The Metro E Line is a bus rapid transit route in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Edina in Minnesota. The route operates from Southdale Center Transit Center in Edina to Westgate station in Saint Paul. Running mostly on France Avenue, Hennepin Avenue, and University Avenue, the line serves major destinations such as Southdale Center, Fairview Hospital, 50th & France, Linden Hills, Uptown, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Downtown Minneapolis, Dinkytown, the University of Minnesota, and Prospect Park. The route has "train-like" features to speed up service and improve reliability, such as signal priority, bus lanes, all-door boarding, further stop spacing, and specialized vehicles. In 2019 planning and design was underway, with construction slated for 2023 and operations beginning a year later but that timeline was moved back. The E Line largely replaced Route 6 which carried 9,000 trips each weekday. The project was fully funded with $60 million by the state of Minnesota in 2021 and opened December 6, 2025.

Service + E Line frequency Type Span of service Frequency Early Weekdays 4:30 a.m. – 10:30 am 15–30 minutes Weekdays 10:30 a.m. – 7:00 pm 10 minutes Late Weekdays 7:00 p.m. – 12:30 am 15–60 minutes Saturday 5:30 a.m. – 12:30 am 12–60 minutes Sunday 5:30 a.m. – 12:30 am 12–60 minutes The E Line runs every 10 minutes during daytime service on weekdays and every 12 minutes during the weekends, with reduced frequencies of up to 30 minutes in the early morning and up to an hour in the late evening. As part of service changes with the E Line, route 6 was discontinued, with service south of Southdale Transit Center and on Xerxes Ave maintained by new route 36.

Route

The route was identified in Metro Transit's 2014 Arterial Transitway Corridors Study as one of twelve local routes to be upgraded to bus rapid transit. The study concluded that the busiest portion of Route 6, on Hennepin Avenue between downtown Minneapolis and Uptown, should be upgraded with an extension connecting it to West Lake station on the upcoming Metro Green Line Extension. Since the release of the study, community members have expressed interest in having the upgrade cover more of the Route 6 corridor. In 2018 Metro Transit collected community feedback on 7 options south of Uptown and 3 options north of downtown Minneapolis.

Southern alignment Metro Transit proposed seven alternatives for a southern alignment south of Uptown. Alternative 1 ended at 50th and France Ave via 44th Street. Alternative 2 ended at 50th and France Avenue via 50th Street and Xerxes Avenue. Alternative 3 ended at 50th and Xerxes Avenue. Alternative 4 ended at Southdale via Xerxes Avenue, 50th Street, and France Avenue. Alternative 5 ended at Southdale via France Avenue. Alternative 6 ended at Southdale via Xerxes Ave. Alternative 7 ended at West Lake station, same as the concept plan from the 2014 report.

Following feedback from the community, Metro Transit decided Alternative 4, 5, and 6 would advance for additional consideration and study.

Ultimately Alternative 5 was selected as the preferred alignment and was presented to the Metropolitan Council September 23, 2019, to be adopted as the recommended alignment. Reasons for choosing France Avenue over Xerxes was the ability to serve commercial nodes at 44th & France and 50th & France, and direct access to the Fairview Hospital campus.

Central alignment From the start of the project it was known that the E Line would travel along Hennepin Avenue from Washington Avenue downtown to Uptown Transit Station. At the time of the Arterial Transitway Corridors Study, Route 6 buses were only in motion 39% of the time between Uptown Transit Station and 7th Street downtown. Average speeds were sometimes just 6 miles per hour. From Uptown Transit Center to Franklin Avenue during morning rush hours, buses carried 49% of people traveling in the corridor while only making up 3% of vehicles. During the evening rush hours, buses carried 45% of people traveling in the corridor and only 2% of vehicles. To help speed up service and improve reliability, the City of Minneapolis and Metro Transit partnered for a bus lane pilot on Hennepin Avenue between Franklin and Uptown in May 2018. The pilot removed on-street parking south of 26th Avenue for southbound buses and on-street parking north of 26th Avenue for northbound buses. There was a three-day test from May 15 to 17 to gather public feedback and better understand bus lanes.

