Night Buses in Minneapolis/St. Paul

Minneapolis' nightlife and music scene is in fine health. If only it was easier to get home after a night out.

When the last bus is well before you want to go home, the alternatives are cycling - fine in the summer, and by far the coolest way to arrive, evidenced by the fixed gears attached to every immovable object surrounding scenester destinations. But cycling is much less fun in the winter. And driving, that's OK, but parking near entertainment districts like Uptown Minneapolis, Downtown Minneapolis and Cedar-Riverside is usually expensive, and also poses the question of who has to be the designated driver.

Something we don't have in common with many other major cities is Minneapolis and St. Paul's relative lack of public transit during the night.

In Minneapolis and St. Paul, Metro Transit operates three owl bus services. The Metro Transit night bus services in Minneapolis and St. Paul are: 5 (Brooklyn Center to the Mall of America), 16 (downtown Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, downtown St. Paul) and 19 (Downtown Minneapolis, North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center). The 14 also has a 3.10 a.m. departure from Downtown Minneapolis to south Minneapolis and the cargo terminal of Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. There used to be more owl buses in Minneapolis: six years ago, several night bus services were canceled leaving just those three running.

Most bus routes end for the night somewhere between midnight or 2 a.m., and services begin around 5.a.m. the next day. The end of the routes is frustratingly just before late shows end at music venues, or when many bars close at 2 a.m. And while I can sympathize with Metro Transit and their drivers with not wanting drunk riders on the buses, there are plenty of night shift workers and other non-party-goers who need to get around town in the middle of the nights.

The Hiawatha Light Rail is a little more friendly for late night trips, the last trains are after 1 a.m. and trains start running again just before 4 a.m.

Minneapolis Transit Blog posted a suggested proposal for revamping the night bus services in Minneapolis, which would restore the canceled routes, would extend the service area to cover much of the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and in future possibly extend the services further out. A common night bus arrangement in other cities is hourly night bus services with extended routes that go further into the suburbs than the equivalent day routes, very handy for suburbanites, and something a new night bus system for the Twin Cities should incorporate from the beginning, at least to my mind.

The Metropolitan Council, the organization responsible for overseeing Metro Transit, is facing multi-million dollar deficits in the coming years,, and is focusing on expanding Metro Transit's service area, increasing frequencies of buses for daytime riders, and the potential of more light rail and commuter rail lines, to ease the pressure on the Twin Cities' roads.

Night buses are easy to dismiss as taxis for drunks and mobile homeless shelters. But that also dismisses the needs of the thousands of people working in hospitals, factories, warehouses, hotels and in hospitality who start or end their shift in the wee hours, many of who are earning lower wages and may appreciate the alternative to driving.

So, night buses. A convenience for hipsters who don't want to get ice and slush on their fixies, or a vital but neglected part of every major city's transit system?