Target Field opens, Northstar trains arrive SRO

Needless to say, the Twins baseball plan worked TOO well.

Trains packed with baseball fans pushed ridership on Northstar commuter trains up over 75% last week, according to Metro Transit, the service's operator. In fact, the first baseball special train on Opening Day was so popular, the train was discharge only after the stop at Coon Rapids - Riverdale, meaning the over 100 passengers at the Fridley station were left to ride dedicated buses fron Fridley station to Target Field. This also caused the normal last train outbound on Monday to leave with an estimated 1,000 riders, as the baseball special train operated behind the normal 6:15 PM departure.

Special trains will operate for 53 of the 81 Twins games this season; other weekend games will be covered by Northstar's regular service, the schedule of which has been tweaked to serve home games at Target Field. The new schedule is available now online only; the printed schedules will not appear until early May.

The new schedule will also have a major change to the bus route #889 schedule, the 'Northstar replacement' bus which operates to Coon Rapids-Riverdale and Anoka stations. The new schedule will fill the 'mid-day gap' for those patrons who work only half-days, and beginning May 15th, will leave Downtown Minneapolis at 1:10 PM, as opposed to the current 7:10 PM.

Now, if they'd only run that bus to Elk River and Big Lake...