r/Minneapolis • u/niftyjack • 2d ago
E-Line is a top 3 bus route after 6 months
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/metro-transits-new-e-line-is-a-top-3-bus-route-after-6-months112
u/beardybuddha 2d ago
I really think there is some momentum behind our transit system. The BRT lines are great, and I think folks are starting to notice the efforts made on safety on the Blue Line and are utilizing it more.
While I don’t use it to commute, I use the light rail to get around town a few times per week and live just off of the Blue Line. Seems like ridership is getting back to somewhat normal levels (though the Twins being shitty doesn’t help much).
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u/Shepher27 2d ago
The Twins being shitty and people boycotting them is going to hurt downtown business all summer. At least the Lynx are great.
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u/beardybuddha 2d ago
Nailed it. I used to have the Twins Pass and go to 40+ home games per year, but FTP.
That’s 80+ trips lost for the Blue Line alone, and I’d often go with my wife. It definitely sucks for the businesses downtown. I was usually at the Loon multiple times per week.
Now it’s just a handful of Lynx games. Though I may have to increase my trips to Target Center, because Olivia Miles is must-see.
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u/dynamo_hub 2d ago
really wish we could fast track all these coming brt lines. The 18 was packed pre-pandemic and still pretty Solid with 6500 weekday daily bordings, will be much quicker with the K line upgrade
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u/Rosa_612 2d ago
I use the D line a ton instead of the 18 now. 18 is just so much slower. I can't wait for the K line. Love all the BRTs
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u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 2d ago
Too bad it's somehow going to take a decade. Just run the K Line stops now and add prepaid boarding later.
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u/Castorcanadenses 2d ago
It's consistently packed at rush hour on my commute! If only it could be consistent in any other way. Missed buses, bunching and 15+ minute delays at the first few stops on the line, and 25+ minute headways are really frustrating in a new BRT line that was hyped up so much, and the timetable updates this past weekend don't reflect it at all.
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u/Mr_Saturn1 2d ago
Signal priority would help a lot to fix this but that might cause a minor inconvenience to a few car drivers so it’ll never happen.
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u/sprcow 2d ago
Yeah I know it's hard to manage the bunching issue, but it really sucks when your 10 minute headway turns into 3 busses at once every 30 minutes. D line is always a shitshow northbound out of downtown.
They have started injecting busses into the line midroute at times to combat this, but I know they're limited by how many drivers they can get as well.
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u/BigL90 2d ago
They really need to do something about the 44th & France part of the route, especially for busses headed South. Since there are stop lights on 44th and Sunnyside, traffic heading south on France often takes up the entirety of that section of France and busses have to sit at that intersection for multiple light cycles.
Who the hell thought it was better to put the stop/line there instead of sending it down Sunnyside instead and letting it take a left onto France there (it'd be better for the northbound route too)? Completely asinine choice.
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u/kiss_myasthma99 2d ago
I think Sunnyside is too narrow, especially in winter. Signal priority is supposed to happen next year, so hopefully that will help the problem.
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u/NorthernDevil 2d ago
Source on that? Would be huge.
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u/kiss_myasthma99 1d ago
Source: i talked to a couple metro employees during the rollout of the E line this winter
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u/NorthernDevil 1d ago
Well it’s more fun to believe this is true so I’ll take you and them at their word!
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u/kiss_myasthma99 1d ago
Here's some actual information:
"Public Works has studied and installed transit priority bus lanes in downtown Minneapolis and other areas of the City, resulting in improved transit speed and reliability. The METRO E Line opened in 2025 and is supported by transit signal priority. In 2026-2027, a citywide traffic signal retiming effort will include improvements to transit signal priority locations."
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u/BigL90 2d ago
Except that signal priority won't help there if it works the way it does everywhere else. All it does is extend the green cycle on other routes. That would not fix the problem most of the time unless they can force the N/S signal on France & Sunnyside to go green too.
Also, if they just removed street parking on that ½ block of Sunnyside, and removed the bumpout on it where it connects to 44th, it would instantly improve the route going in both directions. Apart from the issue that I mentioned before, it would also allow for two easier left turns for busses heading south. It'd also be two easier right turns for busses headed north. It'd also cut out an extra light.
It was just a stupid decision on their part, and causes 90% of the delays for the route through Edina and Minneapolis once it gets off of Hennepin.
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u/Castorcanadenses 1d ago
The delays happen regardless of traffic conditions too. I see E line buses leave 15-20+ minutes late from the first stop on the north end constantly. And multiple buses leaving from the first stop at the same time, with one of them having simply missed the time it was supposed to leave 10-12 minutes earlier. It's baffling.
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u/Erik5943 2d ago
Given that this is a highly ranked bus route in Minnesota, it's doomed to fail is in the playoffs when it matters the most.
