Headquarters | 13500 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie, Minnesota |
---|---|
Service type | bus service, paratransit |
Destinations | Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Chaska, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, Fairview Hospital Southdale, Southdale |
Daily ridership | 1,300 (weekdays, Q3 2023) [1] |
Annual ridership | 371,300 (2022) [2] |
Website | swtransit.org |
SouthWest Transit is a public transportation agency that is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The agency was formed in 1986 when the southwest Minneapolis suburbs of Chaska, Chanhassen, and Eden Prairie chose to opt out of the Metropolitan Transit Commission transit system in accordance with Minnesota State Statutes. Under a joint powers agreement between the three cities, they created their own transit system, SouthWest Metro Transit. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 371,300, or about 1,300 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2023.
Now known as SouthWest Transit, the agency continues to be the public transit agency for Chaska, Chanhassen, and Eden Prairie, as well as Carver. They currently offer service to and from Downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, Normandale Community College and Best Buy Headquarters.
In addition to their regular service, SouthWest Transit also offers a number of seasonal services, including State Fair, Twins Express, Vikings Express, Gophers Express, Summer Adventures, select concerts, and more.
In 2004 SouthWest Transit was named Transit Agency of the Year by the American Public Transit Association. [3]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SouthWest Transit initially laid off 50% of its drivers but has since struggled to re-staff its workforce like transit agencies across the nation. [4]
SouthWest Transit also operates a microtransit service, SW Prime. This service operates in the cities of Carver, Chanhassen, Chaska, Eden Prairie, and Victoria. Other regional transit providers provide similar services with the Metropolitan Council's Transit Link, Maple Grove Transit's My Ride, MVTA's Connect, Plymouth Metrolink's Click-And-Ride, and Metro Transit's microtransit pilot Metro Transit micro. [5] [6] SW Prime was the first microtransit service to launch in the Twin Cities. The service accepts the region's low-income fare program. Drivers of the service belong to a union. [7]
SouthWest Transit offered a dial-a-ride transit service in the 1990s that required riders to book a trip by phone several days in advance. The service had high rates of trip cancellations and customers no-showing. SW Prime was launched in July 2015 and allowed customers to book a ride by phone or via a smartphone app. The service was initially offered Monday through Friday, but it has since expanded to Saturdays as well. [8] [9] The service was expanded to medical rides in 2019. [10] Some service is offered to select areas of Shakopee and I-494 strip. [11] [9] Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, around 500 SW Prime rides were served a day. Ridership lowered during the pandemic and in January 2021 was roughly 50% of pre-pandemic ridership, but by June 2022 ridership was 94% of pre-pandemic numbers. SW Prime ridership rebounded faster than SouthWest Transit express ridership. [6] Ridership in August 2023 was higher than pre-pandemic ridership in 2019. In 2024, Southwest Transit plans to replace the Prime service along the I-494 corridor to the Mall of America with a fixed-route service which will help reduce costs. [7]
Bold route number denotes an express route.
Route | Origin/Destination | Major Destinations/Transit Stations | Notes | Link | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
602 | East Creek Station SouthWest Village SouthWest Station | Normandale Community College Best Buy HQ | |||
690 | 690: SW Station A: Dell Rd & Hwy 62 | Downtown Minneapolis |
| link | |
695 | East Creek | Downtown Minneapolis, University of MN |
| link | |
697 | Carver Station | Downtown Minneapolis |
| link | |
698 | 698: East Creek | Downtown Minneapolis, University of MN |
| The 698L Stops at East Creek or Carver Station if requested. | link |
699 | 699: Carver Station | Downtown Minneapolis |
| link | |
Normandale Shuttle | SouthWest Station | Normandale Community College | |||
SouthWest Transit operates out of the following park-and-ride locations:
SouthWest Transit opened three new park & ride facilities near Highway 212. The first, SouthWest Village, is at County Road 101 and Highway 212 in Chanhassen. The second new park & ride is East Creek Station in Chaska. That facility was opened in early June 2008 at the southwest corner of Highway 212 and County Road 41. The third new park & ride is Chanhassen Transit Station opened in December 2011 and is located north of Highway 5, just next to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres on Market St.
Due to near capacity issues, in 2007 the East Creek Station Park and Ride CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality – a federal program) grant submittal was approved for the construction of 450 park and ride stalls, a transit station and busway. The new 450 stalls are structured parking (a ramp), and the station includes passenger waiting areas along with vending and restroom facilities. The total project cost $7.8 million. Bidding for the construction of the ramp and station is expected to take place in the spring/summer of 2012, with construction beginning later in the summer/fall and an opening of the new facility in September 2013. SouthWest is also in discussion with private developers to develop approximately one acre of land currently set aside for future development use. Options for the site include office, neighborhood commercial, and day care. [12]
Records of the SouthWest Transit Commission are available for research use. They consist of annual reports (1997–2005); management plans and budgets (1992–1993, 1995); oversight (1993–1994); and On the Move rider newsletter (2005). [13]
The ridership statistics shown here are of fixed route services only and do not include demand response services. [14]
Chaska is a city and the county seat of Carver County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 27,810 at the 2020 census. An outer ring suburb of the Twin Cities, Chaska is home to the Hazeltine National Golf Club and is known for its historic downtown area located on a bend of the Minnesota River. The City of Chaska merged with Chaska Township in 2006. The city still has some remaining agricultural land.
