By JOHN CHARLES WILSON
Public transit is one of the few government functions where the people in charge actually listen to suggestions from common citizens. I have been going to public forums about transit changes for many years, though recently I”™ve had trouble getting to them. However, because of the pandemic a lot of this stuff is being done online now.
Metro Transit is currently doing a survey which can be accessed at https://www. surveymonkey.com/r/futurebus or from the Metro Transit website regarding future Bus Rapid Transit routes.
As you probably already know, two BRT routes already exist, the A on Snelling (Saint Paul) and the C on Penn Ave. N., and three more are “in the pipeline”: the B (Lake St.), the D (Chicago Ave. – Fremont Ave. N.) and the E (Hennepin – France Ave. S.)
This survey is about what three routes will next get the BRT treatment after the ones already planned. You are being asked to pick three of four choices and rank them in order of importance to you: Central (Minneapolis), Como/ Maryland (Saint Paul), Lyndale S./Johnson, and Rice/ Robert (Saint Paul). While none of these routes would directly pass through the Phillips neighborhood, the value of a transit system is where it enables you to go. So please think about what areas outside Phillips you have reason to visit, whether daily or just occasionally, and “vote” for BRT to those places in this survey.
