A Ribbon Cutting Caps a Transformative Year for Transit

Metro Transit opened the METRO E Line with a ribbon-cutting at Minneapolis College, 1415 Hennepin Ave. S., on Dec. 6, 2025, capping a year in which the agency launched three new rapid bus lines. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Edina Mayor James Hovland, Metropolitan Council Chair Robin Hutcheson, Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras and Hennepin County Commissioner Marion Greene took part.

The E Line replaced Route 6, long one of the busiest bus routes in the state, with buses arriving every 10 to 15 minutes from about 4:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. Along its 13-mile path on France, Hennepin and University avenues, it runs from Southdale Center in Edina through Linden Hills, Uptown, downtown Minneapolis and on to the University of Minnesota. Metro Transit says the line carries about 30% more service than the route it replaced and runs up to 20% faster on average.

Greene, whose District 3 covers the lakes neighborhoods the line serves, said the route "has it all," linking the University, downtown, Uptown and the lakes in a single ride, and credited Hennepin County's role in building out the region's arterial bus rapid transit network.

The E Line was the eighth bus rapid transit line in the regional METRO system and the third to open in 2025, after the Gold Line on the Interstate 94 corridor east of St. Paul on March 22 and the B Line on Lake Street, Marshall and Selby avenues on June 14. With the E Line open, the METRO network passed 120 miles, putting a larger share of the region's jobs and car-free households within a half-mile of a station.

For Lowry Hill, the E Line is the piece of that expansion that runs closest to home, threading directly past the neighborhood on Hennepin. That is why a regional milestone registered locally as a neighborhood one.

Details on the line and its schedule are at metrotransit.org/e-line-project.

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