After riding many an Eastern European bus, I have found a new respect for our transit lines. Even the smelliest and craziest of bums cannot hold a candle to the Commies. Plus, the Metro Transit is familiar and can be very comforting and easy to figure out. The same can be said for their website and automated phone system. As Theresa stated, there are times when it makes more sense to drive than to take the bus. When I lived in Hopkins it would take me 2-3 buses, or even an extra walk to get to my school in St. Paul. The ride was about 2 hours if I didn't miss a transfer and if the bus was on time. It was fine when I didn't have a car, but once I had the car I was hardly on the bus for that purpose. Without heavy traffic I could get to school in 30 to 45 minutes by car for the same price. Plus, you have the option to go where you want, when you want with the car. When I wasn't trying to get to school, I would usually use the bus. I frequent Uptown and the areas on Lake St. Parking can be a hassle and I loathe parking garages. With the bus I was able to be dropped off exactly where I wanted to go and get straight to what I came to do. That beats driving around for twenty minutes trying to park, or parking in oblivion and walking to your destination. The bus was also useful when our student groups needed to get somewhere in large numbers. Those student bus cards are a thing of glory! Although I ended up using my car most of the time, my father started using my pass to get to work. He works more days out of the week and it was easier for him to commute, so it just made sense. We ended up saving a lot of money. I've been using Metro Transit alone since I was 11. My parents are disabled and couldn't drive. My dad just handed me a bundle of route maps one day and wished me luck. They knew there are crazies out there, but also that I'm pretty aware of my surroundings. Shady people would ride here and there, but I never felt in danger. On top of that, Metro Transit was so easy that even a child can figure it out . The drivers were very helpful and are nicer than in any other state that I have been to thus far. Now that we have the Hiawatha train, I can't complain too much about our system. They make it very easy to get to Downtown, anywhere on Lake St or Marshall, the airport and MOA (not that I recommend going to The Mall). Mostly my problem is that they still haven't changed their schedules to make room for the unexpected. I once heard that wheelchair accommodation sets them back up to ten minutes. That doesn't really affect me, but I would like to see the buses running later and more frequently at night. For example, in Uptown and Downtown to the close burbs. read more

After positive experiences where I was pretty much spoiled by stellar public transit experiences abroad in Japan, Korea, & Europe, I thought I'd give American public transit a try when I returned. Let's just say, having high expectations for public transit in America is unrealistic. Positives: Most of the bus drivers are fairly and almost overly friendly, at least on route 22. Other bus routes I've taken, nobody has been that particularly friendly. On route 6 to NE mpls, I once experienced a bus driver lady who pretty much had road rage and anger management issues, but those types of personalities for a bus driver are rare on metro transit. I think most bus drivers are zen masters. Here comes the fun part -Negatives: 1) Not necessarily Metro Transit's fault actually. But I can't stand folks who don't let people OFF the bus FIRST. LET PEOPLE OFF THE BUS, THEN YOU CAN BOARD THE BUS. Thanks. 2)BACK THE FUDGE UP to the back of the bus. I can't stand it when it's rush-hour and folks just bunch up at the front and have no common sense to move back to make room for others. I've often found that when you move all the way back to the very back of the bus, BAM, SIX SEATS ARE OPEN IN THE BACK! HeLLO. Come on folks, get with program. Don't be so scared of sitting in the back with the minorities and loud teenagers, okay? They won't bite. 3) Route 22 often has route 5 schedules on the bus. Fix that! 4) As for being on time. It's really 50/50 on this. Some days, they make it on time, other days, they fail terribly. For NUMBERS 1&2, I think Metro Transit should put up ETIQUETTE POSTERS, like what they have in Japan. http://www.japanator.com/japanese-railway-etiquette-posters-encourage-polite-behavior-9575.phtml SINCE SOME FOLKS don't seem to have any sense of etiquette or common sense when riding the bus, I do believe we desperately need these etiquette posters. Don't get butt-hurt about getting treated like Elementary School Students, somebody's gotta teach people how to ride the bus right. Would make my life on the bus a whole lot more pleasant, fo sho. Last word on this is, FUDGE metro transit. I'm saving up for a car. I gave metro transit 2 years of my life, and ya know what, that's enough. I'm grateful that there is even any sort of public transit, but I don't want to be miserable anymore. read more

