A couple of weeks ago, I submitted testimony to the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee in support of HF 4111. Below is an edited version of my remarks. The…
In the first eleven days of its operation in May 2024, Amtrak’s Borealis service between St. Paul and Chicago generated a “profit” of $100,000, which excited a few local people.…
If it seems like a transit boondoggle gets nominated for the Golden Turkey Award every year, that’s because it’s true, and 2025 is no exception. This year, the Gold Line…
In July, Metro Transit announced that it would “enhance service on more than 20 routes starting Saturday, Aug. 16, as access to transit continues to expand across the region.” But expanding…
Quite often, in recent years, as policymakers at state and local levels have pushed some wacky rail scheme, we at Center of the American Experiment have suggested buses as an…
Derailed The fever for spending vast sums of taxpayer’s money on rail projects of dubious value which has afflicted policy makers in Minnesota in recent years seems to be breaking.…
Back in 2023, that “historic” “trifecta” voted to spend $200 million on the Northern Lights Express (NLX), a passenger train service running between Minneapolis and Duluth. I doubted that this…
We at Center of the American Experiment have long chronicled the disastrous Southwest Light Rail Transit (SWLRT) project. Indeed, this boondoggle — nine years behind schedule and a billion dollars…
“Better late than never” may be the best that can be said for the Metropolitan Council’s announcement it’s finally pulling the plug on the failed Northstar commuter rail line, following…
Every decade or so, state transportation bureaucrats dust off their pie-in-the-sky plan to resurrect passenger rail service around Minnesota some day and way. But the Free Press found a funny…
Relentless opposition by neighborhood groups has failed so far to derail the Met Council’s plan to proceed with the controversial Blue Line light rail extension to Brooklyn Center. The community…
Northstar Commuter Rail has never come close to meeting the rosy ridership projections touted at the $320 million line’s kick-off 15 years ago this month. Not before the pandemic, certainly…
Back in 2018, I asked, “Why is the Ramsey County board going to waste up to $2 billion on a pointless streetcar?” This was in reference to the proposal “to…
Max Nesterak of MN Reformer was the first to report on the lawsuit filed by some local rideshare drivers against their own nonprofit advocacy group Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA).…
The first thing to know is that pretty much no one currently gets where they’re going via bicycle on Concordia/Rondo Avenue in the area set to be resurfaced this fall…
Photo: AMTRAK MIDWEST “Profit” A couple of weeks ago, I noted the flurry of excitement in the local media over the news that the new train service between St. Paul…
On May 21, Amtrak launched its new Borealis service, a second daily train running between St. Paul and Chicago. Amtrak has released its monthly performance report for May, so it only…
First, the good news. MPR News reports that: Chief authors of legislation setting a minimum wage and employee protections for rideshare drivers in Minnesota announced Monday they’ve reached a deal…
As the date for Uber and Lyft’s exits from the Twin Cities approaches, competitors are waiting in the wings. And so far “waiting” is the operative word. The Minnesota Reformer…
American Experiment’s John Phelan and Bill Walsh sit down with Senator Zach Duckworth to discuss the possibility of Uber and Lyft leaving the Twin Cities Metro Area – and what…
Betting good money on light rail rather than investing in freight rail infrastructure is a losing gamble.
Tell Minneapolis not to cancel Uber and Lyft! In an effort to boost driver pay, the Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance that disrupts the business model of rideshare companies…
The more the Met Council attempts to change the narrative on the Southwest Light Rail Transit boondoggle, the more it remains the same. The latest embarrassing case in point was…
Last week, Uber and Lyft, true to their word, announced that they would stop operating in Minneapolis after the City Council passed an ordinance hiking driver pay. The growth of Uber —…