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Today we are talking to Colin Owens from Metro Transit. Colin is the project lead for Metro Transit on Purple Line and he's going to give us a crash course on what Purple Line is. Why is it purple and what it could mean to the east side? So thank you so much for joining us today, Colin. Yeah, thanks, Lisa. I'm excited to join you all here on the podcast. Great. Let's start by telling everyone a little bit about you. How long have you been with Metro Transit? Yeah. So I've been with Metro Transit coming up on three years now. I've worked with Metro Transit in the past, doing other projects, but for the Purple Line, I've been here for about three years. So what exactly is your title with Metro Transit? Yeah. So I am solely Outreach and Engagement on the Purple Line. So I work with my colleague Liz Jones, who's our Outreach and Engagement lead for both Purple and Gold, but I specifically focus on the Purple Line for Outreach and Engagement. Very good. Purple and gold. I think those are the right colors for Minnesota. Exactly. Yep. So what would you say is the most difficult part of your job? I think for me, it's just making sure that I help the community understand the facts, keeping everybody informed. And then really we're on kind of a lot of schedules for this project. It's a very schedule heavy project. So we want to make sure we get timely. Quality feedback, especially on the new developments on the project, which there have been quite a few, as some of you may know from, basic, other community feedback in the past. Very cool. What's your favorite part? My favorite part is, you know, the meaningful connections that I make every day in my work and, just kind of finding more creative ways to involve the community into the future of the project. I think there's a lot of opportunity to learn more and develop the project based on community feedback. And so that's one of my favorite things is to see the project change and shift with the community providing input. Makes it fun to be creative, doesn't it? Yes, yeah, I love it. So what is one thing people are surprised to find out about you?,so as a side hustle, I own a DJ business. and so I, I just had a wedding on Saturday, so I had a really fun time. And so I really liked doing karaoke and DJing and actually did, did some DJing for D five, I believe. So, that was a really fun time. And, yeah, love doing that stuff. That is good to know. We might be hooking you up pretty soon. We've got lots of things planned for this summer. Love it. Yeah. So for folks who may not be familiar with the purple line, what is it? Yeah. So the biggest thing is just to know that this is dedicated BRT bus, rapid transit. And so this is meant to be a more streamlined service for the East side. it was originally called the rush line. If you'd like to look back at the history of the project. But, we transitioned to the Purple Line name, December 2021 when it went over to the Metropolitan Council from Ramsey County. So, really just want to make sure people understand this is a different type of bus service compared to, like, the D Line or the C Line. It's dedicated lanes for the bus that we're looking to develop in the community. So that's, when we're talking bus rapid transit, that's what you mean, a designated lane then for the bus? Yeah, so dedicated is the dedicated lanes for the bus. Bus Rapid Transit is a type of bus service. So, what that means is we're having a lot of improvements to the service to make it more convenient, accessible, and, Just improving it for the customer experience. So that includes, ADA accessible curbing to make the bus not have to kneel and you can access it from the curb. pay stations off the bus to make it a faster service. So people aren't the bus drivers and waiting for somebody to pay on the bus. They can just hop on and get, and get going. signal priority. and heated shelters with real time schedules, digital displays. So it's a completely advanced and new, service, that we're implementing throughout the Metro area. So it's like bus supercharged. Yep, exactly. That's a good way to put it. So, let's go back to the beginning. You mentioned Rush Line, which is what I accidentally call the Purple Line, everyone's wow. so who and what began this process of bringing rapid bus transit to these sites? Yeah, so, if people if if you're kind of a transit nerd, like a lot of us in the project office, you can take a look at Met Council's transportation policy plan, which was really kind of developed to think about the regional system and how we're going to kind of expand and develop the area. With bus rapid transit and light rail services. And so, the gold and purple line are the most significant east side connections. And Met Council and the county worked together to identify the areas that would benefit from bus rapid transit, which, was kind of developed and then handed and then went to Ramsey County to be further studied and looked at. And then it was handed over to the Met Council in December 2021. Ramsey County is still the local funding partner, but then we also have funding that we receive from, Federal Transit Administration. So there's a lot of groups and, MnDOT is also one that's really involved with the process. So, we've had a lot of stakeholders and groups involved in the whole process. Lots of plates spinning on sticks. Mm hmm. Exactly. Can you tell us approximately where it starts and where it goes? Yeah, absolutely. So, for sure, we're