Better Bus Stops

Snow removal priorities

Snow and ice are a fact of life in Minnesota and pose challenges for transit customers and transit operations. Metro Transit maintenance staff, municipalities, transit partners, and business/property owners all have a role to play in snow removal and sidewalk clearance.

Metro Transit maintenance staff or contractors remove snow and control ice at all of its transit facilities including bus garages, rail right-of-way, Park & Ride lots, rail stations, transit centers, and bus stops with Metro Transit-owned customer waiting shelters.

Metro Transit is not able to clear snow from all of its 12,000 bus stops throughout the region. Therefore, Metro Transit relies on cities, property owners, and businesses to clear bus stops and sidewalks as described in their local ordinances. 

To report a persistent problem, call Customer Relations at 612-373-3333 or complete an online comment form.  

Suburban Transit Providers (SouthWest Transit, Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, Maple Grove Transit, and Plymouth Metrolink), the City of Ramsey and the University of Minnesota are responsible for snow removal in their service areas.

Priorities

Metro Transit prioritizes snow removal to serve the most customers in this order:  

Bus and rail operations

  • Bus garages, driveways, rail yards, and support facilities must be cleared so operators, mechanics, transit police, street supervisors, and operational support staff can begin serving customers.

  • Drive lanes at Park & Ride lots, transit centers, layovers, and turnarounds are plowed and, if necessary, snow is removed from rail track beds.

High-use facilities

  • Customer areas at locations with the most activity – rail stations, transit centers, and Park & Ride lots. 

  • In very heavy snowfalls, this work may be done in two stages, initially providing only a walkway to a bus boarding area or clearing only the tactile edge on a rail platform, returning later to complete the work. 

  • In lighter snowfalls, the entire facility will be cleared.

Customers with limited mobility

  • Boarding locations of customers with limited mobility based on the number of people paying fares with mobility Go-To Cards. 

Shelters

  • A six-foot area around Metro Transit-owned shelters throughout the seven-county metro area. 

  • Four-foot wide area from the shelter to the bus stop.

Revisiting and grooming

Metro Transit next returns to facilities to address clean-up work and new issues such as the piles street snowplows may push back into an already cleared path from a bus shelter to a bus stop.