Record attendance at the Minnesota State Fair is creating long waits for shuttle bus riders, with visitors reporting delays at several park-and-ride locations.
More than 155,000 people entered the Great Minnesota Get-Together on opening day Thursday, according to the fair’s website. Attendance rose above 204,000 on Friday, putting additional pressure on shuttle services.
Long Minnesota State Fair shuttle lines
At the fairgrounds, hundreds of people waited in long lines for buses returning to park-and-ride lots.
“The line to get back to Hopkins Crossroad has been unprecedented,”
said Katy Born of Plymouth, who parked in an overflow lot.
“Every year, I’ve been coming here for twenty years,”
said Rupesh Patel of Blaine.
“This is the longest I’ve dealt with lines.”
Social media complaints largely focused on the trip to the fair, including waits of several hours and parking lots located far from shuttle stops. One woman said she waited in line for three hours and parked in a ditch.
“I know they’re having a hard time getting drivers, so I totally get it,”
Born said.
“But more park and rides would be ideal. More drivers would be wicked.”
Metro Transit responds to delays
Riders gave high marks to shuttle locations operated by the University of Minnesota. However, some visitors reported major delays at the Blaine and Cottage Grove pickup and drop-off sites, where waits were long and parking lots filled early.
Metro Transit said it is monitoring traffic and adding resources when available.
“Metro Transit is committed to getting people to the Great Minnesota Get-Together safely and as quickly as possible,” the agency said in a statement. “We have been monitoring park and ride traffic and have been adding resources as available to provide additional State Fair service beyond what is regularly scheduled. With record-breaking attendance for the State Fair thus far, we are seeing heavy usage of our services and are working to add capacity.We are also aware of specific delays at the two sites you mentioned – there were two instances of customers coming from the Blaine park and ride becoming sick on the bus, requiring the vehicles to be pulled for cleaning, and causing service gaps. A traffic accident on I-94 caused some buses coming from Cottage Grove to have to detour through downtown Minneapolis, leading to longer trips in both directions. In all cases, we adapted as quickly as possible to resume scheduled State Fair service.”
Visitor recommends arriving early
Keith Daniels of Atlanta said arriving early is the best way to avoid the heaviest Minnesota State Fair shuttle crowds.
“Like we got here at nine o’clock and the line was like a block long, but it went pretty quick,”
Daniels said.
“Because if you don’t come in before nine, that parking lot’s full. So, we made sure we get out of here before nine and get here, get on the bus. Got to be ready. Yeah, we do have a plan. Been here many times.”
