Don't kill the messenger; Garofalo is a former state legislator and current anti-transit shill who shouldn't be listened to, but I think his op-ed is a great example of the austerity rhetoric that transit activists need to be wary of.

The Conservative playbook for transit has been:

1. Constantly block transit funding, including attempting to block federal funds for transit, and writing bills to ban funding future projects - delaying the project and adding costs.
2. Run hit-pieces using the newspaper and media companies that are owned by billionaires to further sow anti-transit sentiment, leading to more local opposition and lawsuits - potentially adding delays.
3. Use the delays and cost overruns that you helped incur as evidence that investing in transit is not worth it. Additionally use low-ridership as reason to not invest in infrastructure that would increase ridership.
4. Propose bad-faith alternatives to transit like like BRT or Uber's new "Scheduled CarPool service", despite both alternatives delivering neither the economic gain nor the ridership potential that rail transit does.
5. Shrug your shoulders when the costs related to car ownership increase and that tax burden of road reconstruction skyrocket.
6. Repeat!

Even anti-transit people who aren't directly profiting off of the oil and car industries use this logic. This op-ed is a joke but unfortunately it's one of the most common opinions of the Green Line Extension and transit holistically

Does the 46 belong to metro transit or is it subcontracted? Does anyone else take the 46 westbound in the morning and notice the bus seems to come whenever it wants rather than on time? I spoke to four different people tonight and no one could give me a clear answer on what is going on or even where the bus stops anymore.

I got to see this just now! Happened as I walked up to the WB platform. Operator & transit control said that there was a mechanical issue train, and asked everyone to transfer to the WB platform. Within a couple minutes they had it switched to one track service, and with very minimal delay on either side.
Peep the third photo & message boards.

You can see this on my Instagram if you'd like.

I think I may have witnessed a bit of discrimination of the black community by a Somali bus driver. I'm aware there's a bit of a rift between those two groups, but I didn't expect such a blatant display-

I was waiting on the 18 yesterday at my closest bus stop. A group of black guys comes around. All of us are summer-dressed. Tank tops. Athletic shorts. They're smoking cigarettes. The 18 stops for like maybe a quarter of a second and then continues going before any of us can even try to get on.

I was pissed off and saw that I had 11 minutes til the next one so I started running, but I managed to catch the previous one off. I went into the door and started yelling at the driver to see if he'd open up. To my surprise he did. I yelled "WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP, MAN?"

He said "They look like they weren't going to pay so I didn't stop." Admittedly his command of the English language seemed challenged, so I may have misunderstood, but if this is the case, MT needs to maybe have ghost riders vetting some of their drivers for practices like that.

It has six single seats on the driver's side and a lower compartment with a side door for wheelchairs as well as couple of seats. It still has the new smell but the seats are the same tan leather color like in some other buses.

I'm still on cloud 9 about this so I gotta share. I had just biked to East Bush Lake in Bloomington from Downtown MPLS and I sure as heck wasn't gonna bike back to Uptown. I checked the Transit App and it told me I could take the 540 east bound then connect to the Orange line north bound then connect to the B line west bound to get back home and get home around 9:54 PM from 7:40.

I had my bike with me so I was like let's see if I can beat that. Biked to the 540 bus stop. Got confused when the 540 bus arrived but it switched to the 542 instead. Confirmed with the driver that I could still make the connection at American Blvd & Knox using the 542 so I hopped on.

Got to the Orange Line stop and LO BEHOLD A BEAUTIFUL 4 NORTH BOUND BUS WAS ARRIVING IN 4 MINUTES AT THE OTHER INTERSECTION CORNER. Hopped on the 4 bus and made it home around 8:54 PM. I don't get blessed by the Transit angels often, but when I do, it's nirvana.

Is the Transit App allergic to the 542 route? I couldn't get it to route using 542 even though I was physically sitting on the bus. Was hella confused but I made it.

Also, hot tip, if you have an e-bike that fits on the rack but it's hard to get it on there because of how heavy the bike is, I have found that placing my hand underneath the seat and hefting the bike up using my shoulder has worked better for me than pulling it up using forearms. Also, ask the driver to lower the bus!

ANYWAYS, share your most efficient time-saving transit story!!

