New Route 720 to connect Maple Grove and Brooklyn Park
The expanding retail and business district along Maple Grove’s Elm Creek Boulevard means new opportunities for shoppers and job seekers in the northwest metro. Yet reports from employers indicate that some businesses have had trouble hiring and retaining employees because of a lack of a local bus route between Brooklyn Park and Maple Grove.
A new bus route will serve the expanding retail businesses in the Arbor Lakes area of Maple Grove.
The lack of local transit service will change June 2, when new bus Route 720 will begin operating in the northwest metro, thanks to a partnership among the Metropolitan Council, Hennepin County and the City of Maple Grove.
Route 720 will offer hourly service between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays. It will serve retail destinations in Maple Grove and Starlite Transit Center in Brooklyn Park, where customers can transfer from routes 715, 723, 724 and 764.
Officials considered the new route because of requests for transit service to expanding job and shopping opportunities along Maple Grove’s retail corridor. Hennepin County’s human services staff identified a need to link clients with the 1,800 new jobs in Maple Grove.
At the same time, customers and stakeholders involved in the Northwest Metro Transit Restructuring Plan – Metro Transit’s project to improve service in the northwest metro — said they would value transit service between the northwest suburbs and retail destinations in Maple Grove.
That link was identified as a future growth option in Metro Transit’s restructuring plan, but a funding plan came together, ensuring that the route would start earlier than expected. Under the plan, the Met Council and Hennepin County will split the cost of the new service, with half the money coming from a federal Job Access and Reverse Commute grant and the other half of the local match coming from Hennepin County. Route 720 will be a one-year demonstration route.