I'm a PCA and DSP and have been scheduling through Metro for 3 years now. Metro is dreadful in most circumstances. I've had many clients miss their activities and appts. due to Metro just not showing up OR showing up an hour before anyone expects them, not contacting us, and leaving before the pick up time that THEY gave us. For instance I was going to have a client waiting outside for her Metro at 7:45am so she could get to work by 9 (even though her job is 5 miles away) and at 7:30 I get a call from another client (who was waiting outside as well) saying the bus left already. Turns out that Metro changed the ride to stand-by. Stand-by means that they're to tell you a day in advance what time they'll pick you up and drop you off (as opposed to the times you want or need). Metro did not, however, notify anyone about the change in status OR time. In addition to this constant and very problematic type of error Metro is frequently late, unable to pick people up or drop them off, difficult to get a hold of, rude on the phone, and just in general a very unreliable place. The one decent thing I can say about Metro is that they have some very nice, very helpful bus drivers. Most drivers I've encountered are very good with disabled adults and definitely calm them down when they're pissed over being stuck on a bus for an extra hour or pissed over being an hour late for work. read more

For years I was a Metro Transit commuter, until I got a job in a town not serviced by the system and had to buy a car. In the last few weeks I've had to use the bus again to pick up and drop off some rental cars, and boy, do I ever not miss it. EVERY driver I've encountered has been either rude, or what's worse, has given me incorrect information. Maybe I've just caught all seven of these guys on their worst day ever, or maybe management has taken a severe nose-dive. I don't ever remember customer service being this bad - and it wasn't all that great back when. Assuming it is a management issue: Train your people. Do something about morale. Your drivers are your sales force. read more

Wow, my first 1 star review in over 100. I downloaded the bus schedule/map for the route I intended to use. On the trip out I check the bus to see if they have and schedules on board. Nope! As I waited for my return bus, another bus rider told me that the stop for that route has moved a block away. Hmm I don't see a sign, but I go check it out and sure enough there it is. After what now is almost an hours wait, I catch my return bus and help myself to one of the 2 remaining schedules. The schedule/map has been updated in the print copy. I double checked the website - nope the information there is still outdated. I don't expect much out of a bus company. 1) Run the buses on time 2) Publish accurate schedules/maps #1 does no good without #2 5 stars for the thoughtful citizen that hooked me up with my return bus. 1 star for an organization so hidebound it's online info lags the printed copies read more

Tourists, out-of-town baseball fans, and downtown hotel dwellers....listen up! $1.75 (non rush-hour fare) will get you from the airport to downtown in approximately 30 minutes via the light rail. It will also get you back to the airport from downtown (sweet how that works, right?) $1.75 for a clean, scenic, pleasant ride with plenty of room for suitcase and your person. $1.75. Payable even by debit/credit card (yay!). There are ticket vending machines at each station. A cab is around $35, and takes almost as long. I'll never waste the money again! *Minus one star for access from the Humphrey Terminal...it's truly about a 15 minute walk through a parking garage. Now, in the sunny summer days with a carry-on suitcase this is A-Ok, but I can imagine a winter walk with beacoup luggage would incite rage. I do believe they are working on a walkway scheduled for completion December 2010. read more

Left 100's stranded after concert at US Bank Stadium. Would consider other forms of transportation to and from Stadium. Homeless people sleeping and others asking for money. Not safe! Check schedules as they have changed due to lack of workers. Poor signage out of Stadium and transit giving bad info to riders causing longer walks than needed. Has went to bad to worse. read more

Minimally adequate. This is the age of the mobile device. They should be able to tell you exactly where the bus that's supposed to be at your stop actually IS, especially if they're not going to run on time. And would it be so hard to offer a service where you can get notified about changes to a route you routinely take? Like when the bus stop moves because of road construction and you don't find out about it until you get to the stop with two minutes to spare and find out that TODAY, the bus is stopping four blocks from there? Make it work for those of us who don't have all day to devote to riding the bus, and there'll be a critical mass of bus riders who are not smelly/scroungy/scary. read more

