5 Improve the availability and quality of multimodal travel
Improve the availability and quality of multimodal travel options for people of all ages and abilities to connect to jobs and other opportunities, particularly for historically under-represented populations.
5.1 Job accessibility by mode
Developed by the University of Minnesota Accessibility Observatory, the Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) evaluation is a method for classifying street segments’ suitability for bicycling based on the physical characteristics of the roadway, such as speed limits, lane configurations, and the types of bicycle facilities present, if any. A value of 1 (lowest stress) to 4 (highest stress) is assigned to each street segment based on these characteristics. In this study, roadway characteristics are determined by street segment tags in the OpenStreetMap® network data used for routing computations. We define the LTS 1 network as lowest-stress, LTS 2 network as low-stress, the LTS 3 network as medium-stress, and the LTS 4 network as the open streets network — i.e. if a person feels comfortable riding a bicycle on all streets (except limited-access highways, such as interstates and freeways), including arterials, they would experience open streets access (Owen and Murphy 2021).
In 2019, there were about 1,265,954 jobs available within 30 minutes by auto (Murphy and Owen 2020).
In 2019, there were about 20,370 jobs available within 30 minutes by transit (Murphy and Owen 2021).
5.2 Transit availability by route type
| Service | People served | Percent of region population |
|---|---|---|
| Core Local Bus | 977,863 | 31.0% |
| Supporting Local Bus | 503,772 | 16.0% |
| Suburban Local Bus | 690,181 | 21.9% |
| Commuter Express Bus | 629,007 | 19.9% |
| Light Rail | 81,872 | 2.6% |
| Commuter Rail | 12,646 | 0.4% |
| Bus Rapid Transit | 348,659 | 11.0% |
| Population based on area 1/4 mile surrounding stops OR 1/2 mile surrounding park-and-ride lots for each service type. | ||
The Met Council and its partners work together to categorize all areas in the region into Transit Market Areas (TMA) that approximate the level of transit service an area can support. These categories are based on four factors including population and job density, roadway intersection density, and automobile availability. Transit Market Area 1 is made up of the most urban parts of the Twin Cities such as downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul, their adjacent neighborhoods and the University Avenue corridor between the two. Conversely, Transit Market Area 5 is the most rural communities in the region with low population densities and more agricultural land uses. More detail on Transit Market Areas is available in Section D.1.
In Transit Market Areas 1 and 2, the highest density and most able to support high levels of transit service, 91% and 58% of residents live within a quarter mile of core local bus services, respectively. This translates to about a five-minute walk. These Transit Market Areas also have the best access to the widest variety of transit services including light rail, bus rapid transit, and supporting local bus. In Transit Market Area 3, while more suburban in character with lower population and employment densities, 38% of residents live within suburban local bus service area. Transit Market Areas 4 and 5 have progressively more low-density and rural characteristics and have far fewer residents living within a quarter mile of regular-route transit services. These market areas do generally have access to dial-a-ride services and park-and-ride services beyond what is immediately walkable.
Through 2024, these lines are included: Blue Line, Red Line, Green Line, Orange Line, A Line, C Line, and D Line, and the Northstar Line.↩︎