looking at downtown Union Depot would be kind of the starting point, and then it would go up through Mount Airy, and then go down, through, Phelan Boulevard, and then we're kind of looking at Phelan Boulevard. Future connection points, either through the Bruce Vento trail or Maryland and White Bear Avenue. And then we're looking also at studying endpoints. originally this project was looking to go, to White Bear Lake and or Venice Heights. we still may be considering that, but we're looking at, mainly the Maplewood Mall Transit Center as our stopping point. with maybe some other connections in the area, for businesses, hospitals, things like that, but that's still, still something we're thinking about, but for sure, downtown Saint Paul Union Depot through the east side, and then, most likely at the Maplewood Mall Transit Center and some other locations in the area. And again, just to kind of go back to that bus rapid transit, it's, Limited stops, right? And that's what makes it rapid? Yes, correct. Yep. So it wouldn't be kind of your local service which stops every other block. It's not an express service where it stops kind of Less frequent spacing, this is more of a kind of half mile spacing between the stations. If you want to think about it in the D2 area, think of it as like the 54 bus. So a lot of our stops on Maryland and White Bear Avenue are going to be where the 54 is with some changes that we've made to stations, which I'll kind of share a little bit about, later That's kind of the, the general spacing that is kind of the standard for the, stations is about a half a mile distance. Got it. So, you mentioned that originally you were studying Bruce Bento Trail. and then now you're starting the process of studying the line from, you know, going up Maryland to White Bear Avenue and then continuing on to Maplewood. So, does that mean the Bruce Bento Trail is the table or is it a done deal? What's, what's the status of it? Yeah, definitely. So, short answer is no. it's not a done deal. we have a timeline for the next. a few months, so, just to let people know later this summer, we're going to do outreach on both the Bruce Vento Trail and Maryland and White Bear Avenue alignments. So that's when we'll really want, community feedback and input on on people choosing whether or not we go through the Bruce Vento Trail, co locate with the Bruce Vento Trail, or go through, Maryland and White Bear Avenue. and then the plan is we'll have a final locally preferred alternative, which is just the overall route that we're choosing to go with by fall. it's a very quick timeline, but we're, Busy trying to just get all the designs up to speed, get everything ready for the community to share. All of the data, all the traffic studies, all the information that we've developed to help people make the best decision possible on the future of this project. Where are the plan stops for District 2? Yeah, so, with District 2, you know, as we kind of develop the Maryland and White Bear Avenue corridor, those stations, they're spaced out every half a mile. the ones that are kind of close to the edge of D2 is Johnson and Cook,, which is by Mung Village, and then it goes up through Johnson, and then it would go along Maryland, so there's Hazelwood, and a couple of other stations along that way throughout the corridor, and then White Bear Avenue, there's stations that we're looking at on Arlington, we recently changed the Larpenter station to Idaho based on community feedback, and then we're just going to continue into Maplewood with stations at a half mile distance, kind of basically the 54. Interesting, you know, especially thinking Iowa high rise, it's important that we kind of shift it down a little bit to Idaho, just thinking about the folks that are living there and, and looking for transit options too. So when we're talking about these stops, you had mentioned that they're going to be heated and digital display. Are there other improvements that are built around those stops? Yeah, if we go along Maryland and White Bear Avenue, full disclosure, that is going to be a full roadway reconstruction. That's how we've been communicating it and how we're looking at the area. we have a purview of, changing pedestrian connections, improving sidewalks, adding signals for stops and buses, stations, making sure our stations are, recognizable and well kept and designed the way that I was just describing earlier. But, one of the things that's part of this project is station area planning, and so that's a process where we're looking at developments around the surrounding areas, which is funded and led by Ramsey County. We focus on the different aspects of designing the corridor, and then communities involved later and through the process of station area planning to discuss what does the area look like around these stations. Thanks. Very nice. Very nice. So let's talk about the money because as the executive director here at district two, I spend a lot of time wondering where money is coming from and where it's going. So how does all this get paid for? You mentioned the county and state. Oh, yeah. And it's a little confusing because there's a lot of partners, but, basically the Met Council in partnership with Ramsey County in the Minnesota of, Department of Transportation will design and construct the project. Metro Transit will own, operate, and maintain the line in the future once it's launched. And then, the design and construction of the project itself will be funded by the Federal