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Council seeks comments on results of northwest transit study

Changes proposed to bus service in north Minneapolis, northwest suburbs

Metro Transit will hold public meetings in May and June to gather comments about a plan to restructure bus service in the northwest metro area.

The goal of the plan is to make transit service more effective while using the same resources. The Northwest Metro Transit Study Concept Plan will affect north Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Champlin, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.

As they have done in other areas, Metro Transit planners — after consulting with residents, business owners and other stakeholders — took a fresh look at where and how often buses operate, then proposed a plan to update the system to match where people live and work today.

Study objectives:

• Provide faster and more direct service to major destinations
• Improve the reliability, speed and convenience of transit
• Use existing resources better to meet residential and employment demand
• Improve connections between neighborhoods, routes and transit centers
• Integrate plans for new services and facilities, such as the Bottineau Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit project

Sector studies result in ridership increases

This project marks the fifth time Metro Transit has evaluated existing service and recommended improvements to routes and facilities in a given area. In 1998, the agency divided the region into nine geographic sectors, and has been restructuring service in one sector at a time.

The northeast part of the metro is an example of how well route changes were received. Without increasing service or costs, ridership in that area increased 6 percent after improvements were implemented in 2000. More recently, ridership increased 10 percent following improvements made in 2004 in south Minneapolis, Bloomington, Richfield and parts of St. Paul.

People may comment at the meetings, through comment cards on buses in the northwest area starting in May, or online at Metro Transit's website.

Comments will be accepted through June 23, 2006.

The plan will be modified over the summer based on public comments. Approval of the final plan by the Council is expected in September, with the first phase of implementation beginning in 2007.