Met Council considers sale on train fare

Northstar commuter rail
Trains from the Northstar Commuter Rail line sit at the Target Field Station in a 2009 file photo. The Metropolitan Council is considering a $1 reduction in fares from most stations.
MPR Photo/Jeffrey Thompson

The Metropolitan Council is considering dropping Northstar Commuter Rail fare prices by a dollar at most stations.

Fares on the Northstar line vary from $3.25 to $7, depending on the passenger's route. The fares would decrease by a dollar at all stations but Fridley, where the price will decrease by 25 cents, to $3, to match fares elsewhere.

Council spokesman Bruce Howard says fare prices haven't changed in two-and-a-half years. He says over that time that staff members studied Northstar's finances and decided they could attract more riders with a nine-month "sale."

"Now that after we've had a while to examine that," Howard says, "we believe there's a good number of people that we could attract to the system by putting Northstar on sale, if you will, for a nine-month period. We're going to try that and see if we can attract some new riders to the system."

Howard says the Metropolitan Council Transportation Committee will consider the proposal on Monday. "Once that has been discussed, then assuming it's approved by the Transportation Committee, it will go to the full Metropolitan Council on June 27," Howard says. "And then if it's approved by the full Metropolitan Council on the 27th, we would expect to implement this on Aug. 1."

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