Metro Transit Resumes 12-Minute Light Rail Departures as Hiring, Ridership Increases – Twin Cities

With Metro Transit arriving in August, a month that typically has the most riders and events, the Green and Blue Lines will begin operating more frequently, with trains running every 12 minutes for much of the day.

Metro Transit announced Tuesday that the more frequent light rail service will begin Aug. 17. Several bus routes will also see increased service, including the Orange Line from Burnsville to Minneapolis and Route 80 between the Sun Ray and Maplewood Mall transit centers. The new schedule “will remain in effect for the foreseeable future,” said Drew Kerr, a Metro Transit spokesman, who noted that schedules are adjusted quarterly.

More than 200 bus and train operators have been hired so far this year, on track to match last year’s hiring record, according to the transit authority. Ridership is also helping, with a 9% increase in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. Light rail and bus rapid transit services are leading the way, with Green Line ridership up 17% and BRT up 21%. Average weekday ridership this year has exceeded 143,500 passengers.

Starting August 17, light rail trains will run every 12 minutes between 11:00 and 18:00. Currently, trains run every 15 minutes.

On weekday afternoon trips on Route 80, which runs along White Bear Avenue between Sun Ray and Maplewood Mall, service will now depart every 30 minutes instead of every hour.

On weekdays, Orange Line buses serving Burnsville, Bloomington, Richfield and downtown Minneapolis will run every 10 minutes between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. northbound and 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. southbound, an increase from the 15-minute schedule. On Sundays, services will run on a 15-minute schedule.

More services to roll out

Other changes are intended to improve the speed and reliability of Route 4, which connects Bloomington and South Minneapolis to the Silver Lake Shopping Center in St. Anthony, largely along Lyndale Avenue. Buses on that corridor will serve fewer stops and benefit from bus lanes and traffic signal technology, Metro Transit said.

Pending approval by the Metropolitan Council, Metro Transit will begin gathering feedback this fall on a service improvement plan, Network Now, that outlines changes that could be implemented by 2027. Three new bus rapid transit lines will open next year, including the B Line between Uptown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul and the Gold Line between downtown St. Paul and Woodbury.

State Fair Express Bus Service is also expanding this year, with Metro Transit taking fairgoers to and from six park and ride locations throughout the Metro. Fairgoers are also encouraged to use the Metro A Line and Routes 3 and 61 to reach the fairgrounds. For more information, visit metrotransit.org/state-fair.

The transit authority is still recruiting frontline workers, including transit operators, bus, rail and facilities technicians, police officers and community service workers. Wages for all positions represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) will increase by 4.5 percent on August 1. After that date, starting salaries for transit operators will be nearly $29 an hour, while starting salaries for technicians will start at more than $39 an hour.