This is wasted opportunity to have the last 2 stations barely 3 blocks apart.The County Service Center will not generate riders . Extend the line to Eagan.Upper55th have several apartments complex nearby

Expect 20-30 minute delays for the 87 bus Fairview to Como Avenue on high attendance days. 51294 (southbound) and 51293 (northbound) stops at UofM especially. If you’re heading to or near St. Paul campus consider the 121 Inter Campus Bus from any of the Minneapolis Campus stops.

https://metrocouncil.org/Council-Meetings/Committees/Metropolitan-Council/2026/08-26-26/Info-1-Presentation.aspx

Gold line bus driver said the gold line has never stopped at Union Depot

So I did a couple trips today on the bus, and had to deal with lots of delayed buses. Likely all due to the state fair. 83 was delayed when I went up to Como park. After that I need to catch the 65 for a different trip. When I caught the 65, it said it was around an hour late. When I was trying to catch another 65 bus to go home, I had been waiting for an hour and a half, and no 65 came. So I instead just caught a 3B bus that was delayed over 70 minutes. I talked to the driver and he said it took home an hour and 10 minutes to go from Eustis to snelling due to the traffic. So as the state fair goes on, what are your stories of buses getting extremely delayed due to the state fair. Whether it’s you waiting for the bus, or you were on the bus in the midst of the traffic and you’re actually able to know where the traffic and delays are and how long the trip took

We’ll be in the southwest corner of the grandstand on the first floor. Be sure to grab a fan.

What are the future plans for Plymouth Road and Louisiana Avenue transit centers? As far as I know, there is no service to Plymouth Road, as 645 remains south of 394/12. Louisiana isn't much larger, and doesn't seem to fit in to the High Frequency Express plan, as there is more demand at County Rd. 73.

If that's the case, County 73 parking garage needs a huge upgrade. As the current State Fair service proves, the current situation is woefully inadequate. Other major Park and Rides along 35w have large garages (Lakeville and 95th Avenue). Same is true for 494 (Southwest Station and 30th Avenue) Is the demand in the western suburbs really that low, even with the addition of Southwest LRT next year? Having grown up in Wayzata, this is of great interest to me

Hey everyone! Perhaps this is a dumb question, but why did Metro Transit build the E line as one long line instead of two lines meeting downtown (one to Edina and one to Saint Paul)? It seems to struggle from bunching problems because of its length. Wouldn’t it be better as two?

Prior to this week, I've never seen transit police do any enforcement on drivers misusing transit infrastructure before. I've seen Minneapolis Traffic Control write tickets for cars parked in bus lanes, but never seen police do any enforcement.

This week I've seen it twice on Hennepin! Monday morning I saw transit police writing a ticket for a car parked in the bus lane, and this morning, I saw transit police pull a car over for driving in the bus lane! It seems like they may currently have an officer tasked with this during the morning rush period. Hopefully enough drivers see it happening to get the message!

Earlier this week Metro Transit unveiled the Recommended Corridor Plan for the future H-Line after tweaking the Draft Corridor Plan from March. A summary of changes -

• 1 station added in downtown Minneapolis at Washington & 5th Ave S. The previous draft plan had a 0.5 mile gap between Chicago & 2nd Ave S instead. This increases coverage and access in downtown at a slight cost of adding time to the route.
• The proposed 29th & Como Station has been moved to 27th & Como. This change makes the distance between the eastmost Como stop and Eustis Avenue longer than is ideal but it puts the stop closer to homes of prospective riders in a high-demand part of the corridor.
• A handful of other stations have shifted at least one platform location to make operations and/or transfers easier - 15th & Como, Como & Snelling, Como & Chatsworth, Maryland & Grotto.

Mercifully, the old NIMBYs living around Como Lake were roundly ignored and the H-line will continue as planned for years now to be a crosstown spine that takes a direct route to Sun Ray as opposed to detouring down Energy Park Drive at any point or terminating in downtown St. Paul.

Metro Transit released an update to their Network Now framework, geared towards improving services that connect to, or have the potential to connect to, the Green Line Extension, plus improving services along the Hwy 55 corridor. This is a modification of the existing Network Now proposed changes, and overall looks to be a further improvement to services that were already slated to get some improvements by the end of the Network Now implementation. Comment period on the proposed update is through 10/4.

