Can I ride the bus like I usually do?

[image]

Maybe you just ride one bus, like the route 70 bus in St. Paul, to work and home every day.

You might be wondering what'll happen while tens of thousands of people are in the Twin Cities for the Republican National Convention.

For most people, not much will change.

Delegates, visitors and reporters have their own chartered coaches to get around, so you won't see them at the bus stop. Rallies are generally not scheduled to take place during rush hours.

But if you ride one of 32 routes that run through downtown St. Paul, you're headed off the beaten path.

Starting Friday, Aug. 29, after the evening rush hour, transit buses will be going around most of downtown, not through it.

Some of the detours run as far out as Dale St. to the west. And that's the way it'll be until after the rush hour on the following Friday, Sept. 5.

Here's what you need to know:

The closest Metro Transit will get you to the Xcel Energy Center is Cedar St., about four blocks away. And there are going to be some delays, probably about 10 minutes, but maybe more.

Metro Transit's customer service director Bob Gibbons says if you catch a bus that runs just before your usual ride, you should be OK.

"Customers should know a couple of things. One is, we have 25 extra buses," said Gibbons. "Second, as conditions change, looking at MnDOT cameras and other resources, we'll be able to adjust as necessary."

"Third, we track all of our buses using satellite technology," Gibbons continued. "So we'll be able to see when a choke point or a gap develops in a route, and we'll be able to slot in one of those extra buses."

You can find out which routes are affected and what the detours look like at Metro Transit's Web site.