Minneapolis "t" Buses....

[Tcmetro]

There are five garages currently:

• Heywood (north side of downtown Minneapolis)
• MJ Ruter (Brooklyn Center, north Minneapolis inner suburb)
• Nicollet (South Minneapolis)
• South (near the Airport and Mall of America)
• East Metro (east side of downtown St Paul)

The Snelling Garage closed around 2001. This was located between the downtowns on I-94 at Snelling Ave. After sitting empty for more than a decade the site has been replaced with a soccer stadium called Allianz Field. The rest of the land is being redeveloped into housing and commerical space. 

There's also two rail facilities, with a third under construction:

• Franklin (Blue Line)
• St Paul (Green Line)
• Hopkins (Green Line extension, under construction)

Contract operations haven't changed significantly in the past decade or so, but the routes have changed somewhat. Some lower volume city routes are contracted now, whereas before was nearly exclusively suburban. Lorenz no longer operates contract service. Actually most of Lorenz's contract lines were owned by them before the Metropolitan Council took them over. Most of the current contracts are held by First Transit.

From what I remember the contract routes are 16, 27, 30, 80, 83, 84, 87, 118, 219, 223, 225, 227, 350, 364, 415, 417, 452, 537, 538, 539, 540, 542, 604, 615, 670, 671, 705, 716, 717, 762, 801, 805, and 831. Routes 16, 67, and 84 are going to First Transit in June. Also a new route, #323, will also be a contracted route when it starts.

There are five contract garages:

• First Transit Como Ave (350, 415, 452, 540, 542, 670, 671, 705) - 540/542/705 use 30ft Gilligs, rest are 40ft Gilligs
• First Transit Spring St (27, 30, 83, 223, 225, 227, 364, 417, 604, 615, 716, 717) - All cutaways
• First Transit Blaine (219, 801, 805, 831) - 30ft Gilligs, I think Rt 219 might be cutaways
• Schmitty & Sons Burnsville (80, 87, 537, 538, 539) - 30ft Gilligs
• MTN Blaine (16, 84, 118, 762) - 40ft Gilligs 

As for suburban operations:

• MVTA is the largest. They have two garages, in Burnsville and Eagan. They also use the Schmitty & Sons Burnsville garage. All of their service is contracted to Schmitty & Sons.
• SW Transit has a garage in Eden Prairie. All service contracted to First Transit. 
• Plymouth Metrolink is operated by First Transit from the Spring St and Como Ave garages. 
• Maple Grove Transit contracts most service to Metro Transit. I can't remember if it's operated out of the MJ Ruter or the Heywood garage. They own all of their own buses now, and are in their own livery. They also have a dial a ride and one shuttle route, but I'm not sure who the contractor is. 
• U of M campus shuttles are contacted to First Transit. They own some Gilligs and cutaways, but most of the buses are Van Hool 40 and 60 footers that are owned by First Transit. 
• SmartLink (Scott/Carver Counties Dial a Ride) is operated by Scott County from the garage at the Marshall Rd Transit Center
• Metro Mobility (ADA) and TransitLink (Hennepin/Ramsey/Anoka/Washington/Dakota Counties Dial a Ride) are operated by a few contractors (can't remember entirely who), but First Transit has some of them.

Lastly, the 94 express bus does Downtown Minneapolis to Downtown St Paul in about 20 minutes, while the Green Line is about 35 minutes. I'm not sure how ridership is on the 94 these days (train opened in 2014 and I moved away in 2015), but its travel time matches well with the 30 minute frequencies that some routes operate on in both cities. Most St Paul routes seem to run on a "pulse" and meet at the same time throughout the day. 

[artthouwill]

18 minutes ago, Tcmetro said:

There are five garages currently:

• Heywood (north side of downtown Minneapolis)
• MJ Ruter (Brooklyn Center, north Minneapolis inner suburb)
• Nicollet (South Minneapolis)
• South (near the Airport and Mall of America)
• East Metro (east side of downtown St Paul)

The Snelling Garage closed around 2001. This was located between the downtowns on I-94 at Snelling Ave. After sitting empty for more than a decade the site has been replaced with a soccer stadium called Allianz Field. The rest of the land is being redeveloped into housing and commerical space. 

