Metro A Line (Minnesota)

The A Line's southern terminus is at the 46th Street station of the Metro Blue Line. At the station are connections to 4 Metro Transit routes and 2 Minnesota Valley Transit Authority routes. A Line buses travel east along 46th St, cross Minnesota State Highway 55, also known as Hiawatha Avenue, before passing near Minnehaha Park. E 46th St becomes Ford Parkway and crosses the Mississippi River on the Intercity Bridge which is just north of the Mississippi River's Lock and Dam No. 1. On the other side of the bridge the route enters the city of Saint Paul and passes by the former Twin Cities Assembly Plant which is currently being redeveloped into housing and commercial properties. Ford Parkway continues through the Highland Village commercial node in Highland Park, Saint Paul where there are connections to 7 Metro Transit bus routes, until reaching Snelling Avenue next to the Highland Park Tower. After turning north on Snelling, the route travels by Macalester College in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood before passing Grand Avenue and Summit Avenue. While traveling through the Merriam Park neighborhood of Saint Paul the route passes a future connection to the Metro B Line near Selby Avenue.[3] After crossing Interstate 94, the route passes Allianz Field and the Midway shopping area in the Hamline Midway neighborhood. A connection to the Green Line at the Snelling Avenue station along University Avenue is available. The route continues north past Hamline University, the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and the Como Park neighborhood of Saint Paul. The route enters Falcon Heights, Minnesota and passes Larpenteur Avenue before passing by the Har Mar Mall in Roseville, Minnesota. The route crosses Minnesota State Highway 36 before terminating at Rosedale Center where there are connections to 8 Metro Transit bus routes.[4][5]

The A Line runs every 10 minutes during daytime service on weekdays and weekends, with reduced frequencies of up to 30 minutes in the early morning and late evening.[6] Route 84, which previously served the Snelling Avenue corridor, was retained with 30-minute service to provide connections from the corridor to other areas.[7] When the Green Line opened in 2014, just the Snelling Avenue portion of the route had 10-minute service. After the opening of the A Line, the entire corridor had 10-minute service which was part of an increase of 63,300 to 80,900 annual service hours.[8]

Ridership in the Snelling Avenue corridor, which consists of the A Line and the local complementary Route 84, increased by 30% in the first year of operation.[8] The A Line served almost 1.7 million rides in 2019 which was a 3 percent increase from the year before.[9]

The A Line utilizes several bus rapid transit features that result in service that is 6 to 8 minutes faster than existing buses on Snelling Avenue. Transit signal priority is installed at 19 of the 34 traffic signals on the line, which has improved reliability on the route.[2][10] The corridor is not a true bus rapid transit route because of the lack of dedicated bus lanes, which were not built due to likely neighborhood opposition.[11] Metro Transit maintains that dedicated bus lanes would not have sped up travel times significantly due to most speed improvement being linked to other A Line design features that minimized red light and passenger delay.[12] Previously buses spent around 24% of their time waiting at signals and had a 90.7% on-time performance.[13][14] Stations are spaced at roughly half mile intervals which helps limit the time spent on accelerating and stopping the bus.[15]

Stations on the A Line have enhanced features to differentiate them from local bus stops. Station shelters follow a "kit-of-parts" design so they can be easily identified and used throughout Metro's bus rapid transit system.[16] There are three different station sizes–small, medium, and large–and the size chosen depends on daily boardings and site context. Stations have lighted canopies, on-demand heating, security cameras and emergency telephones, benches, and bike parking. Pavement in boarding areas are treated with a darker shade of concrete to delineate them from the sidewalk. Ticket vending machines and Go-To card readers are located on platforms for off-board fare collection, speeding up the boarding process and reducing bus dwell time. Each station has a pylon marker that provides real-time bus arrival information and station identification. Illuminated signage at the top of the station blinks when a bus is one minute away. Curbs at stations have tactile warning strips and are raised 9 in (23 cm) from the road surface, facilitating near-level boarding to speed up and make boarding easier.[17][18][7]

Buses on the A Line have wider rear doors which in combination with all-door boarding, allows for reduced dwell time when passengers are boarding or alighting. There is no fare collection equipment on board due to off-board fare payment machines located at stations. 12 new buses were purchased for the line at a cost of $500,000 each, which is roughly 10% greater than a normal bus.[19][20] Buses used on the A Line have more standing room than other Metro Transit buses, stainless steel seat frames, and provide free on-board Wi-Fi.[19][21] Buses have a unique exterior paint scheme from other Metro Transit vehicles, rounded exterior molding edges, and brighter digital displays.[22] Initially 12 buses were purchased for the line with 3 being new buses and 9 being replacement buses from an existing contract with Gillig.[23] An additional bus was purchased a month after the line opened to improve maintenance and reliability operations.[24]

The passenger experience and legibility of the route helped it be described as "probably the best bus route in the US" by one transit expert.[25][26][27] Riders are more satisfied with the A Line's service than regular route local bus service.[8] Six police officers were added to the Metro Transit Police Department to monitor buses and check tickets.[19]

