Tag: light rail

Crime Remains a Problem on Light Rail Despite Huge Drop in Ridership

Minnesota Sun Staff

Metro Transit’s light rail lost more than half of its riders in 2020, but crime continued to flourish on the empty trains, according to documents obtained by Alpha News.

Light rail saw a decrease in ridership of 59% last year, largely due to an upsurge in telecommuters who no longer travel for work because of COVID-19.

Despite the diminishing ridership numbers, crime continued to ravage the passenger rail and its stations in 2020. Adjusting for 2020’s abnormally large decrease in ridership shows that the crime rate actually increased significantly in 2020.

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Candid Video Shows Minneapolis Mayor Accusing Lawmaker of Lying After House GOP Unveils New Crime Bill

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey crashed a Monday press conference called by House Republicans who unveiled a package of bills aimed at addressing an increase in violent crime in the Twin Cities.

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Bill Aims to Decriminalize Fare Evasion in Minnesota, Increase Safety and Ridership on Light Rail System

Minnesota Sun Staff

Transportation leaders held a press conference Monday announcing legislation aimed to promote safety, decriminalize fare evasion, and increase ridership on the light rail system.

HF 3085, if passed by the House and Senate and signed into law, would also create a Transit Ambassador Program to help connect riders with services.

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Group of ’10-12 Somali Teens’ Allegedly Chased Light Rail Patrons With Hammers

Anthony Gockowski

  Minnesota Crime Watch and Information reported for Alpha News Monday that an alleged mob of Somali teens were chasing Light Rail patrons with hammers at the East Bank station Friday night. Alpha News notes that a post from the Minneapolis Scanner Facebook page reported Friday night at 9:49 p.m.…

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Light Rail Ridership So Low Minnesota Dems Introduce Bill to Reduce Fares to 25 Cents

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Senate Democrats recently introduced a bill that would lower Light Rail fares to 25 cents in an effort to increase transit ridership. As The Minnesota Sun has reported extensively, the Twin Cities Light Rail accounts for just 1.4 percent of all passenger miles, compared to the 95 percent of…

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Twin Cities Met Council Wants to Spend $2 Billion on an 11-Mile Streetcar

Anthony Gockowski

An amendment to the Twin Cities Met Council’s 2040 Transportation Policy Plan includes $2 billion in funding for a modern streetcar route that would be just 11 miles in length. The Met Council hosted a public hearing Wednesday for its Riverview Modern Streetcar project, which would stretch from Union Depot…

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New Minnesota Coalition Likes Jeff Johnson’s Idea of Building State of the Art Bus System

Anthony Gockowski

A new coalition of business leaders that launched at the Minnesota Capitol Tuesday plans to lobby state lawmakers to support a “comprehensive transportation system,” which could include $120 million in transit improvements for Greater Minnesota. The group, calling itself “Keep MN Moving,” is co-led by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, the…

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Transportation Finance Chair Calls Walz’s Gas-Tax ‘Out of Date’ and ‘Unreliable’

Anthony Gockowski

Gov.-elect Tim Walz (D-MN) plans to include a gas-tax hike in his first budget proposal due February. His latest reason for doing so is because he received more votes than any other gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota history, so the people must want it. “Yes, you can expect to see that,”…

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Minnesota Receives Approval to Begin Construction on $2 Billion Light Rail Extension

Anthony Gockowski

The Twin Cities Met Council announced Wednesday that it has received approval from the federal government to begin construction on its controversial $2 billion Light Rail extension. In a Wednesday press release, the Met Council announced that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has granted it a Letter of No Prejudice,…

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FEATURE: How An Unelected Board of Officials is Deliberately Sabotaging Minnesota Commuters

Anthony Gockowski
Jason Lewis

It’s two hours before class starts, but Haley is already on the road. “I haven’t missed work or class because I always try to leave two hours before I start, just to make sure I get there on time,” she said. In one week, Haley estimates that she wastes up…

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Final Push Begins to Defeat $9 Billion Nashville Transit Plan as Voters Go to the Polls Today

Jason M. Reynolds
skeptical transit plan man

NoTax4Tracks, a PAC that seeks alternatives to Metro Nashville’s $9 billion light rail plan, is making a final push to defeat the measure on today’s ballot. “From the beginning we knew that this transit plan had problems. We’ve been around government long enough to know that when you hide the price…

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