Chanhassen is a city about 16 miles southwest of Minneapolis in Carver County and partially in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The southwest edge of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul suburbs, there is a mix of residential neighborhoods and rural landscapes. The population was 25,947 at the 2020 census.
The Metro Blue Line is a 12-mile (19.3 km) light rail line in Hennepin County, Minnesota, that is part of the Metro network. It travels from downtown Minneapolis to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the southern suburb of Bloomington. Formerly the Hiawatha Line prior to May 2013, the line was originally named after the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger train and Hiawatha Avenue, reusing infrastructure from the former and running parallel to the latter for a portion of the route. The line opened June 26, 2004, and was the first light rail service in Minnesota. An extension, Bottineau LRT, is planned to open in 2028.
Federal Center SW station is a Washington Metro station in an area known as the Southwest Federal Center in Washington, D.C., United States. The island-platformed station was opened on July 1, 1977, and is operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and is located on the Orange, Silver, and Blue Lines. The station is located at 3rd and D Streets.
The Northstar Line is a commuter rail route in the US state of Minnesota. Northstar runs 40 miles (64 km) from Big Lake to downtown Minneapolis at Target Field using existing track and right-of-way owned by the BNSF Railway. Passenger service began on November 16, 2009. The rail line serves part of the Northstar Corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud. Planning for the line began in 1997 when the Northstar Corridor Development Authority (NCDA) was formed. The corridor is also served by Interstate 94 and U.S. Highway 10. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 77,100, or about 300 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2023.
Metro Transit is the primary public transportation operator in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest operator in the state. Although Metro Transit is one of the smallest transit systems for a large metropolitan area in the United States, it has previously been ranked as one of the best. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 38,794,700, or about 138,800 per weekday as of the third quarter of 2023.
Minnesota State Highway 5 is a 76.347-mile-long (122.869 km) highway in Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with MN 19 and MN 22 in Gaylord and continues east and northeast to its eastern terminus at its intersection with MN 120 in Maplewood. The route passes through downtown Saint Paul.
The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, also known by the acronym MVTA, is a public transportation agency that serves seven communities in the southern portion of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The agency provides fixed-route and demand-responsive transit within the service area of the communities and to select destinations in the region.
The Metro Red Line is a bus rapid transit line between the Twin Cities suburbs of Bloomington, Minnesota and Apple Valley, Minnesota. The Red Line travels primarily on Minnesota State Highway 77 and Cedar Avenue from the Apple Valley station in Apple Valley, north through Eagan, Minnesota, to the Mall of America station in Bloomington where it connects to the Metro Blue Line. The line has bus rapid transit elements including bus-only lanes, specially branded vehicles, transit signal priority, and dedicated stations.
Burnsville Transit Station is a transit facility located in the vicinity of downtown Burnsville, Minnesota, and is the flagship station of the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA). The station is the busiest park and ride location in the Twin Cities region and offers approximately 1,400 parking spaces. It is also a major transfer hub for routes operating the south of the Minnesota River. The station has indoor climate-controlled waiting, restrooms, lost and found, drinking fountains, vending machines, Go-To card sales, newspaper racks, and transit information. Due to high park and ride demand, MVTA moved some service to the 370 space Heart of the City public ramp about a 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) south in 2018. The Metropolitan Council's 2021 park-and-ride system report found 267 cars parked at the station compared to 1,116 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plymouth Metrolink is the public transit system that serves Plymouth, Minnesota. Metrolink operates fixed-route bus routes Monday-Friday during peak periods with limited midday service. Most routes serve downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota with one route providing reverse commute service from Minneapolis to employers in Plymouth. Demand-responsive bus service is available seven days a week. Most buses are provided by the Metropolitan Council with First Transit operating the fixed-route service.
The Apple Valley Transit Station is a transit facility located in Apple Valley, Minnesota. It is owned by the City of Apple Valley and the MVTA. The transit station is near Cedar Avenue and Gaslight Drive. This station has 337 parking spaces and is almost full almost each weekday. It also serves the nearby communities of Lakeville and Farmington.
Chanhassen High School (CNHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Chanhassen, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis. Construction of the school was approved by voters in 2006 in response to rapidly growing enrollment in Carver County and overcrowding at Chaska High School, the district's other high school.
U.S. Highway 212 (US 212) within the state of Minnesota travels from the South Dakota state line in the west, crosses the southwestern part of the state, to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the east and end at its interchange with US 169 and State Highway 62 (MN 62) in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. US 212 in Minnesota has an official length of 161.8 miles (260.4 km). It is an urban freeway within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area and is mostly a two-lane rural road elsewhere in the state.
Hennepin County Road 61 or County State-Aid Highway 61 is a 24.853-mile-long (39.997 km) major route along the east side of Interstate 494 (I-494) in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The route travels through the west suburbs of the Twin Cities through Maple Grove, Plymouth, Minnetonka, Hopkins and Eden Prairie.
SouthWest station is a park and ride facility and a transit hub with two bus platforms for SouthWest Transit in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The station is being reconfigured to include a light rail station on the Metro Southwest LRT, which is an extension of the Green Line. The station is located on Technology Drive in Eden Prairie, just north of the Purgatory Creek wetland area and south of U.S. Route 212. In December 2018 the Metropolitan Council purchased the station from SouthWest Transit for $8 million. The Metropolitan Council's 2021 park-and-ride system report found 156 cars parked at the station compared to 829 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lucille "Lucy" Rehm is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Rehm represents District 48B in the western Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Chanhassen and Chaska and parts of Carver County.