METRO TRANSIT
By John Charles Wilson
Are you any of the following: A transit dependent parent who wishes to be able to take his/her kids to Valleyfair? A teenager who”™d like to go to Valleyfair by his/herself without being driven there by a parent? An adult who”™d like to check out the races at Canterbury Park without a car? Or an adult who”™d like to go to Mystic Lake without a car and without being beholden to the casino bus schedule? If so, the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) has a solution for you! Route 410, also known as the “4FUN” bus, is a new weekend express bus from the Mall of America to Valleyfair, Canterbury Park, and Mystic Lake. Buses leave the Mall of America every hour from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and again from 6:23 to 10:23 PM (though skipping the Valleyfair stop in the evenings). Return buses from Mystic Lake run 9:44 AM to 5:44 PM and again from 7:01 to 11:01 PM (though the last one to pick up at Valleyfair is the 8:01 PM bus which leaves Valleyfair at 8:20). Of course, from the Phillips neighborhood, you will need to take either the Metro Transit 5 or the Blue Line to reach Mall of America to transfer to the 4FUN bus.
In other news, Metro Transit is adding back service that has been cut during the pandemic. The following improvements involving the Phillips area as of 21 August 2021 are:
The Blue Line will run every 10 minutes during the morning rush hour.
Route 2 will add trips to the University of Minnesota.
Route 5 will adjust northbound afternoon trips for dismissal times at Heritage STEM Academy.
Route 21 will adjust westbound morning trips for start times at Southwest High School.
Also, construction on the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit, which will stop at the new Lake Street bus stop in the middle of I-35W (in place of the shelters that used to be at the sides of the freeway on top of huge and crumbling flights of stairs), is almost completed. We should expect to hear of service starting by the end of 2021, replacing the current Route 535. This will be a real boon to people headed to the southern suburbs.
