Minneapolis Light Rail

I spent the days before and after Christmas this year traveling between my adopted home on Ivar Hill and my childhood home in northern Minnesota. I left southern California before the sun rose on the 20Th on a very pleasant experience with Super Shuttle (only $25 from Hollywood) after a smooth flight on Northwest I landed in Minneapolis in the afternoon where i got the pleasure of taking the relatively new light rail line from the airport to downtown where i was meeting up with my ride the rest of the way home.

The light rail line - called the Hiawatha line - has two stops in the airport (one at each terminal) and arrived promptly once i got to the stop. The ticket machine accepted my credit card and took my $1.50 for a ticket ($2 during rush hour) and similar to L.A. i didn't need to show my ticket to anyone to board the train.

I sat down and watched the roughly 20 minute trip to downtown pass outside the windows of the train. At every stop you could see signs of great revitalization in the form of new development. At my stop downtown i could see other travelers waiting for the train to take them to the airport. Overall it was a very pleasant experience - I'm sure it doesn't serve that many places in Minneapolis but it seems like a fairly sound foundation to start building a system on. If you are traveling to Minneapolis consider the Hiawatha line for your transit needs. Once you get downtown the bus system is convenient.

Hiawatha Line