Metro Transit: 2,400 riders used Northstar trains Monday

BIG LAKE, Minn. -- It's hard to be perfect on the first day, but Metro Transit seems to be satisfied with Northstar rail's inaugural performance.

"Overall a satisfactory first day," Metro Transit's Bob Gibbons said Monday.

2,400 people took the rail line Monday from the Northwestern suburbs into Minneapolis.

Car weary commuters seemed to like it.

"This is a great way for me to use the time for work and the cost is the same given the gas prices," commuter Paula Phillipe said from the Big Lake station.

Tickets vary from each of the five stops but the most expensive is the Big Lake to Minneapolis route.

It is seven dollars each way.

It may sound steep but if you do the math, the final cost is just under 36-hundred dollars a year.

"I've been driving from Monticello every day to downtown and the cost to park is fifteen or twenty dollars a day depending on where you park," Jan Dmytryszyn said.

The cost of that on an annual basis is $3,900.

So for many people, this helps the wallet and the environment.

The only snags, it seems, are departure times.

The last train leaves downtown on weekdays at 6:10 pm.

So, if you work late, you do have one option but it's not a direct route.

"We have created a bus route that will leave downtown after 7 for anyone that misses the train and that will touch Coon Rapids and Anoka stations so it gets those most of the way home," Gibbons said.

There is another option for ez card carrying travelers too, if they need to hop a train early, but there is not train to hop.

"We do have a guarantee ride home program, so if you miss a train, we send you two coupons worth $25 each for cab fare," Gibbons said.

Those coupons will go to riders with the train ez cards every six months. 

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