Transit News

New bus service signals a good year for metro transit

This is an eventful year for transit in the Twin Cities. Northstar commuter rail rolls out in the northern suburbs in December. Also in December in the southern suburbs there's the predicted start up of the Cedar Avenue BRT or bus rapid transit service. Northstar commuter rail and Cedar avenue BRT will be the newest additions to the decades' long effort to create a Twin Cities transit system.

Hennepin County seeks consultant to help it thread a transit needle

For almost three years now, Hennepin County officials have been studying the idea of building an intermodal transit hub – a place where rail lines and bus routes converge – in the northwest corner of downtown.This week, they decided that the project, which is expected to cost $130 million or more – will require the services of a special transit consultant.“We’re going to be threading the needle, but I think we can do it,” said Joe Gladke, Hennepin County’s manager of engineering and transportation planning. He added that the transit hub is “probably the most complicated thing that’s been undertaken (by the county) in a long time.”The problem, in a nutshell, is that the northwest corner of downtown will soon become a very crowded place.