Rider's Almanac Blog

Students make the case for expanding transit access

| June 25, 2015

For several years, high school student Spencer Willits has used transit to travel to and from school, work and other activities. At 16-years-old, he says riding buses and trains has given him greater independence to travel around the Twin Cities [...]

Bus Community Know Your Operator

Top operators recognized for safe driving, customer service

Posted by Drew Kerr | June 17, 2015

Every weekday morning, operator Rodney Smith makes four 12-mile journeys between Normandale Community College and downtown Minneapolis on Route 535. With a full load of customers in tow, he guides a 40-foot bus through rush hour traffic on [...]

Community METRO Green Line Minneapolis St. Paul

At one-year mark, Green Line going strong

| June 15, 2015

For the last eight months, Aaron Martin has used the METRO Green Line to get to not one but two jobs – one at the Town Hall Brewery in Cedar-Riverside and another at the Oceanaire in downtown Minneapolis. The ease of his commutes is a near-daily [...]

Light Rail METRO Blue Line

New paint brings new life to light-rail trains

Posted by Drew Kerr | June 11, 2015

When light-rail vehicle 113 pulled into Metro Transit’s body shop earlier this spring, it was clear a decade of service had taken its toll. Scratches and dents were visible up and down each side of the vehicle. Paint was flaking in several spots [...]

Bus Community In the News

Spanish classes help operators break through ‘invisible wall’

| June 3, 2015

During a recent trip on Route 21, operator Ken Peters encountered a customer who spoke limited English but needed help figuring out where to transfer downtown. Fortunately, Peters had spent the previous eight weeks studying words and phrases [...]