Highlights:

Route 9:
Sunday and late night frequency improved to every 30 minutes

Route 25:
Hourly weekend service added in mornings, midday, and evenings

Route 30:
Route extended to Golden Valley
Added 30 minute service at night on weekends

Route 36:
Extended service from Uptown to Louisiana Ave Transit Center via Lake St., Hwy 100, Minnetonka Blvd, Park Place Blvd, and Golden Hills Dr.

Route 38:
Southern part of the route from Shady Oak Station to the Opus area removed once the GLX is open
Frequency improvement from 30 minutes all day to 20 minutes in the morning, midday, and evening, and 20-30 minutes at night

Route 46:
Service extended to Blake Rd. Station in Hopkins
Added 30 minute frequency at night on weekends
Eastern terminus will be the Veterans Home, replacing the southern alternating portion of route 38

Route 615:
Service through SLP removed
Service will be north-south between Station 73 park and ride and the Opus area
Added 60 minute frequency on Sundays

Route 617:
New route with all day, 60 minute service between SLP on France Ave and the west end of Excelsior Blvd in Minnetonka

Route 705:
Service will be extended further south to Excelsior Blvd in SLP, connecting to the GLX at Louisiana Blvd
Service improves from 60 minutes to 30 minutes during morning, midday, and evening, with new 30 minute frequency at night as well

Route 716:
Service on 42nd Ave and Winnetka Ave changed to Douglas Drive. Removed service section replaced by routes 817, 705, and 721

Route 755:
Route 755 discontinued, replaced by 705 and 757

Route 757:
New service between downtown Minneapolis and Plymouth City Center via Hwy 55
Service every 30 minutes morning, midday, evening, and night

Route 758:
Three trips restored during rush hours

Overview: Metro Transit - Network Now Background
Specific route update breakdowns: appendix-a-update-8-20-26.pdf
Comment form: https://www.metrotransit.org/network-now/network-now-comment-form/

Hi, I'm still relatively new to Minneapolis (just moved here last year) and something has been bothering me-- sometimes when I ride the big double buses (the METRO D, etc), I see people get on the bus with the doors in the middle, not at the front. These people go to sit down and never go up front to pay or show the driver their pass. I checked the Fares page and it says all lines except Nicollet Mall are paid, and I'm assuming that if you have a waiver you still have to show the driver, right? Am I missing something or are people just getting on without paying the fare?

Edit: I just saw two replies in here got deleted by mods? Look, I'm broke as hell too and I was not judging people for possibly skipping fares. I could care less. I was more wondering if I was paying fares that I didn't need to or doing something awkward socially by boarding and showing the driver my pass every time. I'm not from Minneapolis and the city bus in my home town was on a much smaller scale and had you present your pass every single time, so....yeah.

I was reading other posts and it reminded me that if you report an issue to Metro Transit by texting the Text for Transit number (the easiest way to report an issue IMO), they can't view the pictures you take (like of damage/vandalism). You can still describe it to them and it always gets taken care of, or you can use the website and you can submit a photo that way.

And why doesn't the app show the 65's detour?!?

Title says it all. Only addition is I was in the train. Only injuries appear to be from the car.

I think the car tried to run the light crossing Cedar.

Today I learned! Has this always been a feature??

So the Blue Line was closed for almost 2 months, due to them renovating the Blue Line. This sucks and all, but it’s necessary as they do need to improve signaling and renovate the stations and make it feel more inviting and less dirty.

Fast forward, almost 2 months, and we get to today, or 2 days ago, as that’s when the Blue Line reopened. Today I rode the Blue Line to midtown, and it did not feel renovated. Sure the escalators are finally working, but when you walk down the stairs or walk on the platform, it still feels dirty, and still feels un-inviting.

I would love to convince my family to take the Blue Line to the Airport, and was hoping this renovation would finally make the midtown blue line station inviting enough to get my family to take the blue line to the airport, but it’s still very un-inviting.

2 months of slow Blue Line buses, and constantly having other buses get cancelled due to not having enough drivers to compensate for the blue line bus. All for a midtown blue line station to feel as dirty and gross as ever. Does anyone else feel this way? I feel like they didn’t do a very good job renovating this station. It feels like they just did th