This is the worst excuse for a transit system I have ever seen in any town or city. And I have used a lot of different transit systems in my day. I never expected perfection. After all, Minneapolis is small and most people drive. I expect perhaps Tuscon-like transit. Limited, but functional, and cheap. And while Minneapolis transit is limited, it is neither functional nor cheap. It's so bad I can't believe they don't pay ME to use it. Honestly, the transit system here is a great metaphor for everything that's wrong with this place, and if you don't want to drive, it's a good reason not to move here, to be frank. It's one of many reasons I'll be leaving at the soonest opportunity. Most buses can be anywhere from 10 minutes early to half an hour late -- even in -10 weather. Practically no bus is ever on time. The average is 5 to 10 minutes late, at least. Since there's hardly any buses that run more than once every half hour, that's inexcusable. It's like they don't think people have places to be. There must not be any consequences for the drivers, because I see the same drivers turning up 10 minutes early, 15 minutes late, etc, week after week after week. Most of the time listings at the bus stops are wrong, and haven't been updated in years. Sometimes, even the buses it lists are wrong. Thank god for smartphones. Before mobile maps happened, or if you don't have a smartphone, trying to get a bus in Minneapolis means one of two things. You either have to plan in advance and spend 20 minutes at home trying to read their stupidly designed schedules online (and sometimes that doesn't even work -- sometimes it's wrong online too), or if you have a life and don't have time for that, you just have to show up at a bus stop and stand around -- maybe 30 seconds, maybe 30 minutes or more -- until the heavens bestow a bus upon you at some unknown time. The drivers are surly and don't even seem to know the roads. They can't answer simple questions like "Do you go down Hennepin?" They have no clue. Because it's not like that's a major artery of the city or anything, right? They're filthy. I've seen cockroaches on them before. Yes, cockroach infested buses. Let that sink in for a moment. The city doesn't seem to give a crap. They go on and on about expanding the train (which is the only thing that's ever on time), but all they're doing is building a tourist route from the airport to MOA to the stadium and back again. They aren't building much of anything to serve the people who live here and the routes they take, and we still pay for all these vanity projects with our taxes. So the dilapidated bus system remains the only real option for the majority of residents. On the subject of money, the fees for buses are insulting. Getting a bus here is more expensive than in London. Yes, really. I don't know where they find the nerve to charge that kind of money for such a terrible "service." London is amongst the best, with transit so frequent that they just list the minutes between them, rather than times. Minneapolis can barely manage two buses in the same hour. And no, it's not due to low usage. Most buses are stuffed. If anything, there's more demand than there are buses. What is their excuse for this robbery? What the hell are they spending all this money on? And just because I find this funny in a demented way, you know what I've noticed? The buses on the west side stop running about 20 minutes before bar closing time, and don't start again until 4 in the morning. What are they trying to do? ENCOURAGE people to drive drunk? I gotta laugh, to help me pass the time until I can just get the hell out of this place. The transit system here hints at the mindset and the problems of other aspects of the city: over-proud and overpriced for what it is, which is really just a badly run and unfriendly small town that happens to have sky scrapers in it. Don't listen to the people who go on about how wonderful it is -- they're either sheltered Minnesotans who've never been outside a 30-mile radius of their birthplace and have no experience to speak from, or they're teenage transplant college kids from some boondock town in Wisconsin that doesn't even have transit. In both cases, they have no clue what they're talking about because they have nothing to compare it to. It's just blind tribalistic pride. If you're a city person who has actual grown-up responsibilities, and expects a functioning transit system and knows what that actually means, stay the hell out of Minneapolis. Seriously. That way lay dragons. read more

Well, it's better than public transportation in Los Angeles. That's not saying much though. Oh, where do I start? The good: 1.The buses are actually pretty clean. I know another reviewer said they have seen roaches on the bus but I've never seen anything like that (thank goodness). There may be an occasional transfer thrown on the floor but I don't see a lot of trash or other debris. 2.Most drivers are pretty friendly but they do run the gamut. I've had some that were extremely pleasant and helpful and some who looked like they wanted to kill me when I greeted them as I boarded. 3. The light rail is great. I hope they keep expanding it so there is more than one line through the city of Minneapolis. It does have lots of useful stops downtown and it's really convenient for taking to Twins games. 4. The customer service reps on their telephone line are very nice and helpful. 5. Buses on Hennepin, Lake St. and Nicollet run pretty frequently. 6. The change in transfer policy is the best. Now your transfer gives you 2 1/2 hours of rides on any route. The old transfers would only let you transfer going certain directions and were confusing as hell at times. 7. It's pretty cheap. Unlimited rides for 2 and a half hours for $1.75, $2.25 during rush times. The not so good: 1. Most of the buses that take you to these frequent routes don't run very often. I live in the city and the one bus I can take to get downtown or a main artery only comes every 20 minutes at its most frequent. 2. Their timing. I don't even mind buses being late, I know stuff happens. It's when they are early that they are their most maddening. I walk 2 blocks to my bus stop and I can see the street the bus goes down the entire way so I always watch to see if I miss it since I'll go back home and wait for the next one. The other morning I left home about 6-8 min. before the bus was scheduled to show up. Walked to the stop, never saw one go by. I stood at the bus stop for 2o minutes and one never came. It was a Saturday so they were running less than every 20 minutes. So the one I missed must have been about 10 minutes early. Not convenient. 3. They really need a better system for announcing the next stop. Right now the drivers are supposed to be announcing each stop. Some are great, some you can't hear or understand, and some just don't bother at all. Lots of other cities have it on the scroll at the front of the bus that lists stuff like current time and stop requested. That should be an easy addition to make. ***Edit 5/28/15*** Just wanted to add that some of their busses now how an automatic announcement system that tells you the next stop and what routes you can transfer to at that stop if applicable, and announces the bus number and destination when it picks up at each stop. So far I've seen it on route 21 on Lake St. I think it's a very helpful addition and I hope they continue to implement this on all their city routes. read more

