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The 2024 Minnesota State Fair began a few days ago and there has been the usual crush of crowds.
Many fair-goers use public transportation to get there and one popular spot to catch a Metro Transit bus is in the North Metro.
On a recent muggy Monday, fair fanatics flocked to the corner of I-35W and 95th Ave. NE in Blaine. They showed up at the park and ride to take a bus to the great Minnesota get together.
“Super convenient,” said Adam Hughes of Champlin.
“It’s a super big convenience,” said Roy Halverson of St. Michael.
“Here you just hop on the bus and it’s pretty easy,” said Ernie Schroeder of St. Francis.
This location is Metro Transit’s second busiest hub for getting fair-goers to the fairgrounds. Round trip cost is $5 using the app or a bus bargain ticket, or $6 cash.
No gridlock or hassle factor
It’s a popular way to get to the fair and also avoid the gridlock and hassle factor of driving and parking on your own.
“Love to have it every year,” Schroeder said. “Makes it a lot simpler. There’s probably not enough parking down there for everyone who wants to go anyway to be anywhere close.”
“It’s so nice,” Halverson said. “Instead of driving like 35-40 minutes it’s just a good 25-30 up here. Come back you don’t have to worry about all the traffic in the cities and everything coming back. It’s really nice not to have to deal with that.”
“I’d say this is probably way more convenient in my opinion,” Hughes said. “It’s cheaper too. If you go down there it’s 20-30 bucks if you’re lucky for parking, if not more. This was $12 for the two of us.”
On this sauna-like 91 degree day, 17 buses went back and forth between Blaine and St. Paul from 8 am to 12 am. Each carries between 60 and 80 passengers and through Monday the average rider count was almost 4,500 per day.
“We just come from Champlin,” Hughes said. “Stop here, hop on the bus, 10 Minutes to the fair. You get dropped off right at the gate. It’s fairly convenient.”
“Gives you a little bit of resting time on the way down and the way back,” Schroeder said. “The biggest thing is saving on the time to find a parking spot. These record-breaking years you keep going back and forth, back and forth. You’re just fighting the traffic and you’re getting agitated.”
Another perk of taking the bus is being able to cool down in the AC.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to more than the fair actually,” Hughes joked.
“It was icy,” Halverson said. “Just standing by the doors you could feel the air coming out. It was relieving.”
Metro Transit is operating express buses from six locations in the Twin Cities metro area.
SOURCE: NORTH METRO TV
