Bus service enhancements that strengthen connections to the Metro Green Line will go into effect when the new light-rail line opens on June 14.
Major changes involve 17 routes that connect with Green Line stations or provide nearby service - including new Route 83 on Lexington Parkway. Customers will benefit from more frequent connecting bus trips, expanded hours, seven-day-a-week service and faster, more direct routes to Green Line stations and major destinations in the Central Corridor. More than a third of customers who will ride Green Line trains are expected to transfer to or from buses.
Schedules for the Metro Green Line and all connecting bus service will be posted May 24. Printed schedules will be distributed on buses and at hundreds of other locations beginning next week. Additional information is available at metrotransit.org/green-line-buses in multiple languages.
“These improvements to bus service throughout this premier travel corridor are as important to the development of the Twin Cities’ transit network as the addition of light rail,” said Metro Transit General Manager Brian Lamb. “June 14 represents a major step forward as we build out an integrated transit system for the 21st century.”
Notable service changes that will go into effect June 14 include:
- A new route, Route 83, will provide service on Lexington Parkway between Roseville and West 7th Street in St. Paul. Buses will run every 30 minutes seven days a week and provide service to Roseville Super Target, Como Park, Concordia University, Central High School, Grand Avenue and Summit Brewery.
- Service on Route 67 will improve to every 20-30 minutes seven days a week. The route provides service on Minnehaha and Franklin avenues and will connect with Green Line stations at Rice Street, Fairview Avenue and Raymond Avenue, as well as the Franklin Avenue Station on the Metro Blue Line.
- Route 65 will offer many more trips each day along Dale Street and County Road B between Rosedale Transit Center and a new southern extension to Grand Avenue. The route makes connections with Green Line light-rail trains at Dale Street Station.
- Service on bus routes that run parallel to the Green Line will also change beginning June 14.
- Route 16 will provide local service between the Green Line’s Stadium Village Station in Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul, with a new eastern routing serving St. Paul College and Minnesota History Center. Overnight trips will be replaced by Green Line service.
- Route 94 will provide non-stop, express service between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis. The route will no longer serve the State Capitol and instead go directly to downtown St. Paul. Most trips will serve the Union Depot. Night and weekend off-peak trips on Route 94 will be replaced by Green Line service.
- Route 50, a limited-stop service on University Avenue, will be replaced by the Green Line.
The enhanced connecting bus service is funded by offsetting reductions in service on routes 50, 16 and 94 that will be replaced by the Green Line.
