Metro Transit in Minneapolis, Minn., celebrated the opening of the C Line on June 8, which connects downtown Minneapolis to Brooklyn Transit Center. The bus rapid transit (BRT) line will provide headways of 10 minutes, off-board fare payment, on-demand stops and three-door buses, which will result in up to 25 percent faster service along Penn Ave.
Metro Transit says C Line service will largely replace Route 19, which travels along Penn Ave. One out of four people traveling on Penn Ave. use Route 19, but Metro Transit explains less than three percent of buses make up vehicle traffic along that stretch. Route 19 sees weekday ridership of more than 7,000 people and with the opening of the C Line, ridership is expected to grow to 9,000 rides per day by 2030.
Minnesota Gov. Tom Walz attended the opening day festivities and tweeted, “I was proud to be at the opening of the @MetroTransitMN C Line today! Accessible public transit is critical to community prosperity, and I’m grateful that we were able to come together and make this line a reality for the Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis communities. #OneMinnesota.”
In addition to providing faster service, the C Line features many customer comfort amenities such as NexTrip real-time departure information signs, security cameras, emergency phones, USB ports at every seat, bike racks and heated shelters with enhanced lighting.
The fleet serving the C Line BRT route will consist of 60-foot articulated buses, six are diesel while the remaining eight are battery electric. The electric buses will be charged overnight in the garage and have another opportunity to top up at Brooklyn Transit Center via an overhead charge station.
The vehicles will all feature on-board WiFi, wider aisles, more seating capacity and rear-facing, customer-operated securements for people using mobility devices.
The C Line is the region's second rapid bus line, and there are plans to expand such service to at least ten more corridors in the future. The C Line project broke ground in March 2018 with the first electric buses from New Flyer of America delivered earlier this year.
While there were many activities held as part of the C Line’s grand opening celebrations, Metro Transit summed the day up with a simple and direct tweet on June 8, posting “today is a good day.”
