Metro Transit opening B Line, bringing faster service between Minneapolis and St. Paul

Metro Transit will open its latest rapid bus line on Saturday, with the new B Line bringing faster and more frequent service to the Lake Street corridor in Minneapolis and along Selby and Marshall avenues in St. Paul.

The B Line’s debut is one of several route and schedule changes the agency will enact Saturday as it rolls ahead with its Network Now initiative to bring fast all-day service to core urban routes and increase ridership, enhance mobility and adapt to ever changing travel patterns.

“Less stop and more go” is what the B Line is all about, said Katie Roth, Metro Transit’s director of arterial bus rapid transit.

An end-to-end trip on the B Line from Union Depot in St. Paul to Lake Street and France Avenue on the west end of Minneapolis will take just over an hour. With just 33 stops and operating in a bus-only lane on a third of its 13-mile route, the B Line will offer trips 20% faster than the Route 21, which it is replacing.

Route 21 was one of Metro Transit’s oldest routes, dating to the 1950s. With its 90 bus stops it was also the slowest, lumbering along at just 8 mph.

The Route 21 bus is the most-used of any route, providing an average of 7,000 rides on weekdays, according to agency data. That provides a solid starting point for B Line ridership to grow, Roth said.

To maximize efficiency, Metro Transit is increasing service on Routes 27 and 38 in Minneapolis to help riders connect to the B Line and serve some Route 21 stops that have been eliminated. Metro Transit is also adding a new Route 72 serving Selby Avenue and the Midway Shopping Center in St. Paul.

The B Line becomes Metro Transit’s seventh rapid bus line and will operate from 4 a.m. to about 1:30 a.m. weekdays and Saturdays. Service will end at 1 a.m. on Sundays and holidays. Buses will run every 10 to 15 minutes mornings through early evenings and every 30 to 60 minutes late at night and early in the morning.

Built for about $74 million, the project also included repaving Lake Street, refitting traffic signals to give buses priority green lights, and adding amenities for bicyclists and pedestrians. Metro Transit partnered with Hennepin County and the city of Minneapolis.

Minneapolis has set a goal of reducing trips made in the city by car by 60% by 2030. With more than 100,000 people living within a 10-minute walk of the B Line, Public Works Director Tim Sexton hopes many of them will take the bus.

The B Line “expands the network and helps people get around the city,” he said. “It improves access to transit and makes Lake Street more vibrant.”

With the opening of the B Line, Metro Transit will be 25% of its way of completing service improvements it plans to carry out in the next two years.

Earlier this year, Metro Transit opened the Gold Line, a rapid line running from downtown St. Paul to Woodbury. Later this year, the agency will open another rapid bus line, the E Line, running from the University of Minnesota to Southdale Center in Edina. At least two more are on the drawing board, and Metro Transit has a goal of operating 15 rapid lines by 2035.

Last year, rides on the rapid bus system rose 14% from the previous year and provided 8 million rides, Roth said.

Starting Saturday, Metro Transit will increase service on Route 94, an express bus linking downtown Minneapolis with downtown St. Paul. The bus will run every 30 minutes on weekday evenings until midnight — service currently ends at 7 p.m. — and add service on Saturdays and Sundays.

About 25 routes will see adjustments as new schedules take effect Saturday. That includes more frequency on the popular Route 54 from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to downtown St. Paul; Route 11 through northeast Minneapolis, extending the line further into Columbia Heights on Sundays; and Route 515, which runs along 66th Street through Richfield and Edina.

“Each quarter we’re adding more and more service,” said Director of Service Development Adam Harrington. “We are in growth mode.”

To celebrate the B Line opening, rides on Saturday will be free from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Metro Transit also will hold ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. at Union Depot and a party from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Union Depot and the Chicago/Lake Street Transit Center.

“This is a broader effort to build strong connections, connect people and improve lives,” said Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras.