The vast majority of Metro Transit's commuter lines have not been operating during the pandemic. Now it's bringing some lines back, while watching what happens to employee behavior in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Planning going to back to work is a major undertaking for both employers and workers after about 16 months of remote work. Whether it's discovering how flexible the post-pandemic work schedule will be, making childcare arrangements or budgeting for a commute, there are a lot of unknowns and to-be-determineds.
Currently over 90% of all local routes are running and a quarter of commuter express lines are. In the first significant turn of the dial, Metro Transit is bringing 14 commuter express lines back on line Aug. 21.
"That includes the University of Minnesota and returning a number of corridors like 35E into downtown St. Paul and Woodbury into downtown Minneapolis on a direct route," Adam Harrington, Director of Service Development for Metro Transit, said.
Just like nearly every employee and workplace, Metro Transit is still figuring out how the rollout to 2019 service will happen.
"It is a wait and see," Harrington said. "We've been working closely with our partners in downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul to track with them on what their employees are expecting and what businesses hope to guide as far as return to office."
It raises a chicken-and-the-egg question, but for transit: which comes first? The workers, and the bus routes follow? Or do the workers return when the commuter express lines do? It demonstrates how both downtowns are fed by commuting white collar workers and recovery and reigniting vitality in both city centers could depend on their return.
"It is a bit of a balance between whether the workers are there first or transit is," Harrington said. "I know some employers are already into the downtowns 100% and some are not planning to return until after Labor Day. We're leading out a little bit in some ways but we'll be monitoring both our ridership on those express routes and what employers are doing and seeing from their employees."
With the Aug. 21 expansion, nearly every major freeway corridor into Minneapolis and St. Paul will be covered. There's no timeline on when the rest of the commuter express lines will return.