Strategies for promoting rider connections to suburban transitway stations

Project summary:

The Twin Cities region has been dedicated to developing a network of transitways during the past decades. As the program progresses, future transitway lines (including Green Line and Blue Line extensions and Gold Line and Purple Line of bus rapid transit (BRT)) have been extended to suburban areas in the region. Because the landscape of suburban stations differs from that of urban stations, walking to stations is not a feasible option for most suburban riders. Therefore, the connections from suburban residential areas to transitway stations have become a pressing issue for the success of the program. In this study, we will identify planning, design, and service strategies that facilitate rider connections to suburban transitway stations in the US and other developed countries through literature review and interviewing planners of regions with suburban transitways. We will also evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of these strategies through panel discussions among planners in transit agencies, MnDOT, the Met Council, county and local governments. The final outcomes of this project will be a list of strategies that are applicable to the context of the Twin Cities region and the guiding principles for promoting suburban connections to transitway stations.