METRO TRANSIT
Reliability vs. Scheduled Frequency
by JOHN CHARLES WILSON
The Metro Transit service change of 20 August 2022 can be seen in two ways: First, as a service reduction, or second, as a reduction in promises to what Metro Transit can reliably deliver at this time. The driver shortage is making it so buses and trains don’t always come when they’re supposed to. Reducing how often they’re supposed to come is a realistic solution for now. Anyway, here are the changes affecting the Phillips neighborhood.
- Light Rail service is being reduced from once every 12 minutes to once every 15 minutes.
- Route 2 is also being reduced from once every 12 minutes to once every 15 minutes.
- Route 9 afternoon rush hour service is being reduced from once every 20 minutes to once every half hour.
- The 7:35 AM Route 14 trip which leaves 38th Street Station going northbound will instead leave from 66th and Richfield Parkway to make transfers from Route 46 possible.
- The Route 21 eastbound schedule on Saturdays will be adjusted slightly to improve reliability.
- Route 22 will have less stops so it will go faster.
- Route 467 to Lakeville, which was suspended for COVID, is being restored, with six trips one half hour apart during rush hour northbound in the morning and southbound in the afternoon.
In other news, planning for the B Line on Lake Street is humming along. By 2024, we should have a faster, more reliable bus with a dedicated westbound lane, which is where the most traffic jams affecting Route 21 occur.
My plan to have my own transit blog is coming to fruition. I am planning my first post at minneapolistransitblog.com for 19 September 2022, the 52nd anniversary of the Metropolitan Transit Commission’s takeover of Twin City Lines.
