SouthWest Transit is a public transportation agency that is based in

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It had a population of 64,198 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th-largest city in Minnesota. The city is adjacent to the north bank of the Minnesota River, upstream fro ...

. The agency was formed in 1986 when the southwest

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

suburbs of Chaska,

Chanhassen Chanhassen ( ) is a city in Carver County, Minnesota, United States about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Minneapolis. The population was 25,947 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate of 26,469. A small portion of the city extends into Hen ...

, and Eden Prairie chose to opt out of the Metropolitan Transit Commission transit system in accordance with Minnesota State Statutes. Under a joint powers agreement between the three cities, they created their own transit system, SouthWest Metro Transit. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . Now known as SouthWest Transit, the agency continues to be the public transit agency for Chaska, Chanhassen, and Eden Prairie, as well as Carver and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. It currently offers fixed route service to and from the southwest Minneapolis suburbs, downtown Minneapolis, the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, Normandale Community College and the Best Buy headquarters. In addition to fixed route services, SouthWest Transit offers

microtransit Microtransit is a form of bus demand responsive transport vehicle for hire. This transit service offers a flexible routing and/or flexible scheduling of minibus vehicles shared with other passengers. Microtransit providers build routes ad-hoc ex ...

services (SouthWest Prime) for communities in its service area, as well as special event services to events around the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

such as sports games, concerts, the

state fair A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in t ...

, and other highly attended events.

Service

Regional Transit Authorities in the Twin Cities

In addition to their regular service, SouthWest Transit also offers a number of seasonal services, including State Fair, Twins Express, Vikings Express, Gophers Express, Summer Adventures, select concerts, and more. In 2004 SouthWest Transit was named Transit Agency of the Year by the

American Public Transit Association The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit group of approximately 1,500 public and private sector member organizations that promotes and advocates for the interests of the public transportation industry in the United S ...

. During the COVID-19 pandemic, SouthWest Transit initially

laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...

50% of its drivers but has since struggled to re-staff its workforce like transit agencies across the nation.

Southwest Prime

SouthWest Transit also operates a

service, SW Prime. This service operates in the cities of Carver, Chanhassen, Chaska, Eden Prairie, and Victoria. Other regional transit providers provide similar services with the Metropolitan Council's Transit Link, Maple Grove Transit's My Ride, MVTA's Connect, Plymouth Metrolink's Click-And-Ride, and Metro Transit's microtransit pilot Metro Transit micro. SW Prime was the first microtransit service to launch in the Twin Cities. The service accepts the region's low-income fare program. Drivers of the service belong to a union. SouthWest Transit offered a dial-a-ride transit service in the 1990s that required riders to book a trip by phone several days in advance. The service had high rates of trip cancellations and customers no-showing. SW Prime was launched in July 2015 and allowed customers to book a ride by phone or via a smartphone app. The service was initially offered Monday through Friday, but it has since expanded to Saturdays as well. The service was expanded to medical rides in 2019. Some service is offered to select areas of Shakopee and

I-494 Interstate 494 (I-494) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway making up part of a beltway of I-94, circling through the southern and western portions of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota. The road is coupled with I ...

strip. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, around 500 SW Prime rides were served a day. Ridership lowered during the pandemic and in January 2021 was roughly 50% of pre-pandemic ridership, but by June 2022 ridership was 94% of pre-pandemic numbers. SW Prime ridership rebounded faster than SouthWest Transit express ridership. Ridership in August 2023 was higher than pre-pandemic ridership in 2019. In 2024, Southwest Transit planned to replace the Prime service along the I-494 corridor to the Mall of America with a fixed-route service which will help reduce costs. On March 31 2025, SouthWest Transit began operating route 686 to replace SW Prime Airport service. This bus utilizes

for express service and American Blvd for local service. Both local and express service stop at the

Mall of America Mall of America (MoA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north ...

and Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport Terminal 1 and 2. SW Prime Airport service is planned to shut down on April 26, 2025, with the remainder of SW Prime service unaffected.

Routes

Bold route number denotes an express route.

Park & Ride Facilities

SouthWest Transit operates out of the following park-and-ride locations: * Southwest Station – Hwy 212 & Prairie Center Drive, Eden Prairie *SouthWest Village – Hwy 212 & Hwy 101, Chanhassen *Chanhassen Transit Station – 500 Market St., Chanhassen (currently not providing regular service) *East Creek Station – Hwy 212 & Hwy 41, Chaska *Carver Station – Hwy 212 & Jonathan Carver Pkwy, Carver (owned by the City of Carver)

Park and ride expansions

SouthWest Transit opened three new park & ride facilities near Highway 212. The first, SouthWest Village, is at County Road 101 and Highway 212 in Chanhassen. The second new park & ride is East Creek Station in Chaska. That facility was opened in early June 2008 at the southwest corner of Highway 212 and County Road 41. The third new park & ride is Chanhassen Transit Station opened in December 2011 and is located north of Highway 5, just next to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres on Market St. Due to near capacity issues, in 2007 the East Creek Station Park and Ride CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality – a federal program) grant submittal was approved for the construction of 450 park and ride stalls, a transit station and busway. The new 450 stalls are structured parking (a ramp), and the station includes passenger waiting areas along with vending and restroom facilities. The total project cost $7.8 million. Bidding for the construction of the ramp and station is expected to take place in the spring/summer of 2012, with construction beginning later in the summer/fall and an opening of the new facility in September 2013. SouthWest is also in discussion with private developers to develop approximately one acre of land currently set aside for future development use. Options for the site include office, neighborhood commercial, and day care.

Records

Records of the SouthWest Transit Commission are available for research use. They consist of annual reports (1997–2005); management plans and budgets (1992–1993, 1995); oversight (1993–1994); and On the Move rider newsletter (2005).

Ridership

The ridership statistics shown here are of fixed route services only and do not include demand response services.

References

External links

SouthWest Transit's Official Website2006 annual report (PDF)
{{Twin Cities Transit 1986 establishments in Minnesota Bus transportation in Minnesota Transportation in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Transportation in Carver County, Minnesota Transportation in Hennepin County, Minnesota Chanhassen, Minnesota Chaska, Minnesota