Brooklyn Center Transit Center (BCTC) is a

transit center A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports, and ferry slips. ...

in the

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 ...

suburb of

Brooklyn Center, Minnesota Brooklyn Center is a commuter town, first-ring suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. In 1911, the area became a village formed from parts of B ...

. Owned and operated by Metro Transit, it is one of the busiest single boarding locations in 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 ...

. The transit center is not a

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

, but provides free 10-minute parking and free outdoor bike racks. June 8, 2019 Metro Transit's second bus rapid transit line, the

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

C Line, opened with Brooklyn Center Transit Center as the line's northern terminus. The

Metro D Line D Line may refer to: Transportation *Line D (Buenos Aires Underground), an underground line in Buenos Aires, Argentina * D Line (Los Angeles Metro), a rapid transit line in Los Angeles County, California *Line D (Prague Metro), a subway route unde ...

opened in December 2022, also using the center as its northern terminus. The transit center opened December 4, 2004 and cost $1.9 million. Before opening of the C Line,

charging station A charging station, also known as a charge point, chargepoint, or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a power supply electrical device, device that supplies electrical power for recharging plug-in electric vehicles (including batter ...

s were installed for end-of-the-line charging of 8

battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. Battery electric buses offer the potential for z ...

es used on the C Line and D Line.

Creation

Prior to the creation of the Brooklyn Center Transit Center, Metro Transit had a hub at nearby

Brookdale Mall Shingle Creek Crossing, formerly Brookdale Center, is a regional shopping mall in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. It became the third enclosed shopping mall in the Twin Cities, after Southdale Center and Apache Plaza. The mall opened in phases beg ...

. In 2003, mall owner Jim Schlesinger, ousted Metro Transit from using Brookdale as a bus center hub. At the time, Metro Transit was running 4,000 passengers per day through Brookdale, and Schlesinger said that he would allow the mall to be a destination, but not a hub for ride transfers. He said he was not running a charity, and that bus riders hanging out at the mall waiting on ride transfers did not make good customers. His stance was that it was up to Metro Transit to build their own Brooklyn Center transit hub and not use Brookdale. Metro Transit subsequently opened the new Brooklyn Center Transit Center located offsite of the mall in December 2004. Brookdale Mall closed in 2010 and was largely demolished in 2012. The site has been redeveloped into a new shopping area named Shingle Creek Crossing.

Renovation

In mid-2020 Metro Transit plans on renovating the 15-year-old transit center to provide a better experience for customers. Since the opening of the Metro C Line in June 2019, the transit center has seen an increase in traffic. In an interview, Metro Transit Spokesperson Howie Padilla said "When you have a transit center that's been used as much as this has, it can come to look used. It needs a facelift every once in a while." The renovation is not funded as part of either the C Line or D Line projects, but through Metro Transit's capital improvements budget. Current plans call for replacement of concrete and crosswalks, as well as other accessibility improvements, additional lighting both inside and outside the facility, canopies for plazas at either end of the building, bench replacement, additional bike racks, a renovated waiting area and restrooms, and a renovated drivers' lounge. In February 2020,

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

insinuated that a police substation would be added to the existing building, but there are no plans to construct police facilities. The renovation was expected to be complete late 2020, but ended up not being largely complete until May 2021.

References

External links

Metro Transit: Brooklyn Center Transit Center
{{Minnesota Metro stations navbox Bus stations in Minnesota Bus rapid transit in Minnesota

Creation

Renovation

See also

References

External links