B Line replaces route 21 bus in Minneapolis

John Wilson

Metro Transit made some serious improvements to transit in the Southwest Minneapolis area! As of Saturday, June 14, 2025, we got a whole slew of new service, with the new B Line as its crown jewel.
Infamous Route 21 is no more, replaced by the B Line, which runs significantly faster between the St. Louis Park border and downtown Saint Paul on Lake Street and Selby Avenue. Gone is the jog over to Midway Shopping Center, which added about seven minutes to each trip to and from Saint Paul. There are now fewer stops than the old 21 had. This is a double-edged sword: for those who can walk a few blocks, the added speed is a blessing, but for people who are mobility impaired, the longer walk to and from stops will not please.
Fortunately, people west of 4th Avenue S. have local bus options that stop at former Route 21 stops: Route 17 covers the area west of Hennepin, new Route 38 covers the area between Excelsior Boulevard and Lyndale Avenue, and reinstated Route 27 covers the areas between Hennepin and 4th Avenue S, and between Cedar and 27th Avenue S. The area east of there isn’t so lucky.
Route 2 on Franklin Avenue now runs more frequently: every 10 minutes during the day, and every half hour at night.
Route 11 also runs more frequently than in the past: every 15 minutes during the day on Sundays, and every 30 minutes at night all days.
Route 27, which was suspended for COVID, is back, though with a different travel path which includes part of Lake Street and the 26th/28th Street one-way pair.
Routes 23 and 612 are now new Route 38, providing through service from 38th Street to Hopkins and the Bren Road area of Minnetonka.
People going to and from Saint Paul now have the option of taking Route 94 at night and on weekends. Metro Transit will combine the 94 and Yellow Line in a few years, creating a continuous trip from downtown Minneapolis to Woodbury, through downtown Saint Paul, the East Side, and the 3M Campus, home of forever chemicals. Hooray for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances!
For those Southwest Minneapolis denizens who go south of the city limits for shopping and other things, Route 515 from Southdale to the Mall of America via 66th Street now runs every 15 minutes Monday through Saturday and every 20 minutes on Sunday.
Coming up in six months is the new E Line, which will replace the France Avenue section of current Route 6, providing faster service between the University of Minnesota, downtown Minneapolis, and Southdale, America’s first enclosed shopping mall, which opened in 1956, two years after the demise of the old streetcar system. The streetcars never quite went that far out. It is interesting to imagine an alternate history where they were kept and extended into the suburbs. Trolleys in Edina, Richfield, and Bloomington. ...