Streetcars ran along Snelling Avenue from 1905 until 1952. The line was an important crosstown connection to many other streetcar lines. The Snelling streetcar line did not travel north of Larpenteur Avenue and instead traveled closer to Como Park along Como Ave, Pascal Ave, Arlington Ave, and Hamline Ave. In 1947 a shuttle bus began to run from Snelling and Como Avenues, north past Larpenteur Avenue to Roselawn Avenue in Roseville. The bus service was extended and connected with the replacement bus service along Snelling Avenue that was instituted in 1952 when streetcars no longer ran the route. At its peak, the Twin City Rapid Transit Company ran 10-minute peak, and 15-minute offpeak service on the corridor.[31] The Snellling Streetcar Shops and then later Snelling Bus Garage, both located at the intersection of Snelling and University Avenues, served many transit routes in the area including service along Snelling Avenue.[32] Portions of the Snelling Streetcar Shops were turned into a shopping center and the Snelling Bus Barn was torn down in 2001.[33] Allianz Field was later constructed on portions of the former bus barn.

Return of streetcars to the corridor has been studied. In 2001, a neighborhood plan for Macalester Groveland encouraged study of a streetcar along Snelling.[34] The City of Saint Paul along with consultants conducted a $250,000 study of creating streetcar network for the city in 2012-2014.[35] Snelling Avenue as a corridor by itself was one of the five best transit corridors for streetcars, partially due to the transit supportive land use. Pairing a Snelling Avenue streetcar with a route along Ford Parkway was also suggested as a possibility.[34] A streetcar line along the length of Snelling Avenue was not proposed on the long-term network but a portion of Snelling between Hamline University to Selby Avenue was selected as a potential corridor. A Snelling + Ford Parkway streetcar corridor from 46th Street Station to the Green Line and a Snelling North corridor from the Green Line to Como Park scored lower on the study's screening criteria due to lower ridership, less transit supportive land use, and limited potential to redevelop properties.[36] The Snelling + Selby Corridor was not selected as an initial starter line.[37]

Bus service along the corridor in 2010 was provided by Routes 84 and 144. Route 84 ran 15-minute weekday and Saturday service from Rosedale Center before diverging into several branches close to Ford Parkway. Service was only every 30-minutes on Sundays. Route 144 ran along Snelling Avenue from around Ford Parkway until it reached Interstate 94 where it traveled west, exited and served the University of Minnesota, before finishing in downtown Minneapolis. Service was only offered during peak periods at 15-30 minutes frequencies.[38] As part of the Green Line opening in 2014, service for the Route 84 increased to 10-minutes 7 days a week and two branches were combined into one branch. Service to 46th St Station was only every 30-minutes but the A Line was in planning stages to provide 10-minute service along the corridor with a goal opening of 2014. Route 144 was eliminated because it only served 144 rides a day and alternative service was available as a transfer between Route 84 and the Green Line. Travel time only increased by 6 minutes to the U of M and by 2 minutes to downtown Minneapolis.[39][40][41]

The Metropolitan Council, the metropolitan planning organization for the Twin Cities, set the goal of doubling transit ridership by 2030 in their 2030 Transportation Policy Plan. One of the methods identified to increase ridership was implementing arterial bus rapid transit.[42] The 2030 Transit Master Study for the region also identified arterial bus rapid transit features and encouraged further study of several corridors.[43] Metro Transit began study of 11 corridors for their potential for bus rapid transit in 2011-2012. Those 11 routes served 90,000 riders per weekday, which was close to half of the total ridership for urban routes. Ridership on implemented routes was predicted to increase 20 to 30 percent after the first year of opening. Corridors were evaluated on capital and operating costs, potential ridership, and travel time savings. At the time, an opening for the first BRT line was hoped to open in 2014.[42] By 2012 Snelling Avenue and West Seventh Street were identified as the first two candidates for implementation. Snelling Avenue showed promise for its connection to the Green Line. While no funding sources were identified, planners hoped to open the line in time for the Green Line opening in 2014.[44] The current route of the A Line was approved in 2014 by the Metropolitan Council as the region's first arterial bus rapid transit project. By then an opening date was aimed for late 2015 and further study of a northern extension was still ongoing.[45]

Ramsey County and the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce requested the Metropolitan Council study an extension of the A Line before construction of the A Line had begun. The Council agreed to study the extension in November 2013.[46] The extension studied had a northern termius of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant redevelopment in Arden Hills which is also known as the Rice Creek Commons. The extension would add 10 additional stops and would connect the University of Northwestern – St. Paul and Bethel University, as well as major employers, including Land O'Lakes, Inc. and Boston Scientific, to the broader public transportation system. In the final report issued in September 2016, Metro Transit concluded that there was no funding available and ridership did not support an immediate extension. The study encouraged the development of transit supportive land use and development patterns.[47] The comprehensive plans for the cities of Roseville and Arden Hills both contain sections on an A Line extension and the need to keep BRT in mind when developing land within the corridor.[48][49]

The B Line is proposed to share stations with the A Line at Snelling and Dayton Avenues.[3]

• Metro Transit
• METRO Red Line
• METRO C Line

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