Legislators Need to Reform Met Council, Reconsider Extending Light Rail

There has been mounting push back on fixed-route light rail and bus rapid transit proposals in the Twin Cities. The assumptions behind these massively expensive projects need to be re-evaluated, and a review grounded in real data and common sense should be pursued.

The poor management exhibited in the planning and building of the Southwest Light Rail extension has set the stage. When the project broke ground in 2019, it was expected to cost $2 billion and be completed in 2023. Now projected to take twice as long to complete and overrun by 41.5%, it will be 2027 before it sells its first passenger ticket.

In March 2023, the state’s legislative auditor found that that “the Metropolitan Council obligated itself to spend money it did not have, added or changed substantial work after the project was bid, and was not fully transparent about the project’s increasing costs and delays.”

The Metropolitan Council does not appear to be ready to re-examine its fixation on expensive transportation projects that it believes are essential to the future of the Twin Cities communities and to its population. However, some of those communities and some of the businesses and store owners along the routes of these fixed-route conveyances are more than ready.

First, on September 6, the Star Tribune reported that Ramsey County is walking away from a $2.1 billion streetcar project intended to link Union Depot in St. Paul to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America. The potential alternative? An arterial bus rapid transit (aBRT) service that was estimated to require less than 5% of the cost and to provide faster service.

Second, on September 9, the Star Tribune reported that a majority on the Maplewood City Council made clear that they no longer support the proposed Metro Transit “Purple Line”. This line is a commuter bus route between St Paul and White Bear Lake. Mayor Marylee Abrams stated that the infrastructure changes proposed to facilitate the rapid transit bus line would cause too much disruption as it passes through Maplewood, cost too much, and benefit too few. “It just doesn’t make sense,” she said.

In Ramsey County and in Maplewood, the local governments are asking that high-cost fixed route transit concepts be re-examined. Unfortunately, the Metropolitan Council intends to press forward.  On September 10, it stated that it intends to continue the Purple Line project.

This brings us to the $3 billion proposal for the Blue Line Extension from Minneapolis through Robbinsdale and Crystal to Brooklyn Park.

More than 600 North Loop residents have signed a petition opposing the Blue Line route. KSTP.com has reported that at least two cities along that route could formally push back on the current design. Yet 5 INVESTIGATES found that there is little expectation that the objections raised by the leaders of Robbinsdale and Crystal alone will be enough to stop the project.

Who has the power? 5 INVESTIGATES quoted an informational flier from Metro Transit that noted that municipal consent is “not a decision-making process for whether or not to build the project.”

Who is accountable? Who approves the funding?

Members of the Metropolitan Council are not elected. They are appointed by the Governor. And Metro Transit has its own source of funding. In May 2023, the DFL-controlled Legislature approved a seven-county regional transportation sales tax of 0.75% — the first dedicated and ongoing source of money for the Met Council’s transit program.

Hennepin County pays a sizable share of Metro Transit costs. The members on the Hennepin County Commission are elected. However, Hennepin County District 3 Commissioner Marion Greene (SW Minneapolis and St Louis Park), the chair of the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority, has reported that the Blue Line and the Green Line “are priorities for Hennepin County.”

What has happened with the calls to reform the Met Council?

In 2023, the DFL leaders of the Minnesota House and Senate transportation committees pushed for an overhaul of the Met Council's governance structure. The Metropolitan Governance Task Force was established to study and evaluate options to reform and reconstitute governance of the Metropolitan Council, with a reporting deadline of February 2024. However, a majority of the Task Force has not yet concurred on a proposal for reform.

Are there alternatives to multi-billion-dollar fixed-route rail and bus lines?

Maplewood Mayor Abrams and the council would like to see other forms of transit explored. These would include so-called “Letter Buses” that would use city streets but with fewer stops, micro buses that would offer door-to-door and on-demand transit options, and autonomous cars.

In essence, Maplewood leaders want to follow the latest science and use a little common sense.

Return to common-sense government. Vote Republican in November (or EARLIER)!