Service being restored, security coming

The next coming Metro Transit pick (schedule change) is Saturday, June 17, 2023. After three years of bad news, caused by the pandemic and then a driver shortage, Southwest Connector readers finally have something to rejoice about!
The hiring campaigns of the past year or so have finally brought in enough drivers to restore some of the service that was previously suspended. Improvements this summer in the Southwest Connector readership area include:
• The Orange Line on I-35W between downtown Minneapolis and Burnsville will run every 15 minutes rather than once every half hour midday on weekdays.
• Route 4 (Lyndale Ave. S.) will have minor schedule changes on weekends, and northbound on weekdays at rush hour.
• Route 6 (Hennepin/Xerxes/France Aves.) will have minor schedule changes on Saturdays and weekdays during the afternoon rush hour.
• Route 23 (38th St. to Uptown Transit Center) will run once every half hour instead of once an hour midday on weekdays. Additionally, one additional trip will leave the Vets Home at 11:10 p.m.
• Route 25L, which runs through the Lowry Hill, Kenwood, and Cedar-Isles-Dean neighborhoods to the Jewish Community Center in Saint Louis Park once per day in each direction on school days, will now run every weekday, whether or not school is open.
I suspect the improvements to Route 23 will be appreciated most by Southwest Connector readers. I hope at least some of you find the Orange Line and Route 25L useful as well.
Security issues on buses and at stations may make some people apprehensive about using Metro Transit. I understand people don’t want to be bothered or have to suffer violence or smell smoke, urine, or other bad things. You may have noticed that the inside of Uptown Transit Center has been temporarily closed. It and five other transit stops throughout the Twin Cities are slated for a new security detail to keep indecorous and nefarious behavior to a minimum. Uptown Transit Center will reopen once the new security is in place.
Metro Transit is still hiring drivers, vehicle technicians, and railway maintenance people, as well as transit police. Wages range from $26 to $41 an hour. If you’re looking for a new career, please check out https://metrotransit.org.
There are still controversies and problems with the Green Line extension, which is still under construction. Most of the Green Line problems seem to revolve around the Kenilworth Corridor tunnel between Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles. With the way things are going, we probably won’t see trains until 2027. More importantly, will this debacle and the one in North Minneapolis regarding placement of the Blue Line extension kill new light rail projects for the foreseeable future? Bus rapid transit, like the A, C, D, Orange, and Red Lines, seems to be the preferred way to improve transit in the future, due to its less disruptive construction process.
Do Southside Connector readers prefer LRT or BRT?