Bus Service Between FL and Minneapolis Begins
New express bus service will be offered, beginning Monday, Jan. 7, between the new Forest Lake Transit Center and downtown Minneapolis, thanks to emergency transit funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Route 288, a one-year demonstration route, will provide relief at the crowded 95th Avenue park-and-ride in Blaine and is part of a larger transit response to mitigate the impacts of the I-35W bridge collapse. The service is offered by the Metropolitan Council, using a contract provider, with planning assistance from Metro Transit and the Rush Line Corridor Task Force, a joint powers board of counties and cities along a corridor from Minnesota's Union Depot in St. Paul through Hinckley, Minnesota. Click here to read the entire Met Council news release.
The Minnesota Senate Capital Investment Committee heard from representatives of Ramsey and Washington counties at a hearing held in the historic Union Depot on Dec. 12. Members of the committee, chaired by Sen. Keith Langseth, also toured the Depot concourse, led by Ramsey County commissioners Rafael Ortega and Victoria Reinhardt. Also testifying at the hearing were David Block, chair of the LOCATE Task Force; Mark Mishek, president of United Hospital and incoming president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce; Derrick James, senior government affairs officer for Amtrak; and Bonnie Buchanan, vice president of Jefferson Lines. A Washington County delegation led by Commissioner Myra Peterson also testified about regional transit and transportation needs. Ramsey County is asking the state Legislature for $9 million in 2008 to complete the required match for $50 million in federal funding already received for purchase and renovation of the concourse into a multi-modal transit hub to serve the entire region. The 