After the pilot concluded, the bus lanes were removed and on-street parking was restored. The pilot received positive feedback, but neither the City of Minneapolis or Metro Transit had near-term plans to permanently implement bus lanes in the corridor. On September 7, 2019, painted bus lanes were permanently installed on Hennepin between Franklin Avenue and Lake Street, the first painted bus lanes in Minnesota. The same day painted bus lanes were also installed on Chicago Avenue, which operates the busiest bus route on the system, Route 5, and is planned for the METRO D Line. The improvement resulted in more consistent travel times and a reduction of travel times by 12 percent.

In downtown Minneapolis enhanced stations are being constructed with the Hennepin Avenue reconstruction project. The approved project layout, currently under construction, includes four rapid bus stations at Hennepin & 3rd/4th Streets, 5th Street, 7th/8th Streets, and 10th/11th Streets.

Northern alignment Metro Transit proposed three alternatives north of Washington Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. The first option had the route end near Washington Avenue in downtown. The second option took the route over the Mississippi River into Nicollet Island/East Bank before taking the University Avenue/4th Street pair into Southeast Minneapolis. The route would pass through the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood and Dinkytown, serving a large student population. The route would run along the northern edge of the University of Minnesota campus before terminating at Stadium Village station. The third option was identical to the second, but with an extension along University Avenue to Westgate station in Saint Paul.

The option into Southeast Minneapolis was selected as the preferred alignment, with the final terminus to be decided during the engineering phase in 2020. Stations

+ Metro E Line station locations and connecting routesStationNeighborhood(s)CityConnectionsUniversity & BerrySaint Anthony ParkSaint PaulRoutes 30, 63, Metro Green Line (Westgate station)University & MalcolmProspect ParkMinneapolisUniversity & 27th AveUniversity & 23rd AveMetro Green Line (Stadium Village station)University & U of M Rec Center4th St & Ridder ArenaUniversity of MinnesotaRoute 2University & 15th Ave4th St & 15th AveUniversity of Minnesota, Marcy Holmes (Dinkytown)Routes 2, 3University & 11th Ave4th St & 10th AveMarcy HolmesUniversity & 6th Ave4th St & 6th AveUniversity & Central4th St & CentralNicollet Island, Marcy HolmesRoutes 10, 17Hennepin & 2nd St NE1st Ave & 2nd St NENicollet IslandRoutes 4, 11, 61Hennepin & GatewayNorth Loop, Downtown WestRoutes 4, 61Hennepin & 3rd/4th StDowntown WestMany downtown routesHennepin & 5th StMetro Green Line and Metro Blue Line (Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue station), many downtown routesHennepin & 7th/8th StMetro C Line, Metro D Line, many downtown routesHennepin & 10th/11th StMany downtown routesHennepin & Spruce/LaurelLoring ParkRoute 4Hennepin & GrovelandLowry Hill, Lowry Hill East, Loring ParkRoute 4Hennepin & FranklinLowry Hill, Lowry Hill East, MinneapolisHennepin & 25th StEast Isles, Lowry Hill EastRoute 17Uptown Transit StationRoutes 36, 17, 21, 23, Metro B LineHennepin & 33rd StEast Bde Maka Ska, South UptownHennepin & 36th StEast Bde Maka Ska, South Uptown, East HarrietRichfield Rd & Bde Maka Ska SouthEast HarrietSheridan & 39th StLinden HillsUpton & 43rd St44th St & AbbottFrance & 44th StMorningside, Linden HillsEdina, MinneapolisFrance & 47th StWhite Oaks, Linden Hills, FultonFrance & 50th St50th and France, FultonRoute 46France & 54th StArden Park, Creek Knoll, Minneahaha Woods, FultonFrance & 58th StMinnehaha Woods, Chowen Park, Pamela ParkEdinaFrance & 62nd StPamela Park, Strachauer ParkFairview Southdale HospitalSouthdaleSouthdale Transit CenterSouthdale CenterRoutes 36, 515, 537, 538, 578, 600

See also Metro A Line Metro B Line Metro C Line Metro D Line Metro Bronze Line Metro Gold Line

References

External links

Interactive Corridor Map E Line Project Website