Metro Transit resumes service after suspending operations during riots

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Metro Transit announced that they will resume bus and Northstar commuter rail service at 4 a.m. Wednesday, June 3 after suspending service due to the unrest in the Twin Cities. The METRO Blue Line and METRO Green Line service are expected to be back in service on Thursday, June 4.

Last week, Metro Transit announced that due to the violence in Minneapolis and St. Paul, all bus, light rail and Northstar service would remain suspended through at least Tuesday, June 2.

As service returns, Metro Transit will continue to operate at the reduced levels that have been in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Words cannot capture the pain caused by George Floyd’s horrific and senseless death. The destruction of community resources and local businesses added to that pain," General Manager Wes Kooistra wrote in a release. "I want to assure customers that our response to the past several days was focused on protecting the safety of our customers and our employees. Transit is a lifeline for many people in our region. We did not make the decision to suspend service lightly."  

"We acknowledge that many of the neighborhoods that rely heavily on transit are also those that were hardest hit by these events. People who use transit to secure groceries and medicine, to get to their jobs, or to make other essential trips suffered twin impacts -- the loss of neighborhood businesses and services they rely on and the experience of being stranded because transit was unavailable."

For more information on Metro Transit's operations, click here.