Planning for Essential Destinations: An analysis for the future arterial bus rapid transit F Line

Abstract

Metro Transit’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) office requested that the capstone team evaluate essential destinations along the future arterial bus rapid transit F Line. The F Line is scheduled to replace route 10 and run along the Central Avenue corridor from downtown Minneapolis to the Northtown Mall in Blaine. While providing transit service for essential destinations has been a long-term goal of Metro Transit, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the need to shift from a commuter centric system to an all-day service model. Metro Transit’s own 2021 Rider Survey clearly showed a shift in travel patterns as a result of the pandemic. The share of commuter trips on the bus rapid transit (BRT) system dropped to 17% in 2021, down from 22% in 2016. Similarly, the survey showed a marked increase in BRT trips taken for running errands, comprising 34% of trips in 2021, up from 20% in 2016.1 Providing transit for non-work trips is more challenging than serving commuter trips. Work destinations tend to be clustered together, typically around a central business district. However, non-work destinations are more spread out, and are located across the entire region. This increases the need for effective accessibility analyses when determining the suitability of a planned route. An additional consideration when evaluating the project context is the impact of socioeconomic status on the travel behavior of riders. Riders below 100% of the poverty level are more likely to need transit service outside of the traditional peak hours than their wealthier counterparts.