Metro Council Chair talks transportation with St. Paul area local elected officials
ST. PAUL – Dec. 19, 2008 – The slumping economy was front and center at a recent District Dialogue hosted by Peter Bell, Metropolitan Council Chair, and Council Members Kirsten Beach and Richard Aguilar this month at the Rondo Community Outreach Library. The dialogue brought together elected officials from St. Paul, West St. Paul, Lilydale, Mendota Heights, Mendota and Sunfish Lake to talk about issues of local concern.
Bell, along with his colleagues on the Metropolitan Council, have spent the summer and fall meeting with city, county and state officials in a series of District Dialogues. The top concerns have been transportation investment and highway congestion, followed closely by how the recession will affect transportation planning and funding.
“We have significant concerns about the economy, what will happen in the upcoming Minnesota legislative session and at the federal level. It’s impossible to envision a solution that holds us completely harmless,” said Bell.
However, Bell shared good news with regard to Central Corridor light rail transit, which will link downtown St. Paul, the University of Minnesota and downtown Minneapolis via University Avenue. Pending federal approval, the project is about to enter the final design stage.
In conjunction with the rail line, a series of improvements to the bus system is proposed to coincide with the opening of Central Corridor LRT.
“What are you doing to increase bus ridership?” asked Toni Carter, Ramsey County Commissioner. Bell pointed to a partnership with the University of Minnesota to provide a discounted fare to students in the form of the UPass. That helped Metro Transit record a 30 percent increase in student rides this year.
Additionally, changes in the Metropass program, which makes it easier for companies to enroll in the employee discount program, have resulted in a 20 percent ridership increase in 2008. Furthermore, technological improvements have made easier to get transit information.
Metro Transit added a mapping capability to its own on-line trip planner and also entered into a partnership with Google to put its trip planner on google.com. And, NexTrip was rolled out in July, which gives customers real-time information on when their bus will be at their stop via phone, web and PDAs.
Overall, ridership numbers are surpassing projections for the year. The ridership goal for 2008 was 78 million rides. At this point, 2008 ridership will be close to 82 million rides, for the highest Metro Transit ridership since 1981.
In 2008, the Minnesota Legislature approved an historic increase in transportation funding, but it won't be enough to “fix” congestion throughout the region’s highway system, Bell said.
According to the Council, it would cost some $40 billion to add enough highway capacity to meet expected demand over the next 25 years. To provide perspective, paying those costs with the state gasoline tax alone would add more than $2 per gallon to the cost of fuel.
The Council’s “District Dialogues” coincide with public outreach efforts on the draft update of the 2030 Transportation Policy Plan, a long-range plan for transportation investment in the region that is updated every four years, as required by the federal government.
The proposed final 2030 Transportation Policy Plan Update is available for review at www.metrocouncil.org/planning/transportation/TPP/2008/index.htm. The document is scheduled for Council adoption on Jan. 14, 2009.
The Metropolitan Council is the regional planning organization for the seven-county Twin Cities area. The Council runs the regional bus and light rail system, collects and treats wastewater, coordinates regional water resources, plans regional parks and administers funds that provide housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The Council board is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the governor.
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