Nothing like a trip to another major city to make you appreciate your own! That's right Seattle, I'm looking at you! I have taken public transit in four other cities, and our Metro Transit is by far the best. First and foremost in my list of why I love it? The website. You simply can't appreciate the ease of those big-little tabs on the home page asking you if you want to do a trip planner or a next-trip. Not being an iPhone user, I frequently call my mom from the street and ask her to look up routes for me... and she lives in Maine. When we tried this with Seattle's transit, she actually swore at one point. Only giving it four stars because I ride the 16 on a daily basis and it is frequently late. But when I finally called to politely complain the other day, the customer service guy was really nice and sounded like he cared, so that was good. Bonus: even if they up the fare, it'll still be cheaper than owning a car. read more

I have used this bus service for over 30 years...then I moved to Shoreview. I am stuck out here. It takes almost 2 hours just to go 5 miles in any direction. I even had to quit going to school because the bus was so unpredictable. Some times it would come early or just pass me right by. How is a housewife to get anything done or even get a job close to home with shitty service? Example: I was going to apply for a job as an appt. setter. the address is on county road e 5 miles from where I am....but according to metro transit it would take me almost 2 hours to get there!!! Are you kidding me? What is going on? Do you or are you planning better service to the area? I have called about this several times as well. And I am not the only one in the area who feels this way. I speak for several people who are on board with this wanting to improve the service. I once again checked that I would like a call back..but I have yet to get one at all. I have been calling since sept of 2013 This is a problem many of us face here in Shoreview. read more

The metro bus is extremely not punctual, the app might show 5 mins away real time tracking, but takes 15 mins to arrive. The schedule might be 5 mins away, but the bus arrived in 30 mins. Imagine waiting 30 mins during winter in Minnesota. This is ridiculous! read more

Transit here sucks people, what is the deal?! Buses seem to never be on time, there are so few of them it makes it hardly worth the hassle, and the user interface (website, non-existant phone app, etc) is worthless! To be fair, I learned to use transit on the Seattle system, which is basically smarter and more user friendly than Bill Gates himself! But still MN, can't we do better than this?! Ok, all of that said, I am very happy with the addition of the light rail. This I would give 4.5 stars. Lets keep the momentum going in this area!! read more

Route #4 Very reliable, unless there's been over an inch of snow... Then I stand in the cold for 40 minutes. If there's snow, just take the #6 or #12 and walk it. No biggie. A friend of mine calls the # 4 the Target Commuter. Once the bus hits 11th...half the bus clears. Off to work they go. Makes it seem like half the city works for target. For the single people out there...try the # 4. But no talking in the morning...silence. Seriously. Nobody talks in the morning. Works for me. read more

If you have an Android device, download MyNexTrip - great, real time, Metro Transit scheduling app. I use it many many times daily! With that out of the way, there are lots of ups, lots of downs, lots of ins and outs and strikes and gutters with Metro Transit. Your mileage will vary depending on the day, driver and route. Let's start with the good. It's convenient if you live near the metro area. Once you're in the burbs it's harder to get around and likely can't get anywhere on the weekends. Living on Bryant avenue in Uptown though, plain and simple, it's awesome. I can get just about anywhere at just about anytime. It's pretty slick. They need more "real" stations around the area, but I do appreciate the heated shelters that are around. Not all of them are heated, but the one on 35W and Lake St. is a life saver in the winter. It's still cold with the wind blowing, but at least it's not completely intolerable with those ceiling heaters. Most of the drivers are nice and courteous. Buses are rarely packed and I can usually get a seat. After a long day at work it's nice to climb on the bus and let someone else deal with traffic while I nap, read a book, play a video game, watch Netflix or just stare out the window. In short, for getting around, it's a great service. But now on to the bad... First off, many of these drivers have no idea what a service dog is and don't know they're allowed on public transit. I've had drivers whiz right past me shaking their heads because I had my (clearly marked) service dog with me. I've had other drivers hold up all of the passengers while they make a call to base for rules. Really!? Other drivers are simply dipshits, morons or on some weird power-kick (not usually, but sometimes. Actually most of the drivers are pretty cool). The schedules for some of the routes are completely wonky and off. For instance, the 21 during rush hour is supposed to come by about every 10-15 minutes. On occasion, one won't come by for 30 minutes and then all of a sudden three of them will come rumbling down the road in a convoy with the first one being packed to the gills and the other two just a have a few people waiting to get off. Also, as convenient as it is, there are way way WAY too many stops. There are three stops in front of Kmart on Lake Street. Let me say that again: THREE stops in front of ONE building and people get on at all of them and people get off at all of them. Super annoying that Metro thinks people can't walk an extra 150 feet. It's a waste of time, money and fuel. Bikes. It's great that the buses can carry bikes. It's bad they can only take two. If I want to commute to work with my bike and the two slots are already taken, I'm screwed. My choices are to either lock up my bike wherever I happen to be and get it at the end of the day (assuming the tires haven't been slashed or the wheels stolen or whatever) or I can miss this bus and take the next one in an hour and be late to work (again assuming that the bike slots are open on the next bus). They could figure a way to have three slots in the front and maybe two or three on the back. This would solve that problem probably. I know there's nothing Metro Transit can do about this next one, but the people that ride the bus very often give me the willies. Many are just people going to work and minding their own business and that's fine. But just about daily I have to deal with someone begging for a transfer or drunk or singing or smelly and gross or belligerent or just some other nonsense. I weep for the world sometime. In short, it ain't a holiday love fest for the bus, but it's way cheaper than owning a car and it gets me pretty much anywhere I want to go. For what you save in money though, you make up for in time spent and dealing with jack-asses. And the outside elements. read more

