--- WizardMarks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: There is a rule, though I'm not sure it's codified as a law, that suburbs may "opt out" of the MTC (now MCTO) system and run their own buses. Minneapolis and St. Paul cannot opt out of the system. That would include "old, established lines" like 16, 21, 18, 17, 10, 2, 4, 5, 19, 14 etc. They were established for the cities during the time that mass trans. was horse drawn and later extended to include near suburbs during the street car years. One reason the line was drawn was to avoid the confusion of Cleveland, OH, for example, which runs (or ran) three bus companies inside the city limits, creating confusion on several levels.
[TB] It is in law, it stems from the days when the old Metro Transit Commission was supported by a metro wide property tax levy and some of the suburbs didn't think they were getting adaquate service. The legislature allowed them to opt out if they spent the same amount of money on their own system. I always understood that the city had to be at the end of the line to optout. Thus if the route ran thru Minnetonka on the way to Wayzata, Minnetonka could not opt out as it is an intermediate point on the way to Wayzata (which I believe is still served by Metro Transit). Unfortunately some of those end of the line 'burbs aren't all that far out by todays standards. Plymouth comes to mind. That makes it difficult for Metro Transit to serve areas beyond Golden Valley to the northwest. As for standing being against the rules, it doesn't seem rare to see people standing on the city buses during the rush hours. I don't see the safety issue in city traffic being the same as on a freeway. Terrell Brown Loring Park/Minneapolis __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Metropolitan Issues Forum http://www.e-democracy.org/tcmetro Rules: Sign posts with real name. You may not post more than twice a day.
