New Bus Rapid Transit Opening Soon in Minneapolis

Minneapolis and St Paul are about to have some of the nicest BRT infrastructure open in the country! The gold line, which opens in March brings a new way for folks to travel along the I-94 corridor into St Paul. In addition to the Gold Line, we'll talk about the B- Line which is more of a BRT-Lite route that will also open this year.

Are you from the Minneapolis area? Let us know what you think of this project! What do you think about our conversation surrounding the pros and cons of real BRT, versus a lighter version of BRT? Let us know!

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Links to Articles, People, and Organizations in this Episode:

00:00 - Introduction
02:29 - What is The Gold Line BRT?
06:32 - Downsides of The Gold Line
07:58 - Positive Features of The Gold Line
10:54 - Expected Ridership
12:01 - Potential for Transit Oriented Development
14:18 - BRT Light Routes Opening Soon
18:12 - Comparing True BRT to BRT Light Options

#metrotransit #goldline #brt #busrapidtransit #minneapolis #commuterline #stpaul #bus #cities #urbanism #america #publictransit #publictransportation #urbanmobility #podcast #transportation #twincities #msp

[TransitTangents]

Support the show: patreon.com/transittangents

[nathanbakken]

The B Line stations all have the same amenities, it’s just some stations have different size station shelters. There are 3 main sizes, large, medium or small shelters.

Also, Lake St got upgraded with bus lanes last year which should help with speed and reliability.

[tgustafson]

Proud to have been part of Gold Line CBAC! I would modify the title of your video, St Paul and Minneapolis are not the same 🙂

[teddysometimes]

Grew up in Saint Paul, live in Minneapolis. Thanks for covering these expansions! FYI-- The Gold Line will be extended further along I-94 to Downtown Minneapolis in 2027 (essentially replacing the #94 express bus). Super exciting because the #94 bus is currently faster than the LRT to get between the downtowns (28m -vs- 45m). And I agree the B-Line is far from perfect, but the wider stop spacing, intermittent bus-only lanes, and offboard payment is estimated to cut travel time by 20%. I take the #21 bus often, and can tell you it is VERY slow especially in peak traffic. The B-Line is also coming with a much needed 4-3 conversion for Lake Street :)

[jonasbuck]

Thanks for covering these two lines! I grew up on the East Side of St Paul and live in South Minneapolis and these are both great additions to these areas. The East Side is often ignored or the last part of the city to see infrastructure projects - I'm really happy that it's finally getting the attention it deserves. While the B Line is far from perfect, it's a move in the right direction. A Bus Only lane was added last Fall to Lake Street and the changes the B Line will bring are going to make it go so much faster. Lake Street is notoriously awful no matter how you get around, so any improvement is more than welcome.

[scpatlnow]

We have 2 BRT lines coming online soon in Atlanta. The Campbellton line which is real BRT, and the Summerhill line which is 85% in it's own ROW. We also have the streetcar extension which is ready to break ground now that the Mayor is waffling back to support for it (shows that getting out there to protest helped when he started to backtrack on it)

[louisjohnson]

Lake street should have bus lanes in both directions on all of lake street. Yet we only get it in one direction for most of lake street even though there’s more than enough space on the road for bidirectional bus lanes

[silmarian]

I’ve been doing some historical research on Minneapolis and what frustrates me is just how many of our current projects (not Gold Line, but many of them) are basically just recreating the old streetcar lines but with buses. Hennepin Ave, Lake Street, lines out to the western suburbs, and much of the light rail network are all just streetcar mark 2. As late as the 00s you could still see the tracks everywhere. We could have had world-class transit here if we had just maintained them and not let the Pohlads dismantle it so they could sell buses.

[emziscoolYT]

Can you please do a video about Eugene, Oregon’s EmX?

[goodnewsminnesota]

I watched this last night after watching other videos on the grand opening of this . I grew up in the Sun Ray neighborhood and I occasionally visit this area when visiting parents. I've been photo journaling this area since construction and it's nice to see the finish work. Thanks for sharing your input. I kind of wished it was going to be a light rail, but understand the cost; however, as you mentioned the long term cost might pass the short-term in the long run :(

[brocktune]

Fantastic content as always! A couple aspects of this plan y'all didn't mention: this year there are *3* BRT lines opening with the E line coming in December, and Metrotransit is working on having a whole BRT network that runs on a solid 10-12 minute frequency (i.e. their 'Network Now' plan).

I'm a huge fan of the transit system here, but anyone who is at best has a love-hate relationship with Metrotransit. Just this week they said they were trying to axe the North Star commuter line where they really need to extend it. Just burns my waffles it does...

[alec]

I wish all the new BRT they are building here in the cities had solid right of way. There has been a lot of push back when it comes to road design which sucks. The new B-Line you mentioned is really hampered when heading east on E lake street near the river

[himbourbanist]

BRT doesn't get a ton of love, but man good BRT in its own lanes feels so good to use and it's always exciting to see come online. Looking forward to you guys taking a look at the new Rapid buses that came online in Austin this past week! Glad to see Mueller FINALLY getting some good reliable buses.

[HerrCVM]

Gold Line connects downtown St. Paul with its largest boomtown suburb, Woodbury. Nicely there seems to be ample Park & Ride lots and stops AND a stop right in front of a Culver’s!

[realquadmoo]

Seattle is getting 5 new ‘BRT’ lines in the near future.
Swift Gold Line: Everett to Smokey Point, should be pretty close to true BRT just like the rest of Swift (also haha another Gold Line)
RapidRide J Line: Trolleybus BRT line from Seattle to U District, will be pretty ‘BRT-lite’ like the rest of RapidRide
STride S1 Line: Burien to Bellevue: New toll lanes on freeway and double decker buses, should be pretty close to ‘true BRT’
STride S2 Line: Bellevue to Lynnwood: Same as S1
STride S3 Line: Shoreline South to North Creek/Bothell (connection to S2) with shuttle service to Woodinville, BAT business access toll lanes, signal priority, not on a freeway and uses artics

[tianyi]

Image at 12:41, all open space that is protected wetlands. After the third to last station the line runs through or along protected wetlands, severely limiting any development of housing. This is the only part of the line not next to the interstate highway. 12:31 The Etna station the only area for development are currently parks or or businesses serving the Hmong immigrant community. The whole thing east along I94 will just be a continuation of what happened in Rando west of downtown St Paul when I94 was built. Displacing a lot on immigrant businesses and small apartments which will be replaced by chain stores and large corporate apartments, with concessions for affordable housing.

[kevinchan]

It looks like the video cut off at the 22:42 mark...would you be able to re-upload the video?

[tylerschoenhofen]

Most popular bus line in Minneapolis is the D line not the 21.

[brianhenderson]

Meanwhile, northern Utah has two active BRT lines, the UVX (Utah Valley Express) in Provo and the OGX (Ogden Express) in Ogden. A third is on the way closer to Salt Lake City and it'll be called the Mid-valley Express, set to connect Murray, Taylorsville and West Valley City.

[Micromandan]

Cincinnati is getting 2 brt lanes. But how the name of our service SORTA is mind boggling.