Local transit

The Minnesota State Legislature created the Minnesota Council on Transportation Access (MCOTA) in 2010 to study, evaluate, oversee, and make recommendations to improve the coordination, availability, accessibility, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and safety of transportation services provided to the transit public. In its annual report, the Council provides a summary of the past year’s activities and an overview of member agencies’ efforts to foster an environment of heightened communication and cooperation among transportation providers in Minnesota. This document also offers the Council’s recommendations for further improvements of transportation coordination in Minnesota.

This report was published by the Department of Highways in response to plans for local transit in the Twin Cities. The goal was align the local transit needs with the roads managing by the Department of Highways.

This Technical Summary pertains to Report 2023-16, “Understanding Post-COVID Safety Concerns Toward the Use of Transit and Shared Mobility in Greater Minnesota,” published April 2023.

This study demonstrates applicability of two distinct data sources for travel behavior research. Questions relating to reverse-commuting are raised with respect to all working residents, and working residents in low-income households located in Minneapolis. Census of Population and Housing, 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) and the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council Travel Behavior Inventory (TBI) provide details on aspects of commute and travel patterns. Examining organization and methods of analysis appropriate to determining particular travelrelated information presents a unique perspective on the advantages and shortcomings of each data set. PUMS data provide detailed household and work-journey information. To answer reverse-commuting questions posed in this study, we consider household income, worker occupation, state and Public Use Microdata Area of employment, number of persons in each household, means of transportation used for the journey to work, and work journey duration. TBI data contain a wealth of information on both the work journey and other trips, but lack the depth of socioeconomic data available in the PUMS file. The value of TBI data in responding to this series of questions lies in the details about trip location and purpose.

This study investigates the perceived safety risks and barriers that might prevent transit and shared mobility services from attracting post-COVID riders in Greater Minnesota. It includes an online survey of Greater Minnesota residents to understand their COVID-related safety concerns and their preferences and perceptions toward existing and potential safety protocols. The survey results show that, during the post-COVID era, driving alone continues to dominate, but desires to use transit and shared mobility modes remain strong. Lack of access, lack of interest, and lack of available better alternatives jointly affect transit-use behavior. Women, people with COVID concerns, urban residents, online shoppers, and transit users are associated with stronger preferences toward COVID safety measures. People with COVID concerns, online shoppers, and transit users are also associated with preferences toward general transit service improvements. We also find that elderly people, hesitant tech users, and transit-dependent users are unlikely to be positively affected by trip-planning tools and contactless payment technology. Furthermore, income and car ownership predict future transit use, and younger age is associated with more interest in carpooling. These results help to inform transit and shared mobility providers about what safety and communications strategies will be most effective in bringing users back.

This Technical Summary pertains to Report 2023-08, “Rural Community Transit Strategies: Building Upon, Expanding and Enhancing Existing Assets and Programs,” published March 2023.

This project involved the development of innovative sharing-economy strategies to address rural transit challenges in Greater Minnesota. Many transit services and transportation network companies (TNC’s) like Uber and Lyft do not provide services to commuters outside metro areas, forcing most residents in Greater Minnesota to own automobiles. Meanwhile, many communities have school bus systems and substantial vehicle capacity that remain parked and unused much of the day. This project uses a human-centered design approach to engage a community in Greater Minnesota with a population of less than 10,000 people to develop a pilot for rural community transit that could be a model for similar communities across the state. The research seeks to answer the question of whether a shared, mobility services approach to rural transit transportation in Greater Minnesota could meet people's needs at a lower cost, with more convenience, and with greater positive impacts on the local economy than current transit practices and services. Our research developed a menu of strategies that uses existing community assets to promote walking, biking, car sharing, bus sharing, and car and van pooling.

This Technical Summary pertains to Report 2015-49, “Exploring Strategies for Promoting Modal Shifts to Transitways,” published December 2015.

This Technical Summary pertains to report 2019-17, Accessibility and Behavior Impacts of Bus-Highway System Interactions.

This Technical Summary pertains to Report 2015-09, “Evaluating Twin Cities Transitways’ Performance and Their Interaction with Traffic on Neighboring Major Roads,” published March 2015.