Transit Administration through, this program that we're going through and then Ramsey County as a local funding partner. And then, in the future, operations and maintenance funding will be provided by Ramsey County and the Met Council. Very interesting. Very interesting. So let's talk a little about timeline. Where are we now? and what will be the next steps? Yeah, so we're looking at things kind of in chunks. I know we're audible, so it's hard to see a visual of timeline. Yeah, and I'll try and kind of just give you like a verbal explanation of it, but we're looking at things a short span in terms of getting that final locally preferred alternative, our ultimate route decided by fall. The schedule is kind of in flux. And so, we'll have more clarity on our schedule, you know, the broader like construction launch all that stuff after that fall decision, which afterward includes planning out construction and design. So, TBD, a lot of things are in the air, but we were just very laser focused on getting this done. Final route decision by fall. And then we can kind of build out from there. The locally preferred route is designated? Do you have to go back and do environmental review and all of that? Does it kind of just start the whole process over again? Yeah, we do have to go through another environmental review. if it's on the Bruce Vento trail,, I don't remember quite, if we have to redo the environmental review, but we will have to go through a process of ridership, environmental analysis and all the things that we have to do to kind of clear this project through our different programs. So I think this is exciting. You know, I, live in northeast Minneapolis and it's kind of hard to get here from there, or even it's not. Sometimes hard to get from the east side to downtown or to Maplewood. what is the feedback you're hearing from Eastside residents? Yeah. It's been a great, great, experience. We've had a lot of really great support, through this process. A lot of really interested, curious people, with a lot of questions and comments, but overall, I think we've seen that there's been a lot of support for the Maryland and White Bear Avenue corridor as we've been developing it. I think Most generally, there's a lot of interest in improved transit services in the area, including making things more accessible for people, from different communities, especially, the disability community. people are looking for this project to serve more people and more destinations and making sure that we prioritize that with the project and making sure we find that. Sweet spot. and then and accessing more destinations that people want to go to. And then just making sure we're serving the people who need transit to get around the area and making sure that this project works for them. And so a lot of people have been giving us feedback for that. And then I think a lot of people have talked about how Maryland white bear are not very safe for pedestrians and. All kinds of traffic. There's been a lot of crashes, a lot of accidents. And so, you know, we are taking that very seriously and trying to figure out ways that we can help that in the project as we're developing this area. and then I think 1 of the big things that I love talking about, and, you know, as you were saying, Lisa, at, Larpinter, we had this outreach process. As we heard from the community that, we needed to serve. People with, different abilities that need to access transit to get to. Appointments, work, all kinds of things, services, grocery stores, right? And so, we looked into that. We did an outreach and engagement process and determined to move the station from the intersection of Larpenter to Idaho street to better serve, the Iowa high rise and other developments that are coming into the area, that'll really benefit, the future of this project. I love it that you're actually taking the time to listen to community because I think that's always been a criticism of, of government agencies is that they're not listening, but it looks and sounds like you are. So that's very nice. Definitely. Recently, there was a rally for residents wanting to move one of the stations in Paine Fallon, and I know we have hosted and co hosted workshops and listening sessions in the past. Are there other ways that people can get involved and get updates? Absolutely. So yeah, with the Payne Phelan, station movement, we definitely are working with the community and our agency partners to see our options for the stations. we're definitely looking at all options, doing analysis all the time for the different stations. So we'll, continue to keep the public informed on that. My phone number is plastered on all of the, flyers and stuff and my emails on the flyers. So if people see those in the community, they can certainly reach out to me directly or reach out to Liz, my supervisor, and we'll make sure we answer your questions, get your feedback to the team, make sure we're collecting all that information as we're evaluating. You can also sign up for our email updates, which we have that on our website. those are our main way that we communicate future outreach events, future engagements, surveys, all kinds of, all kinds of ways to get involved. So, highly recommend you sign up for those if you can. And then we also have our websites updated where we'll put future pop ups, canvassing. all kinds of things in our public engagement tab. And then if people have any events they'd like us to attend, please let us know, we're happy to come