Pros: Trip Planner online; it's been a godsend. When it comes to looking at those analog bus schedules, I claim illiteracy. Part of it has to do with not understanding which cardinal direction I need to go, but whatever. I've got the internets to help me. People in Minnesota are really nice and it shows on the buses; every time old people or people on wheelchair or crutches get on, someone will automatically get up to offer them a seat. The Student U-Pass and Go-To card are pretty sweet. Hong Kong has something similar, but you can use it on the subway, mini-buses, parkin meters, the public swimming pools, vending machines, and at the 7-11. Metro Transit, take note. Cons: #2, #10, #17, and #25 suck hardcore when it comes to being on time in the winter. People not moving to the back of the bus when it's crowded and more people are trying to get on. This isn't a limo service so be prepared to get cozy. Someday you'll be the chump that tries to get on when the bus is full and no one wants to move back. Also, people are bitching so much about expanding the light rail. Come on guys, once it's built you know people are going to use it all the time. Even though the current light rail isn't really that fast, you have to admit it's pretty damn convenient. read more

Route 68 on s. Robert st. It's never in time or either it'll never show up at all. Wait wait still no bus but in the map it'll say arriving now but still no bus. Unless it's an invisible bus read more

After experiencing other systems (especially Pittsburgh's) and trying to figure out others, Metro Transit's system is relatively simple, easy to use, and overall a decent system. Yes, I would love to have transit available from a southwest metro (either on 169 or 212 before the 494 loop) park and ride during the weekend. Yes, more frequency on the Northstar (and the Link, which is operated by St. Cloud's transit system) would be nice. But to get anywhere in the metro area for $1.75, including transfers (or just hopping around for two and a half hours)? No bizarre zone rules like Pittsburgh (save the Northstar, which is zone-based like most commuter rail lines)? Seamless free transfers between rail and bus (unlike DC)? I'm not complaining. There's numerous park and rides throughout the metro (especially inside the 694/494 loop), and there's a really nice one just a couple blocks east of MOA that hits both the 54 and 55 (to get to Minneapolis or St. Paul.) Perfect for Twin Cities runs when I don't want to deal with parking or driving in Minneapolis (or St. Paul). One improvement: create a loop for the bus to pull into so I don't have to cross the street when coming back from St. Paul. Minor detail, though. And the fact that during the week, I can get from St. Cloud all the way to the Mall of America (or anywhere in the Cities) for $10.25 each way is awesome. Even more awesome is the Friday mid-day route from St. Cloud to Minneapolis on the Link (why didn't they schedule a train for this when they started the route?) Most awesome of all is the weekend schedules, where I can actually leave at a decent hour for a fun trip to the Cities from St. Cloud and only pay $7 each way. If you have a family, it's even better on the weekends (or to Twins games): $20 for the entire family, roundtrip. Supposedly that includes transfers onto light rail and bus, but I've never bought that pass. Metro Transit (and the Link) are amazing. read more

My 16 year old son rides the same bus to school a couple times a week. This morning the bus driver DENIED him a courtesy ride to go 2 miles, 5 minutes, when it was 10 degrees out!! I wrote in and complained and the lady who called me just wanted to go over "policy" and that the drivers have every right to deny a passenger a courtesy ride. Okay...someone drunk and disorderly, but to deny a 16 year old a ride to school when it's cold?! Poor excuse for customer service and basic human decency. I was expecting an apology at the least and I didn't even receive that. What kind of person won't let a kid on the bus to get to school and what kind of customer service doesn't recognize the wrong in that and basically excuses this behavior from a driver? Unbelievable. read more

Busses sometimes never show up, even two scheduled departures in a row never show sometimes. Bus route names are confusing when at transfer stations. To avoid the traffic and parking to work downtown it's a necessity, but I completely understand why more people refuse to switch to public transportation when it's this unreliable. read more

