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Michael Maceda’s mother told him three years ago that she was done hauling the high school student around town. Not one to be stuck inside, Maceda learned the bus routes that traverse his neighborhood on St. Paul’s East Side. Now, he’s a transit expert and evangelizer who enjoys a car-free lifestyle.
“Wherever the bus and trains go, I go,” Maceda, 17, told Sahan Journal.
The transportation nonprofit, Move Minnesota, wants more people to embrace Maceda’s attitude. The group’s “No Car, No Problem” campaign wants to encourage people who aren’t using transit, walking or biking for transportation to give it a try, Move Minnesota Executive Director MJ Carpio said.
The group is placing ads on buses, trains, and transit stations, and giving away a free e-bike to one rider who submits a photo of themselves with the campaign signage by the end of October.
Getting more Minnesotans out of their cars would be good for the climate. Transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, according to a 2025 state report.
The campaign coincides with increased service from Metro Transit, which improved frequency on the most used routes in the system in August, and is on the verge of opening its third new major line this year.
“Now is the time to be promoting this,” Carpio said.
The Twin Cities remains a car-dominated metro, with 84% of all trips occurring by vehicle, according to data from the Metropolitan Council. The Covid-19 pandemic caused a rapid dropoff in transit use and upended traditional travel patterns, and brought a rise in criminal and antisocial behavior on light rail lines.
Polling conducted by Move Minnesota and research firm Data for Progress shows that people are curious about non-car options, Carpio said. One-fifth of all Minnesotans surveyed by the group said they’d prefer not to drive for transportation, and one-third of respondents in the Twin Cities’ seven-county metro said the same.
But that stated desire doesn’t mean people will just stop hopping in their cars every morning, Carpio said. So the group is hosting events, partnering with venues and boosting its output of newsletters and social media posts in an attempt to get more people to try walking, biking or taking transit when they can.
“We want to get them from that first try to that fifth try,” Carpio said.
People think about using transit for big concerts and games at major venues, or going to downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, Carpio said. But Twin Cities residents who responded to Move Minnesota said they are unlikely to choose public transit for running errands or going to work.
“The number one thing that gets people to use anything is convenience,” Carpio said.
Informing Twin Cities residents about options for taking transit, walking or biking for a few trips each week is a good way to start their journey toward being less dependent on cars, she said.
Carpio herself goes through phases of preferred travel options. Right now, she’s mostly biking for work and errands, she said. She also rides her bike to bus stops and catches rides for portions of her journey from Minneapolis to St Paul for work.
It’s challenging to break travel routines, Carpio said, but those interested in being less car reliant should consider starting with convenient trips and the buddy system.
“It’s always more fun to bike or take public transit with a friend,” she said.
People should ask experienced transit riders in their lives for tips on how to get started, or reach out to advocacy organizations in their communities for advice on bus routes and protected bike lanes, Carpio said. Move Minnesota recommends trying transit for special events and building from there.
Many trips will take longer without a car, but that doesn’t have to be a negative. People can use time on the bus or train to read, catch up on work, or simply relax and without the stress that paying attention to the road can bring, Carpio said. Some trips will be shorter than car rides as some traffic routes can skip traffic, and riders can avoid the stress and cost of parking.
Maceda said he talks with fellow students at Harding High school about riding transit, and believes most are open minded toward taking it. The more kids are comfortable using the system, the more will be able to participate in after school activities, he believes. There’s good route and scheduling information built into smart phone apps that most people use daily, he said.
“Be confident in Google Maps,” Maceda said. “It’s almost always accurate for me.”
Riders can buy tickets for the bus and light rail directly on their phones via the Metro Transit app. Go-To Cards can be purchased at major transit stations and many Twin Cities grocery stores like Cub Foods and Lunds and Byerlys.
Metro Transit ridership has not bounced back from the pandemic and lags behind other systems across the country, the Star Tribune reported in August.
But Metro Transit is expanding service. The network has improved frequency on its most used routes, and launched two new lines to its Metro service, which includes light rail and bus rapid transit routes. The Gold Line connecting downtown St. Paul to Woodbury opened in March; the B Line, which links south Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul via Lake Street and Selby Avenues, debuted in June.
Bus rapid transit has been a bright spot for the system. The buses are larger, come more frequently, have stops further apart, allow passengers to pay before boarding and increasingly use dedicated bus lanes. A third new bus rapid transit route linking Edina’s Southdale Center and the University of Minnesota, the E Line, will open Dec. 6.
Adding three new lines in a year is an unprecedented step for the system, Metro Transit general manager Lesley Kandaras told Sahan Journal.
“That’s only going to continue to make it easier to navigate our region without owning a car. Even now, I really encourage people to give it a try,” Kandaras said.
Once the E Line is operational, the Metro system of light rail and bus rapid transit will cover 120 miles with a station within half a mile of 38% of the region’s carfree households, Kandaras said. Metro Transit’s Network Now plan seeks to expand service by 35% and increase the rate of metro area jobs accessible by a 45-minute transit ride by 25% by the end of 2027. The agency is about 30% of the way to that goal right now.
Dedicated riders like Maceda are noticing. The high school student is willing to make a longer walk to the Gold Line stop on his way to school. He and fellow members of Harding High’s National Honor Society have adopted the Gold Line stop on Etna Street and clean it on a regular basis.
“It’s such a smooth experience,” Maceda said of the Gold Line. “It’s cleaner, it’s so much faster on those buses.”
Maceda is fairly content with bus routes in his neighborhood, but wants to see more frequent service. He often rides the Route 80, which runs along the East Side from the Sun Ray Transit Center to Maplewood Mall, but laments that it only comes every 30 minutes. He’d also like to see service run later into the evening so he can stay out longer.
Kandaras and other Metro Transit leaders hosted a series of listening sessions with riders across the Twin Cities in September. She heard all sorts of feedback, from detailed notes on specific routes to calls for improved security at certain stations, but many comments followed a pattern.
“Safe, clean, reliable transit that has convenient options — those overarching themes remain,” Kandaras said.
Meeting those desires should help boost ridership, Metro Transit believes. After years of increased public drug use and reports of crime on light rail lines in the wake of the pandemic, Metro Transit has worked to improve security through a mix of its own police department, employees checking fares and private security contractors at certain stations. The idea is to boost the official presence throughout the system to uphold the rules. Riders have noticed the improvements, Kandaras said, but want more.
“We hear we still have a ways to go,” Kandaras said.
Going car free isn’t a problem for St. Paul siblings Carlos and Cameron Garcia-Nelson. They take buses or the Green Line light rail most places they need to go. As they rode the A Line bus rapid transit service along Snelling Avenue on a recent morning, the siblings said they feel the system has good frequency and options.
“It works pretty well,” Cameron said.
But they said they prefer buses over the Green Line due to disruptive people on the trains and at stations. The increased security has helped, Cameron said, but she feels like some of the private security contractors don’t do much to discourage bad behavior and just seem to be hanging out with their friends.
Maceda said he likes taking the bus to catch up on rest or get unfinished homework done on the way to school. He also enjoys the small talk with fellow riders and “making little friends,” he said.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take that risk and get on the bus and figure it out,” Maceda said.
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Andrew Hazzard is a reporter with Sahan Journal who focuses on climate change and environmental justice issues. After starting his career in daily newspapers in Mississippi and North Dakota, Andrew returned… More by Andrew Hazzard
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