to any events and talk to people, share some information, get feedback, involve people in the process, and then something to look for in the future is we're trying this new tool called hello lamppost. And it is a. Chat bot AI tool that we're trying out. You'll see the signs all along the corridor that basically you can scan a QR code or text to this number, and it'll have multiple languages. And basically, you can have a conversation, ask questions, learn more about the project and that's also where we're going to collect. Feedback on the future of the Bruce Ventral Trail, White Bear Avenue, corridor design, but we'll also, in conjunction with that, we'll still be doing public outreach, in person stuff, but that's just a new tool we're trying. We're excited about it. We're hoping to reach a lot of people with that service. I wrote that one down just in case I might need that in the future. That is really exciting. So What is that website? It is www. metrotransit. org slash purple dash line dash project. All right. Well, we'll make sure that in the episode notes that we also list that in so folks can find you. One more question. Why is it purple? our ABRT projects are C, D, you know, all the letters and then some of our more kind of like highway BRT or dedicated BRT. change to colors. So it's kind of a fun fact. we kind of landed on purple based on, some feedback from parties in our community and that was kind of what we landed on. So, well, and I think it's, it's, you know, important because More than half of my staff. Their favorite color is purple. So there you go. There you go. I mean, you were thinking of the D2 staff. So I appreciate. Absolutely. so there, are a couple of questions we like to ask all of our guests. what is your favorite thing about the east side of Saint Paul? Yeah,, location wise, I really love cadence records and coffee. I'm a huge music fan, so I love stopping in the cafe and checking out the records, doing some work and just, seeing all the hustle and bustle from the community. There's a lot of people, community leaders that meet there and it's just fun to see all the activity there. And then I absolutely love Hmong village. I go there for pho a lot and, uh, it's, it's so good. And, they just have so many options and it's just fun to people watch and, check out some of the stores. Absolutely. It's, a little beehive over there. There's always lots of stuff going on. If you met someone today who had never been to the East side before, Where would you send them? Why? Yeah, so I guess, yeah, maybe I would just say is Cadence and Mung Village, but also, I think what I really like about, the East Side, is, Just the level of engagement and energy that people have brought to the project and also just how involved people are in this area. And I think a lot of people are very, proud of or value the quality of life in the area and the community that comes from the east side. And there's a lot of parks and beautiful areas to have recreation. and so. I think, you know, having all of those values are really admirable and something I really enjoy about, this community, working in this community. Yeah. You can't say we don't have passion over here. That's for sure. Absolutely not. Yeah. It's that East side pride, right? Oh yeah. Very much. Yep. So as we're rounding up, are there any final thoughts that you have for our neighbors? Yeah. I would just say, you know, stay involved, keep asking questions. Thanks. You know, we want to work with everybody to make this the best project for the community and so that comes with our community engagement, part of the work and so making sure, we want to hear people's opinions and elevate voices and that's really important to us and we want to continue to support that so the more feedback and input we get from the community, the more this project will start to develop. Come to life and, become reflective of the community. Very cool. Well, thanks again, Colin, for coming in today. I'm sure there'll be lots of updates moving forward. Oh, one final question. Let's say perfect world, when would the shovel start hitting? Everything goes as planned. Oh, well, like I said, I think it's, it's hard to, you know, kind of say. When construction will start our, our recent project schedule was, 2027 construction start and then 2029 and anticipated opening of the purple line. But again, depending on kind of the locally preferred alternative that we all choose as a community. we'll have a better timeline, so I can maybe come back a different time or update the community and just let you know, when we are looking at a new timeline. So, but probably not anything before 2027. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think so. Nope. That sounds good. We don't have to start planning our shopping trips and our trips to the airport and things like that. But yeah, we've got a little time before we think about that. Definitely. Well, very good. Well, thanks again, Colin. And, I will make sure that in our notes, we have Metro Transit's website, slash purple. And, if there is ever anything that you'd like to come back and talk to our neighbors about, just let me know. Awesome. Thanks for having me, Lisa. Thank you for listening to today's episode of D two in you. If you are new here, welcome and be sure to hit, follow or subscribe. So you never miss an episode. Check out our website@greatereastside.org for further information on what is happening in the neighborhood. Thanks again, and we'll chat with you next time.