There's also two rail facilities, with a third under construction:

• Franklin (Blue Line)
• St Paul (Green Line)
• Hopkins (Green Line extension, under construction)

Contract operations haven't changed significantly in the past decade or so, but the routes have changed somewhat. Some lower volume city routes are contracted now, whereas before was nearly exclusively suburban. Lorenz no longer operates contract service. Actually most of Lorenz's contract lines were owned by them before the Metropolitan Council took them over. Most of the current contracts are held by First Transit.

From what I remember the contract routes are 16, 27, 30, 80, 83, 84, 87, 118, 219, 223, 225, 227, 350, 364, 415, 417, 452, 537, 538, 539, 540, 542, 604, 615, 670, 671, 705, 716, 717, 762, 801, 805, and 831. Routes 16, 67, and 84 are going to First Transit in June. Also a new route, #323, will also be a contracted route when it starts.

There are five contract garages:

• First Transit Como Ave (350, 415, 452, 540, 542, 670, 671, 705) - 540/542/705 use 30ft Gilligs, rest are 40ft Gilligs
• First Transit Spring St (27, 30, 83, 223, 225, 227, 364, 417, 604, 615, 716, 717) - All cutaways
• First Transit Blaine (219, 801, 805, 831) - 30ft Gilligs, I think Rt 219 might be cutaways
• Schmitty & Sons Burnsville (80, 87, 537, 538, 539) - 30ft Gilligs
• MTN Blaine (16, 84, 118, 762) - 40ft Gilligs 

As for suburban operations:

• MVTA is the largest. They have two garages, in Burnsville and Eagan. They also use the Schmitty & Sons Burnsville garage. All of their service is contracted to Schmitty & Sons.
• SW Transit has a garage in Eden Prairie. All service contracted to First Transit. 
• Plymouth Metrolink is operated by First Transit from the Spring St and Como Ave garages. 
• Maple Grove Transit contracts most service to Metro Transit. I can't remember if it's operated out of the MJ Ruter or the Heywood garage. They own all of their own buses now, and are in their own livery. They also have a dial a ride and one shuttle route, but I'm not sure who the contractor is. 
• U of M campus shuttles are contacted to First Transit. They own some Gilligs and cutaways, but most of the buses are Van Hool 40 and 60 footers that are owned by First Transit. 
• SmartLink (Scott/Carver Counties Dial a Ride) is operated by Scott County from the garage at the Marshall Rd Transit Center
• Metro Mobility (ADA) and TransitLink (Hennepin/Ramsey/Anoka/Washington/Dakota Counties Dial a Ride) are operated by a few contractors (can't remember entirely who), but First Transit has some of them.

Lastly, the 94 express bus does Downtown Minneapolis to Downtown St Paul in about 20 minutes, while the Green Line is about 35 minutes. I'm not sure how ridership is on the 94 these days (train opened in 2014 and I moved away in 2015), but its travel time matches well with the 30 minute frequencies that some routes operate on in both cities. Most St Paul routes seem to run on a "pulse" and meet at the same time throughout the day. 

Thanks.  I thought there was a Gt Snelling garage but wasn't sure.  

So the Green Line is being extended West to Hopkins?  What's the routing? Will it parallel I 394? It would have been great if the reversible could've been converted into a rail line, but I don't know if LRT works in an Expressway median.

[Tcmetro]

Green Line extension is going southwest to Eden Prairie. It follows the Cedar Lake, the Kenilworth, and the SW light rail bike trails, all of which are also rail corridors. From Hopkins, the line turns south to run through the office and industrial parks west of Hwy 169. It wraps around the Eden Prairie Center mall and terminates at the Southwest Station (the main park and ride of SW Transit). I believe that the line will open in 2023.

Here's a flyover video of the route: 

 

[artthouwill]

36 minutes ago, Tcmetro said:

Green Line extension is going southwest to Eden Prairie. It follows the Cedar Lake, the Kenilworth, and the SW light rail bike trails, all of which are also rail corridors. From Hopkins, the line turns south to run through the office and industrial parks west of Hwy 169. It wraps around the Eden Prairie Center mall and terminates at the Southwest Station (the main park and ride of SW Transit). I believe that the line will open in 2023.

Here's a flyover video of the route: 

 

Thanks