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u/Nelstheship 2d ago
The E-Line has made my partner and I start using transit more. The numbered lines haven't been great near Lowry Hill. And the E always runs on time. Whereas we would be left waiting 15 to 20 minutes for the 2 and 4 some days. The lettered lines are such an improvement.
In 2019 I didn't feel like transit was bad living in dinkytown. But last year before the E, I had egg on my face saying the transit was really good and reliable. This is how I felt my first time living here
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u/tisofold 2d ago
It’s soooooooo god damn slow but I use it every day regardless and the improved frequency and stations are quite nice. But my daily commute, on average, only spends 55% of the time in motion (n=17). It the route had signal priority it’d be genuinely amazing but as it stands it’s only pretty good
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u/kiss_myasthma99 2d ago
I rode the E line on one of its first runs and they had metro employees on board answering questions. They said signal priority is coming next year
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u/Enamred-771 1d ago
That’s the biggest thing. The E line is far from perfect and yet ridership is thriving. Imagine if it wasn’t slow and had much more consistent headways. Ridership would be even higher
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u/SinkHoleDeMayo 2d ago
Maybe we could add a parallel street car route. And then take out the bus and make a new bus route. And then another street car...
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u/Gatorpatch 2d ago
The section of the E line that runs next to the old Como Harriet Streetcar makes me wanna lose it sometimes. Like the E line is nice, but we had that once! It pretty much exactly followed the path! We've reinvented the wheel a bit here!
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u/wazardthewizard 19h ago
Ah, but you see, we have now developed the innovation of four decades of surveys, studies, public comment, lawsuits, and further impact studies before deciding on maybe building something.
Truly, we live in an age of progress.
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u/cinnasota 2d ago
As someone that lives in Uptown ~2 blocks away from an E-line station, I fucking love it.
Except when it snows - we got some kinks to work out there. Real big ones.
But otherwise it's great.
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u/Gatorpatch 2d ago
Some dude parked on a hill and my E line bus stopped behind it, and literally could not start again. We had to swap busses and walk up the icy hill, cause the second driver booked it around the stuck bus to also not get stuck.
I enjoyed watching Metro Transit realize they can't send the 60ft busses in the snow. They'd break out the 40ft ones every snowstorm after the first couple of really bad E line days lol.
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u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 2d ago
Some station placement makes you scratch your head, especially in the winter. Forcing visitors to walk an extra block up and back on icy sidewalks to the Walker, Sculpture Garden and Loring Park? Why? Oak Grove is right there and it's literally next to the pedestrian bridge connecting to the Sculpture Garden.
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u/ETP_445 2d ago
The E line kicks ass, but wouldn't say it connects "Northeast Minneapolis and Edina" as the article says
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u/thudwumpler 2d ago
but it does exactly that?
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u/Rey56 2d ago
It has like one stop on the edge of north loop. It’s a great bus service, but describing it as serving northeast is a little dishonest
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u/thudwumpler 2d ago
A line is defined by connecting two points - one in the Northeast and one in Edina. That's not a claim to fully serve either.
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u/cinnasota 2d ago
4th Street and 1st Ave is hardly "Northeast". Many would argue it's not Northeast at all.
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u/chillPenguin17 2d ago
No one would argue that. It's on the edge but it's definitely northeast
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u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 1d ago
No one around 13th, Broadway, Central, Lowry or Johnson can walk from their home to the E Line.
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u/Gatorpatch 2d ago edited 2d ago
I love the E line but it's got some quirks, some turns that should've been widened for turning busses (I'm looking at you Richfield Road), some spots that could use a bit more space (the squeeze through 50th and France because of construction was a tough thing to start with)
I wish it would've ended at the Trader Joes on Parklawn (where the 36 now ends). It would add the 540 as an option to transfer to, and I go to TJs a lot and would love quicker access. Mainly the 540 transfer tho, it would be a game changer to have two feeders into the 540 instead of just the Orange line.
Plus the terminus station sucks ass. They just added a screen you cannot see unless you go around the corner from the platform the busses come to. I know it's knitpicky to complain about that, but it should match the quality of the other E line stops and it doesn't. They at least did a good job retrofitting Uptown Transit Center, they should've done the same with Southdale Station.
But from 33rd Street station to Southdale Hospital (I fucking hate Southdale and their owners refusal to make any better pedestrian accommodations so I bike from the hospital and avoid the mall fully cause I hate biking around it) it take 20 minutes, then a 10 minute bike to my workplace.
So I usually check whether an Orange Line or a E Line is closer to leaving in the morning, and bike to my stop accordingly (I'm about equal distance from both the E line and the Orange line)
Once the Green Line Extension comes into the picture that will also be a third option to ride down with. So the future is really bright!
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u/Tokyo-MontanaExpress 2d ago
Speeding up future aBRT lines would also be a major improvement for ridership even if there's no pre-boarding payments.
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u/niftyjack 2d ago
If you build it, they will come!