Route 677 broke down with no notification whatsoever on website or through the app? People depend on this to get to work. Horrible customer service. Edit: route was 35 minutes late. No notification. So much for going green. This is the last time I take the express bus. Sad. read more

I've used metro transit a lot in the past two years, and in general I have't had any big issues. Yea, sometimes the buses run late. Stuff like that happens. We are not in Mussolini-era Italy. That's why if I'm taking a unfamiliar route and/or going at an unfamiliar time, I always try to catch the bus BEFORE the one that would get me there on time. That's just common sense, using public transit. If you're not wise enough to do that, it's your own fault. There's one bus driver who I get often on the 17 bus west from Uptown the SLP who just plain sucks. He's incredibly rude for no indentifiable reason (except that maybe he hates his job). He's made me cry, and he can't answer simple questions without answering in a completely asshatty way. Once he hit something hard enough while going down the road that the bus bounced people out of their seats, and he didn't even stop to see what he hit. But besides him pretty much every other driver I've had has been decent. They put up with a lot of crap... I used to take the 14, I know this. The other riders are a crap-shoot. There are some characters. Some are annoying, some are hilarious... For the most part I keep my headphones in and ignore them but it's always fun to share my bus anecdotes with friends.. Another thing... today I was on the 6 coming up from Edina and someone puked on the steps of the bus. I've never been on any bus with a barf incident before this, luckily. But the driver had to call headquarters and ask for a supervisor to come out and clean it up. So the bus ceased to operate. Seriously, it just sat there waiting for some dude to come clean up a little bit of vomit. I had luckily brought my bike so I just rode the five miles home, but all the other riders were stuck waiting for the next bus! You would think there would be a clean-up kit ON THE BUS for something like that because I don't imagine it's all that far-fetched to think that someone may at some point blow chunks. It's definitely not very efficient to have to switch buses and get somewhere 15 minutes late because someone yaks. But really, in general it's fine. The bus gets me where I need to go. So, there you go. Three stars. read more

The Metro was amazing.The system to get in to the train was so well thought.The train was great.It was fast and clean.The only bad thing is at the New Carlton station the bathroom was ridiculously disgusting and I really do not think you should go to the bathroom their but the train was awesome I definitely recommend you should go on the train read more

A good way to get to and around Downtown, you'd need to live on a major bus line to have it be a practical form of transportation anywhere else though. Also, with the exception of commuter busses that run during rush hour hour only, bus service to the suburbs is awful if even existent at all. I'd give it less than 3 stars but since I can't drive hardly at all because of medication I take, something is better than nothing. However, just forget about living or working in the suburbs and depending on Metro Transit to get you around, too many transfers. Miss your bus or the bus comes early and guess what you're stranded on a dark and cold highway in places you'd expect a chainsaw maniac to come out of the woods and chop you up. There's nothing around for you to go to either. If you're carless you'll find the suburbs are like being in the middle of nowhere. You really need to live and work in the city for public transit to work for you, and even then there is alot of room for improvement. To start with service to most non Downtown area neighborhoods requires you to either get off or transfer at what are usually run down areas with shady things going on, there also isn't enough transit stations (unheated, pissed on bus shelters don't count, I'm talking actual stations). Especiallty at busy stops it just doesn't make sense, at least for rider comfort. I'd like to see more rail as well, besides them being on time more frequently they offer a much more fun and smooth ride than busses. I can't tell you how many times I've had to ride on a bus that rattles so much it'll make your brain feel like it's swinging inside your head. Migranes aren't even as bad as the way you'll feel while on one of one of those busses. If you are unable to drive though it is your only option for getting around other than walking or biking. I prefer living and working in the Downtown area so that nothing is more than a 15 walk away just in case I miss or don't wanna take a bus. I hear many say taking the bus takes too much time, while it does take more time I don't think it's outrageous unless you miss your transfer connection which I'm sure will happen to you alot. This is what frustrates me the most, especially since it's not my fault that a bus didn't arrive when it was supposed to in order to connect with a transferring bus. At the very least, busses should wait more at some stops, and should never leave early as has happened to me on many ocassions. With all the modern day gadgets we have today it doesn't seem illogical to have better communication between drivers as to riders that will need to transfer. If this issue was resolved I think Metro Transit would be alot more reliable, and fast for it's riders. As far as time goes you gotta consider how much time it can take to earn the money needed to own, maintain, insure, and put gas in a car. After a hard days work it's kinda relaxing to let someone else do the driving anyway, I'm sure if I was a regular driver during rush hour I'd at some point get into an accident, now that would really take up my time, maybe even kill me. You can't enjoy the scenery as a car driver either, all you get to see are cars, signs, and markings on the road. Public Transportation has it's irratating hassles but so do cars. read more

