2025 Session Last amended: 2001 session

§ 473.385 — Transit Service Areas

Plain-Language Summary

This section limits when the Metropolitan Council may provide financial assistance, directly or through another entity, to private, for-profit operators of public transit. It defines the "fully developed service area" as the fully developed area in the Council's development guide plus the cities of Mendota Heights, Maplewood, North St. Paul, and Little Canada, and defines "regular route transit" by reference to section 174.22, excluding certain local circulator services. The Council may assist private for-profit operators only for specified services, including services that are not regular route, certain regular routes operated by private operators under contract or certificate as of June 2, 1989, regular routes outside the fully developed service area not run by the former Metropolitan Transit Commission on that date, services under section 473.388, services to recipients who pay at least 50 percent of the cost under a cost-sharing arrangement, and regular routes the Council will not operate for a reasonable subsidy.

Practical Notes
Use this to check whether the Metropolitan Council can fund a particular private, for-profit transit operator. Assistance to such operators is allowed only for the categories listed in subdivision 2, so a service that does not fit one of them cannot receive Council funding. The definitions of “fully developed service area” and “regular route transit” determine which routes qualify, and the 50 percent cost-sharing threshold is one of the qualifying paths.