Better bus

Star Tribune Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:22:33 GMT
Funds help high-tech buses step to the forefront

The speedy vehicles with amenities riders will appreciate are on the fast track to development, aided by taxes. High-tech buses that look like light-rail trains zipping by traffic in designated lanes. Internet access for riders. Technology that lets drivers and users know exact arrival and departure times. Park-and-ride facilities. The plan to develop rapid bus transit that provides the same kind of quality commuters get on light-rail transit lines is moving closer to reality in Dakota County and nearby communities, thanks to the new quarter-cent sales tax and motor-vehicle excise tax that will bring millions in long-needed revenue. County officials have been working on such a transitway plan since 2000, but now they have funding, thanks to the taxes. "The biggest hurdle to date was not having a revenue source to do it," Mark Krebsbach, Dakota County transportation director, said of the plans to use existing roadways to run the high-quality, fast bus service.

[[keywords: LandUse;PublicWorks;Living;Metro;]]