Burnsville

Burnsville Transit Station is a transit facility located in the vicinity of downtown Burnsville, Minnesota, and is the flagship station of the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA). The station is the busiest park and ride location in the Twin Cities region and offers approximately 1,400 parking spaces. It is also a major transfer hub for routes operating the south of the Minnesota River. The station has indoor climate-controlled waiting, restrooms, lost and found, drinking fountains, vending machines, Go-To card sales, newspaper racks, and transit information. Due to high park and ride demand, MVTA moved some service to the 370 space Heart of the City public ramp about a south in 2018. The Metropolitan Council's 2021 park-and-ride system report found 267 cars parked at the station compared to 1,116 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Burnsville Heart of the City bus rapid transit station on the METRO Orange Line is located kitty-corner across Minnesota State Highway 13, about a away. Consideration was given to locating the Orange Line terminus at the MVTA station but the existing amount of buses and riders encouraged Metro Transit to locate the station elsewhere. History Express bus service from Burnsville to downtown Minneapolis has existed since at least 1972. Early park-and-rides were located near I-35W and Minnesota Highway 13. Service was provided by the predecessor of Metro Transit, MTC, until the creation of Minnesota Valley Transit Authority. MVTA was formed in 1990 and transit service from Burnsville began operating under the MVTA branding in 1991. Service in MVTA communities expanded and while 1,085 parking spaces were provided for riders throughout their system, 97% were full by 1993. MVTA sought funding from the Regional Transit Board, the agency supervising transit service in the Twin Cities region, to improve park-and-ride locations in Apple Valley, Burnsville, and Eagan. Demand for more spaces was projected as needing 300 more spaces in 1993 and 700 more spaces by 1996. A need for a 500 space park-and-ride lot in Burnsville by I-35W were identified but no timeline for construction had been established. A year later in 1994, the new park-and-ride lot in Burnsville near I-35W was slated for construction in that same year. The 550 space lot with room for expansion would quadruple the previous lot.