Transit Link dial-a-ride users now can track their bus online and see when it will pick them up and drop them off.

Transit Link, a Metropolitan Council service formed by a 2010 consolidation of 17 dial-a-ride providers in the Twin Cities suburbs, functions much like Uber and Lyft except one must make a phone call to speak with an agent to reserve a ride up to a week in advance. It only serves suburban and rural destinations that are at least a quarter-mile from regular route service such as Metro Transit or if reservationists deem a trip by regular bus service unreasonable.

The agency says the new online tracking feature is made possible by changes made by their software vendor. Previously, users could only check on and cancel rides by phone.

The Met Council is directing users interested in using the online tools to call the reservation line at (651) 602-5465 and ask for their Client ID number, which is also used to track existing rides by phone. They will then be asked to provide a temporary password for reservationists to set. Finally, users will use that password to log in with their Client ID number  at mtsonline.metc.state.mn.us, change the password and provide an email to recover a lost password moving forward.

Users who already have their client ID number still need to call Transit Link to set up a password if they haven’t used the online system before.

Users will continue to call the Transit Link reservation line, which is open from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, to make reservations.

The changes, along with the addition of fat-tire bike racks on some Transit Link buses, come as Transit Link ridership flags behind pre-pandemic ridership figures. Transit Link’s ridership was around 122,000 last year, compared to just over 236,000 in 2019. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Reformer reported in January that Southwest Prime and Plymouth Click-And-Ride, services similar to Transit Link that can be hailed using a mobile app, have recovered beyond their pre-pandemic ridership numbers.

Transit Link runs Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.; in Scott County service runs until 9 p.m. and also is offered 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekends.

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