I'm on a high-frequency line and can get to and from work at any time, so I love it (even though they don't run long enough to be my ride home after a night out downtown). After visiting other cities and seeing how insanely cheap their transit is, I'm a bit disappointed in the price. It costs 75 cents to ride a bus in Austin, TX. All of the time. The other problem is getting from one area of town to another if neither is downtown. For me to get from Southwest (above 62) to the airport, I pretty much have to take the bus downtown and get on the LRT. I always hope I don't have a late (or early) flight because the busses stop and I'm in for a cab ride (also expensive in this town). read more

Metro Transit is better than many public transit options in the world, and operates a staggering number of lines to service the far-flung lawn-loving denizens of this here fair state. The pros: 1) buses run mostly on-time, 2) there are many routes converging on the downtowns and major hubs, 3) the Go-To cards ROCK MY SOCKS, and 4) The Metrotransit.org tip planner is excellent. The cons: 1) most lines run every 20 minutes or half hour, which is annoying combined with 2) when buses aren't on time they are EARLY, making a 20 or 30 minute wait necessary despite being at the stop ahead of the bus schedule. 3) There are no system maps anywhere, so you'd better know where your bus stop is both outbound and inbound before you leave the safety of your internet connection. All in all, a mostly solid, mostly useful, mostly devoid of crazy people public transit system. read more

OK i love the Metro Transit!!! The online tools are very good the rates rock and the GO CARD it is just the best with it tracking transfers. Here is were they need to go for the last 2 of my stars.... 1) Stop allowing people to sit on the bus and curse and curse and curse while having a simple conversation. Yes you can talk with one another with out the "F" and the "S" word and every woman is not the "B" word. I am not a prude but common there are little kids on the bus. 2) I don't care about your cell phone conversation so can you keep your voice down and keep it short. 3) Would Metro Transit hand out a sheet to every rider for a couple weeks talking about what is good behavior and bad behavior and enforce it. Because some parents did not take the time to teach there kids respect for others. read more

I love Metro Transit, they get me to work in the morning and home at night. Understanding how to ride is the most important thing. Fortunately, technology has made this a lot easier. On their website you can track buses in real time with GPS. When they are late, it is usually the result of other drivers or passengers. Carry on Metro Transit! read more

I did Metro Transit for years and years. I lived in South Minneapolis for the vast majority of that time, which was theoretically ideal. I can say that honestly, this is one of the worst transit systems you will find in the U.S. From many even urban points, it is several blocks to a bus stop, few are heated/sheltered or anything of the sort. Buses run late to very late so routinely riders do not even comment on it, and even the schedules as they stand are truly bad on many lines, 20-30 minutes between buses is also commonplace. The light rail is nice and very fast, but still very limited. This is so far from a 5-10 minutes max, extensive Chicago style bus system there is no comparison. Given the size now of the "Twin Cities" metro, this sorry excuse for public transit is perplexing. In short, with apologies to the environment and my wallet, I love my car. I would be willing to move into it with my animals before I relied on Metro Transit again. read more

Put money on my bus pass on Saturday go to use it Tuesday when I still had a $3.50 value and it said to use my card on a bus to activate my fare. When I went to use it said "fare due" when I show the driver my acct online he told me " he didn't give two f****s pay or get the f*** off his bus" Called and spoke to a supervisor who at first was quite rude and unwilling to help. Finally after explaining they were leaving me stranded in downtown Minneapolis she helped me get a pass to get on the next bus. This behavior is unacceptable I am so sick of drivers and workers treating passengers like crap. Not only was this driver rude he left 7 minutes early (I literally ran 2 miles to make this bus). In the last year I have been kicked off a bus (along with five other passengers) because the driver forgot to switch her sign to 3C from 3A. I had a driver tell me "too bad I had to wait" because he didn't stop when I requested the stop (which caused me to walk a mile). I have had one driver blow past me while looking at me to get through his route quicker. I do not understand how these idiots still have jobs. Metro transit get it together your company is a joke. read more

I love and support our bus and rail system. It's my main form of transportation and it is the only way to commute to work in my opinion. I'm much more relaxed when I get there. I just wish I had bus service close to me on weekends from home. If you haven't done the bus, go for it. read more

Metro Transit - Public Transportation Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

