The A Line project approaches completion as the Twin Cities seek to improve public transit along Snelling Avenue  The new line will combine features of bus and rail, operating as a BRT, or Bus Rapid Transit. The project leader Charles Carlson said that the line opening will have “an exponential effect on ridership”. He explained that the new A Line will offer two things that help to distinguish it from typical bus transit: a faster trip and a more comfortable experience. The stations along Snelling will have completely heated interiors as well as real-time departure information using displays such as the ones already at stations for the Metro Transit light rails. Several features are used in an attempt to decrease the total trip time for riders, such as raised curbs, traffic priority, and new boarding procedures.

Fare payments will be done at the stations rather than while boarding. This will allow patrons to board both at the front and in the back, where the standard 32 inch doorway will be replaced with a wider 56 inch door. Carlson said that this will help those with strollers or walkers board more easily.

The fare for A Line buses will be the same standard fare for other Metro Transit buses. Cash, change, Go-To Cards and Metro Pass Cards will all be accepted as payment. Metro Transit Police will patrol the buses for proof of payment, and about six new officers have been hired in order to ensure that the twelve new buses will have adequate enforcement.

Unlike the light rails, which have mandatory stops at every station, the A Line will stop only for stations where patrons are waiting or when the stop signal is activated by a passenger. This, combined with the new stations’ higher curbs, will cut down on time spent unloading and boarding. The surrounding sidewalk is also wider, bringing the station closer to the approaching buses.  The A Line buses will not need to turn as much or lower to meet the curb, though a spring out ramp will still be used in order to board wheelchair users.

The A Line will run about the same path as Route 84, going from the 46th Street Station to Rosedale Shopping Mall. The new A Line buses are scheduled to run at a frequency of once per ten minutes, the same frequency that the 84 currently runs. However, the frequency of Route 84 will decrease in turn, going from a ten minute wait time up to half an hour.

This decision has caused quite a bit of concern by frequent 84 users. The ten mile A Line bus route will only have twenty stops, which average about a half-mile away from each other. This means that many riders will be forced to walk much greater distances in order to board an A Line bus rather than the updated 84 buses with longer wait times.

When questioned, passengers waiting to catch a Route 84 bus voiced their opinions on the plans for the Snelling buses.

“They’re setting in a new line that will do almost nothing,” said a former Minneapolis Community and Technical College student who wished to remain anonymous. In reference to the map of the A Line Route, available on the Metro Transit website, he said that “the fact that [the rider’s] choice between stops is Walgreens or Macalester is so limiting.” The A Line bus does not make any stops between St. Clair Ave. and Randolph Ave, unlike the 84.

Katrin, an Augsburg alumni who withheld her last name, said “I wanna see how this will work.” She said that “ten minutes should be faster than the 84, if they come on time,” but also expressed an uncertainty as to whether the A Line would be more reliable than the 84.

“I’d rather see them put more 84 buses out there,” said a “transit enthusiast” who gave his name as “Blitz”. He said that what riders need is not a new route, but rather improvements in order to make the existing Metro Transit Routes more reliable and consistent.