By Steve Morris

In an effort to measure the public's pulse on an express commuter bus along the Rush Line Corridor, the Rush Line Task Force held two listening sessions last week in Forest Lake and Rush City.

The sessions' goals were to present background information, answer questions and record suggestions from people in the community. The sessions are one step in a four-month commuter bus study which is set to conclude in August.

SRF Consulting Group Inc. of Minneapolis was hired by the task force to complete the study to determine whether an express commuter bus serving an 80-mile stretch north of the Twin Cities would be feasible.

SRF is studying four commuter bus scenarios: Hinckley to downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis and Forest Lake to downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis.

At the June 19 meeting at the Rush City Community Center, community members and elected officials shared their comments and questions with representatives from the task force.

Alicia Vap of the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority recorded comments while Frank Loetterle from SRF gave a Powerpoint presentation. Task force chairman Victoria Reinhardt was also on hand to answer questions and provide information.

There were between 20 and 25 people at the each of the two meetings. Vap said she was happy with the number of people who attended and many people who already use a bus service were at the meeting, Vap said.

"It was a good showing and a lot of people had some really good ideas," she said. "It's always hard to get people to come to public meetings, especially in the summer."

The ultimate goal of the task force is to have commuter rail along the Rush Line Corridor. First, however, the task force has to get people in the area accustomed to mass transit. Reinhardt said there is a preference toward commuter rail in Minnesota. Currently, commuter bus is more feasible because it's less expensive than commuter rail.

Some of the amenities SRF is evaluating on the bus are wireless internet access, free newspapers, TV monitors, bathrooms and overhead luggage space.

Next, SRF will estimate ridership potential, operations costs and capitol costs and then develop a service proposal.

The comments

One man at the meeting in Rush City was worried about riding the bus in the morning and not having a seat on the way home because of overcrowding. He said people could potentially ride the bus from downtown St. Paul and stay overnight at the casino in Hinckley and take his seat home.

Representative Jeremy Kalin asked about the possibility of having the commuter bus run on the weekends, such as during sporting events. Loetterle said they are not studying that option right now.

Jerry Kalibabky, who lives behind the Sunrise Prairie Trail north of Stacy, was at the Rush City meeting and expressed his concern of the possibility of commuter rail running through his backyard and decreasing his property value. Reinhardt informed Kalibabky commuter rail is many years away. Now, the focus is on commuter bus, she explained.

In his analysis, Kalibabky said express commuter bus won't have the ridership and the tax payers in Chisago County will have to foot the bill. Commuter rail never pays for itself, he said. Kalibabky works in the cites and said he won't ride the commuter bus because he needs to have his car for work.

People won't ride commuter bus because people covet their cars and independence too much, he said.

"My feeling is they don't care," he said. "They wouldn't have these public meetings if they didn't have to ... they should use the money and invest it in our highways."

The next Rush Line meeting is scheduled July 19 at the White Bear Lake City Hall.

Comment from Chris Hockaday, 7/3/07

I had to work late the day the meeting was held in Rush City, but I think that there could be real demand if gasoline prices continue to rise over the next couple of years. I currently ride the Metro Transit 250 line from Blaine to Minneapolis 5 days a week. This route has exploded in popularity over the last year, so much so that we overcrowd the large parking lot that was built for the park and ride.
I still think, however, that rail would be a better long-term solution as it is more reliable, and much more energy efficient.