I live in Minneapolis and have relied on Metro Transit for 40 years. These days I get a discount "All-You-Can-Ride" pass through my job - a great perk. (Check with your employer.) I work in downtown Mpls., where many workers take mass transit in order to bypass expensive parking. All the buses & light rail trains have convenient bike racks and wheel chair access. Major routes come every 5-10 minutes on weekdays; most routes average every 20-30 minutes. There are more north-south routes than east-west. If you're heading east-west, chances are you'll need a transfer. Bus service to & through the suburbs is infrequent & sometimes nonexistent. I was relocated temporarily to a suburban job location, where it took me 2 transfers (3 bus routes) and 1 1/2 hours each way - compared to a 10 minute drive each way by car. The Metro Blue Line train will speedily get you to major destinations, like the Mall of America, the airport, Vets Hospital, U.S. Bank Stadium, & Target Field. The Green Line train through St. Paul is a slower ride, as it mostly adheres to city speed limits - so the #94 express bus between Mpls. & St. Paul can be quicker than the train. There are lots of ways to get route information. My personal go-to method is the Metro Transit website - but sometimes the online instructions can be off. If the online instructions seem overly complicated they probably are (i.e. too many transfers, too much walking), and I would advise you to call and double-check with one of their phone representatives, who are extremely helpful. The light rail has gotten seedier over time: dirtier and worse passenger behavior. A few years ago I was harassed and threatened by a group of teens who (I learned from police) beat someone up after I got off the train. They were caught and eventually prosecuted, but to this day I get nervous taking the train after dark. However, other light rail users I know have never had any problems. I'm not super-familiar with St. Paul routes, but a couple of Minneapolis routes to avoid at night would be the #5 and #21, due to intoxicated and disruptive passengers. In my opinion #5 is the worst. In the daytime these routes are safe, though typically crowded and loud. Drivers on every route seem more reluctant these days to intervene with problem behavior - perhaps due to recent employee safety & security concerns. Aside from a handful of truly bad adventures over the course of many years, my experiences using Metro Transit have been generally positive - though there is definitely room for improvement. read more

Now with the Green Line I'm actually riding the LRT on a regular basis. I've ridden the 16,50 (RIP), and 94 which all went the same route. The experience is totally different on the Green Line: like you're visiting a new city even though it's still University Ave in St Paul. St Paul now actually feels like a city. It runs all day and night so you've gotta love that you don't need a schedule unless you're out in the wee hours and can expect to hop onto the next train soon. On the downside, St Paul government officials don't want to prioritize signals for the LRT to run on time: they want a few motorists on little side streets to get priority at intersections. Can't blame that on Metro Transit. What can be blamed on Metro Transit is the big obvious blunder is the atrociously embarrassing "Red Line" extension which is not only not a train, but a bus that goes nowhere and no one rides it: just look at the amount they spent and the piss poor ridership numbers they post for it. Instead of all the money sunk into expensive fancy buses and bus shelters for a "Red Line" no one uses, they should have doubled their "hi-frequency" bus routes that that connect to the LRT stations and given these special designations. You know, the ones that thousands of people ride daily and even more would if they'd show up more frequently than every 20 minutes to an hour, because even in the summer that's unacceptable. While I can take the 10 or 18 and expect a short wait in cold winter months when I don't always feel like biking, the same can't be said for connecting routes like the 38, 46, 65, 87,etc but then I guess all those businesses on streets like 38th St in Mpls or Grand Ave in StP don't need or want our money for at least 3 months out of the year since they aren't pushing to be served by reliable high-frequency bus routes from the LRT stations. read more

Metro transit drop was great when we picked up they dropped us off 40 miles from where we were supposed to be. Horseshit customer service

Metro transit serves me fairly well as a student. Always on time when the snow is cleared, but delays can be frustrating in the winter. I take the six everywhere - they say it's high frequency, but since I live east of the river, it most certainly isn't! Sigh. The U-Pass for students is an incredible deal. I don't know what I'm going to do when I graduate... read more

I rode two buses in one day. It was during this pandemic. Only four out of fifteen people were wearing masks on the first bus. And, I was only one out of two people wearing a mask on a bus that had too many passengers on it. read more

Props to the bus drivers that have to deal with funky people all day. You never know what's going to happen on the bus. I L-O-V-E public transportation! Thank you thank you thank you Minneapolis! Now we just need to convince those suburbian fools that think driving from Minnetonka/Woodbury/Plymouth/Maple Grove to downtown Minneapolis every day that its not cool for our environment. Pros: The trip planner is very user friendly and not having to pull out cash every time I ride is a major bonus. Cons: Crazy patrons that think they're in charge should be dealt with immediately rather than the driver ignoring them. On a few occasions it has been down right scary to be on the bus unarmed. read more

Rode this from airport to Lake Street in the past and it was good as well as DT to MSP. Today I was in town and road in to and from a Vikings game. What a joke. I thought BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) sucked. This experience takes the cake. There is no Minnesota nice at the US Bank stop. I feel sorry for the season ticket holder waiting there for a blue line train going to MOA in January. read more

Zero stars. Negative stars. King County Metro has wasted so much of my time. Today's driver aimed for all the red lights. Was in no fucking hurry. The next #7, was directly behind her. Right fucking behind. I can always count on Metro to fuck up. I'm pleasantly surprised when I get a good driver because it's so rare read more