Can changes convince commuters?

Council is updating regional transit plan

More than three out of four U.S. workers drove to work alone in 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Bureau’s American Communities Survey also found that commuters in the Midwest are the nation’s most likely to drive alone.

Light rail and roadways on Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis

Hiawatha light rail was the first of the region’s new transitways to begin operations. Northstar commuter rail is slated to open in 2009. See status of current transitways.

But that may be changing. In the Twin Cities, transit ridership grew 25% during the last decade. Economic experts expect even higher fuel prices, and a new Minnesota law calls for a statewide reduction in greenhouse gases of 15% by 2015 and 80% by 2050.

Making it easier for Twin Cities area commuters to choose transit is one goal of the Metropolitan Council’s 2030 Transit Master Plan (TMP). The new plan will incorporate regional population, employment and land-use changes since the last transit plan was adopted in 1999, and consider ways to respond to new regional projections, carrying the vision a decade beyond the current 2020 plan.

Planners will consider several key issues, including ways regional transit can:

Build on the strengths of the existing system.
Improve travel options in a region with more people and more congestion.
Provide better connections between people and jobs.

The 2030 plan submitted to lawmakers next February will identify high-priority transit improvements. Later in 2008, the Council will add the plan’s recommendations to its 2030 Regional Transportation Policy Plan.

“The Transit Master Plan won’t give us the answer to every question about each corridor,” said Amy Vennewitz, Deputy Director of Planning and Finance for the Council’s Metropolitan Transportation Services Division. “It is more about taking a 30,000-feet-high-view of the transit system more than 20 years ahead.”

What’s included in the plan?

Recommendations for:

Priority corridors for regional commuter rail, light rail (LRT) and dedicated busway service.
Bus system improvements to strengthen the transit system ‘backbone’.
A discussion of land uses and demographic considerations that impact public transit.

Project Staff – Carol Becker, Lead; Charles Carlson; Cole Hiniker

Vennewitz chairs an impressive technical advisory committee that includes transportation planning experts from each of the seven Regional Rail Authorities — Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington — as well as the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Planners from Metro Transit and the six suburban transit providers — Minnesota Valley, Southwest, City of Plymouth, City of Maple Grove, City of Shakopee and City of Prior Lake — are also at the table.

By 2030, committee members agree, the region will need more rail lines as an alternative to driving alone. More bus service, in more places, should strengthen the region’s transit ‘backbone’.

The TMP technical advisory committee recently defined criteria and identified 25 corridors to evaluate and compare for potential to become high-priority commuter rail, light rail or dedicated busway routes.

Evaluation data, and information gathered through 11 previously-completed corridor studies, will help the committee determine which corridors should receive further analysis.

“Infrastructure planning takes decades,” said Peter Bell, Metropolitan Council Chair. “An effective and attractive regional transit system — one that will entice workers to leave their automobiles at home — is critical to the health of our regional economy and its ability to compete for future jobs, investments and workers.”

The Metropolitan Council will consider the draft list of priority transit corridors during the fall of 2007. The completed TMP, in draft form, will be available for public review in November and December of 2007 and is scheduled for Council adoption early in 2008.