Last week in the Star Tribune, former Metropolitan Council Transportation Committee chairwoman Annette Meeks argued in an opinion piece entitled “Northstar Rail is a failed experiment” that at the very least weekend service should be cut on the 40-mile commuter line linking Minneapolis with several northeastern suburbs; at the very most, she argues, the entire project should be shelved.
Meeks acknowledged that no rail transit line in the country comes close to covering its operating costs, but that since Northstar’s ridership continues to fail to meet even minimal expectations, the transportation funds being spent to keep it on operation (nearly $1 million) should be used elsewhere, she argues.
