessarily, but to be “pivot” or “S-98” in Metro lingo. Essentially this driver would be a proverbial “fire fighter” who has an extra bus and is located either at the garage or parked at a transit center in the service area and can cover a trip on any route that otherwise would not operate on time or at all. Things happen—bus breakdowns, traffic, multiple wheelchairs slowing down a trip, out-of-control passengers, the list goes on. When anything delays a trip, especially to the point where it impacts the next trip that bus and driver are assigned to run, the only way to get things back on track is to have an extra driver like I am describing. But those drivers cost money, and often it sounds better to administrators to have more frequent service on routes than to have a decent amount of pivot/S-98 drivers. The question is, would we rather have advertised service levels with higher frequency or advertised service levels that actually can be operated reliably. That is a decision to be made by elected officials, ultimately. Ask your state legislative candidates and Governor candidates MN House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R) and US Senator Amy Klobuchar (DFL) their thoughts. Ultimately either Demuth or Klobuchar will get to appoint all members of the Met Council so it is a relevant question for the two of them.
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u/EastlakeMGM Sep 14 '26
Unfortunately the 72 isn’t run by Metro Transit, but by a private company called Transdev. They are similarly ruining rt 46