2 Operate the regional transportation system efficiently and cost-effectively
Operate the regional transportation system to efficiently and cost-effectively connect people and freight to destinations.
2.1 E-ZPass lanes
The E-ZPass (formerly MnPASS) system is a series of express lanes (also known as high occupancy toll lanes) located on select freeway facilities within the metro region. During peak hours, these lanes are dedicated to and free for high-occupancy vehicles (vehicles carrying more than one person) and open to single occupant vehicles for a fee. Approximately 80% of people using E-ZPass lanes are carpooling or riding in a bus during peak conditions. On off-peak hours and weekends, these lanes are free and open to all vehicles (MnDOT 2023).
E-ZPass lanes work to improve the efficiency of freeways during the busiest commuting times, prioritizing transit ridership and carpooling. While single occupant vehicles represent 22% of the total vehicles using the lanes, they move only 12% of the people. The system operates effectively, with vehicles travelling at speeds above 45 miles per hour about 98% of the time (MnDOT 2023).
Figure 2.1 displays the average number of people in E-ZPass lanes during the morning and evening rush hours.
2.2 Public transit
2.2.1 Transit spending per capita
The Twin Cities region has about average transit ridership and operating expenses per capita when compared among fourteen peer regions. The ridership growth from 2023 to 2024 was among the lower percent (7%) of the peer regions.
2.2.2 Unlinked passenger trips
Unlinked passenger trips are the number of times passengers board public transportation vehicles. Passengers are counted each time they board vehicles no matter how many vehicles they use to travel from their origin to their destination.
Recent trends in transit ridership are defined by the significant decline in demand due to the pandemic. As overall travel demand fell, transit ridership fell as well. Between 2019 and 2021 transit ridership in the metro region dropped by 59% from 91 million trips in 2019 to 37 million trips in 2021. As can be seen when comparing the Twin Cities with our peer regions, this significant decline in transit ridership affected transit systems throughout the country.
By 2024, Twin Cities ridership has recovered by 38% since 2019, compared to the peer average of 29%. The Twin Cities ranks ninth out of the fourteen regions in ridership recovery percentage since the pandemic.
2.2.3 Productivity
The productivity of a transit service is defined as the number of trips that it serves per revenue hour. Revenue hours are the hours that vehicles are scheduled to travel or actually travel while in revenue service. Vehicle revenue hours include layover and recovery time, but exclude deadhead trips, like travel to garages or changing routes, training, vehicle maintenance training, and other non-revenue use of vehicles.
The major decline in ridership triggered a corresponding major decline in transit productivity. Since transit service providers responded to the decline in ridership with service cuts, the rate at which productivity declined was slightly less than the rate at which ridership declined.
In 2024, bus productivity was 18.1 trips per revenue hour, while rail productivity was 140.9 trips per revenue hour. The Twin Cities overall productivity was 14.6 trips per revenue hour, which was ninth out of fourteen regions.
2.2.4 Fare recovery
Farebox recovery is the proportion of total revenue from fares paid by passengers divided by the total operating expenses. A fare recovery percent of 100% indicates that all operating expenses are covered by fare revenue. A ratio of less than 100% indicates that operating costs exceed passenger fares.
As with all the Twin Cities’ peer regions, fare recovery suffered from the collapse of ridership caused by the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2021, overall fare recovery fell from 20.9% of operating expenses being covered by fare revenues in 2019 to only 6.7% in 2021.
In 2024, bus fare recovery was 7.3%, while rail fare recovery was 13.1%. The overall fare recovery for the Twin Cities region was 7.9%. The Twin Cities ranks sixth out of fourteen regions in fare recovery percentage for all modes.
2.2.5 Subsidy per passenger
Transit subsidy per passenger is the total operating expenses, less the total revenue from passenger fare, divided by the total number of unlinked trips. This can be interpreted as the cost incurred for each trip provided on transit. As ridership declined during the pandemic, the subsidy per passenger also rose. Overall, the subsidy provided per trip between 2019 and 2021 rose from $5.03 per trip to $14.26 per trip.
Subsidy per passenger has fallen some as ridership has recovered from the pandemic since 2021. As of 2024, the Twin Cities is about average when compared to peer regions overall at $11.80 per trip, but generally higher than most peers for bus subsidies and lower for other modes like rail and dial-a-ride.
2.3 Spare freeway capacity
Before COVID-19 impacts on travel in 2020, MnDOT reported that during a typical peak period, up to 24% of Twin Cities freeways saw some congestion (MnDOT 2022). This complementary analysis1 shows that during a typical afternoon peak hour that, even while part of the freeway system was congested, other parts of the freeways saw 15% less traffic than their overall capacity could accommodate. This figure rose to 20% in 2020, but has most recently returned to 15% in 2022.
In contrast, the average daytime spare capacity 2019 was 27%. This rose to 37% in 2020 and returned to 30% in 2022.
While congested roads receive a lot of attention, there is unused capacity on Twin Cities freeways that will help accommodate future population growth and economic development. There are opportunities to lessen the costs of congestion by moving trips to different times and places.
MnDOT continuously collects vehicle counts on most freeways in the Twin Cities at locations usually between 1/2 and 1 mile apart. For each year, we pulled loop detector data for all freeway stations in the MPO area on weekdays (Monday through Thursday) in October. We then calculated the average hourly speed, total number of vehicles that passed through the detector node during that hour (vehicle flow), and vehicle density (number of vehicles per mile) during the most congested hour (4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.) at each detector node. We calculated spare capacity using MnDOT’s traffic data extract formulas. If flow exceeds 1,800 vehicles per hour, the node is considered well performing. If flow is under 1,800 vehicles per hour and vehicle density is greater than 43 vehicles per mile, the node is at lost capacity; there is more traffic than the road can accommodate at free-flow speed. If the flow is under 1,800 vehicles per hour and vehicle density is less than 43 vehicles per mile, the node has spare capacity; there is less traffic than the road is built to handle.
The daytime average is the percentage of all hours and nodes that operate at spare capacity, starting at 7:00 a.m. and ending at 7:00 p.m.↩︎