Metro (Minnesota)

Metro
A Minneapolis-bound train (left) passes a Saint Paul-bound train (right) on the Green Line near East Bank station.
Overview
Owner	Metropolitan Council
Locale	Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area
Transit type	Light rail (LRT) Bus rapid transit (BRT)
Number of lines	2 LRT lines 5 BRT lines
Line number	Blue Line   Green Line   Orange Line   Red Line   A Line   C Line   D Line
Number of stations	121
Daily ridership	44,800 (light rail, weekdays, Q2 2024)[1]
Annual ridership	14,755,900 (light rail, 2023)[2]
Website	metrotransit.org/metro
Operation
Began operation	June 26, 2004; 20 years ago
Operator(s)	Metro Transit
Number of vehicles	Bombardier Flexity Swift Siemens S70 Siemens S700 Gillig Low Floor New Flyer XD60 New Flyer XE60
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
System map A geographic map of the Metro network. The official system map can be viewed on the Metro Transit website. Interactive map Legend System diagram Southwest LRT Southwest Eden Prairie Town Center Golden Triangle City West Opus Shady Oak Road Downtown Hopkins Blake Road Louisiana Boulevard Wooddale Avenue Beltline Boulevard Brooklyn Center C LineD Line West Lake Street Xerxes & 56th Avenue West 21st Street Brooklyn & 51st Avenue Bryn Mawr Penn & 43rd Avenue 44th Avenue & Penn Penn & Dowling 44th Avenue & Girard Penn & 36th Avenue Fremont & 42nd Avenue Penn & Lowry Fremont & Dowling Penn & 29th Avenue Fremont & 35th Avenue Penn & West Broadway Penn & Golden Valley Fremont-Emerson & Lowry Penn & Plymouth Fremont-Emerson & 26th Street Olson & Penn Fremont-Emerson & West Broadway Olson & Humboldt Fremont-Emerson & Plymouth Olson & Bryant Olson & 7th Street 7th Street & Bryant Basset Creek Valley Bottineau LRT Royalston Avenue/Farmers Market 7th Street & Olson-5th Street Blue LineGreen Line 7th Street/Ramp A Transit Center Target Field 7th-8th Street & Hennepin Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue 7th-8th Street & Nicollet Nicollet Mall Marq-2nd & 7th Street Marq-2nd & 5th Street 7th-8th Street & 3rd/4th Avenue Government Plaza 7th-8th Street & Park C Line U.S. Bank Stadium Marq-2nd & 11th Street Marq-2nd & 3rd Street Orange Line I-35W & Lake Street West Bank I-35W & 46th Street East Bank Cedar-Riverside Stadium Village Franklin Avenue Prospect Park Lake Street/Midtown Westgate 38th Street Raymond Avenue A Line 46th Street Fairview Avenue Chicago & 14th Street 46th Street & Minnehaha Chicago & Franklin 46th Street & 46th Avenue Chicago & 24th Street Ford & Woodlawn Chicago & 26th Street Ford & Finn Chicago-Lake Transit Center Ford & Kenneth Chicago & 34th Street Ford & Fairview Chicago & 38th Street Snelling & Highland Chicago & 42nd Street Snelling & Randolph Chicago & 46th Street Snelling & St. Clair Chicago & 48th Street Snelling & Grand Chicago & 52nd Street Snelling & Dayton Chicago & 56th Street Snelling & University Portland & 60th Street Snelling Avenue Portland & 66th Street Snelling & Minnehaha Portland & 70th Street Snelling & Hewitt Portland & 73rd Street Snelling & Como Portland & 77th Street Snelling & Hoyt-Nebraska American & Chicago Snelling & Larpenteur American & Bloomington Snelling & County Road B American & Thunderbird Rosedale 50th Street/Minnehaha Park Hamline Avenue VA Medical Center Lexington Parkway Fort Snelling Victoria Street I-35W & 66th Street Dale Street Terminal 1-Lindbergh Western Avenue Knox & 76th Street Capitol/Rice Street Terminal 2-Humphrey Robert Street American Boulevard 10th Street Bloomington Central Central 28th Avenue Saint Paul Union Depot Green Line Knox & American Boulevard Mall of America Blue LineRed LineD Line I-35W & 98th Street Cedar Grove 140th Street Burnsville Heart of the City 147th Street I-35W & Burnsville Pkwy Apple Valley Orange Line Red Line light rail under construction bus rapid transit downtown fare zones free airport zone park and ride all stations accessible Route diagram map

Metro (styled as METRO) is a transit network in Minnesota serving the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. It also provides service to some suburban areas. As of 2022, the system consists of two light rail lines (Blue and Green Lines) and five bus rapid transit (BRT) lines (Orange Line, Red Line, A, C, and D Lines) all of which are operated by the local public transit company: Metro Transit. The five lines connect Downtown Minneapolis and St Paul with Bloomington, Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, Roseville, Richfield, Burnsville and Brooklyn Center.

Prior to August 17, 2019, service along the entire length of the Green Line operated 24/7, the only one of 22 light rail systems in the United States to do so, but a common practice on some heavy rail lines such as the New York City Subway and PATH. The service gap from 2AM to 4AM was replaced by bus service.^[3][4][5][6] The current schedule on the Blue Line sees the first departure at 3:19AM and the last arrival at 12:50AM.^[7] On the Green Line, the first departure is at 4:29AM and the last arrival is at 12:10AM.^[8] Metro Transit also provides a shuttle service between the stations serving the Lindbergh and Humphrey terminals of MSP Airport during the overnight service gap on the Blue Line.^[9]

In the 1970s, roughly contemporaneous with the construction of Washington D.C.'s Metro system and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit, the newly formed Metropolitan Council contemplated the creation of a similar mass transit for the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, but the idea was eventually abandoned due to opposition from the Minnesota Legislature.^[10] For the next few decades, there were repeated proposals to build light rail along several corridors, particularly the University Avenue corridor between downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul (the present Green Line), but the idea of light rail only gained steam in the late 1990s.

In 1999, the Minnesota Legislature approved funding for the first line (the present Blue Line) along Hiawatha Avenue (initially named the Hiawatha Line^[11]) in south Minneapolis, which opened in 2004. In 2011, in anticipation of the opening of the Red Line and Green Line, and in order to help passengers better identify with each of the routes, Metro Transit announced that the system would be rebranded and each line assigned a unique color. The first phase of the Red Line opened in mid-2013, and the first phase of the Green Line (also known as the Central Corridor) in mid-2014. Expansion is planned to upgrade existing transit corridors and to construct new transitways.