FAQs

The DTA has long heard requests for more frequent service to popular areas, later evening service between Duluth and Superior, and more weekend service. To meet that demand, we overhauled our bus system. As travel patterns have changed and more development has occurred in the Miller Hill area, we needed to shift resources to better serve that area. We’ve also heard that our system is overly complex and difficult to understand because of so many different route options and their inconsistent operating times. The DTA also needed to adjust service to attract more ridership, or risk losing funding and needing to reduce service later. We’ve served the Twin Ports for over 100yrs and need to have a sustainable system to last another century.

The DTA and its partners set guiding principles at the start of this project. Those principles were the foundation in which the Better Bus Blueprint was built around. The principles were to create a bus system that: is equitable; improves the passenger experience; deploys resources efficiently; is a community inspired solution; is resilient; is scalable; expands access to opportunities; and is attractive to the greatest number of Twin Ports residents. Many tradeoffs were considered throughout the process and tough decisions had to be made to meet the objectives.  the Better Bus Blueprint is the result of a lot of thoughtful planning and community engagement.

Finding Your Bus Stop

The link below opens an interactive map that shows all bus stop locations for the Better Bus Blueprint service.  This is designed to ensure passengers can become familiar with where each route will stop in the new system.

LINK TO INTERACTIVE BUS STOP MAP

The better Bus Blueprint service will begin Sunday August 27, 2023

The DTA intended to launch the new service in 2022 but after dealing with an unexpected shortage of bus operators, we had to delay the changes. We need about 100 bus operators to run the bus system.  We are now staffed to levels that will allow us to deliver the service.

No. The DTA does not have any planned increases to fares. One of the top priorities of the DTA is to offer affordable service to the communities we serve.  Prices for all pass and ticket types will remain the same as they are today.

Yes. Please request a transfer ticket from the bus operator when boarding if you intend to transfer to another bus to complete your trip or use the activated pass in you MyDTA App the next time you board. Transfers can be completed downtown or at a number of bus stop locations. Use the Transit App for the best trip options.

Bus systems often intertwine routes with others for efficiency. We have many routes that start as one and then becomes another once it gets downtown. Sometimes those route combinations are different depending on the time of day or day of the week. After many years of adding and changing service, our bus system has become overly complicated, making it difficult to make any changes to. Even small changes would have impacts on many different routes because of it being so intertwined. It would also impact the ability and timing of connecting with other routes for transferring. It was like a house of cards. To make the changes the community requested, we needed to start over with a clean and manageable system. While the names of routes and the timetable may be different, we are operating service in the vast majority of areas where we currently operate service.

The DTA adheres to performance minimums set by our governmental partners that provide the majority of our funding. When we are using public subsidy to operate a bus route, we need to have ridership showing the route is viable. In the areas that will no longer have service, they make up 1% or less of our existing ridership but cost a considerable amount of resources to be able to offer service there. There’s a lot of demand for transit service in the Twin Ports and we cannot meet that demand with the resources we have. We must prioritize how we distribute those limited resources. Other route changes may be in an attempt to make a route more efficient and attractive by being more direct to destinations and not meandering.

It’s possible. That would mostly depend on an increase in funding and available bus operators. Ridership trends and new development will be tracked to evaluate future service changes.

Another thing we’ve long heard from passengers and from bus operators is that our buses are too slow and stop too frequently. The current bus system has bus stops every block, mainly due to a time when the DTA used to run the Duluth school bus system. For speed, efficiency, safety, and reliability – bus stops should be about three blocks apart. Because of our climate and hills, we have spaced bus stops roughly every other block in most cases. The Go-Lines will have further spacing to make that an even speedier, more reliable service. With fewer bus stops, it will also be easier for the DTA to make improvements and maintain. An updated map of bus stop locations will be available soon.

Winter conditions have long been a hindrance to safely accessing bus stops and to the success of our transit system. We hope that new local policies and tools will make winter conditions better. The City of Duluth now has a complaint form website to report sidewalks that are not being maintained according to the ordinance. We encourage riders to report issues. The Duluth website can be accessed here – https://rpr-duluthmn.hub.arcgis.com/  Information on Superior’s snow policies and contact info are available here – https://www.ci.superior.wi.us/1132/Sidewalk-Snow-Removal

Yes! Every bus stop will have new signs that will look very different to the ones we use today. The new signs will show the new routes that will stop there, be mounted different, have more colors and be reflective, have more information, and will even a great new tool where you can text in your bus stop ID number and instantly get real-time predictions for the next approaching bus arrival times.

That is one of our hopes. In the last few years, we’ve replaced many aging shelters, installed solar lights, and will update signage. We plan to make large investments in improving the concrete surfaces at bus stops, add more or bigger shelters, add additional lighting and real-time signs, and add more seating. By consolidating bus stops, we will also have more bus stops meeting minimum ridership metrics to warrant a shelter.

The Go-Lines (Blue and Green line) will be the pillars of the new bus system, covering the most heavily used corridors and going to the most popular destinations. Because it will be a more premium and useful service, it will be uniquely branded. Go-Lines will have unique buses, unique stop branding, and eventually have premium shelters. These routes will have buses every 15-min for most of the day, run later than most routes, stop less frequently, and move faster along corridors. The intention is to eventually turn these go-lines into more of a “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)” type of service.

Route 0 is a route where the bus operators leave or head back to the bus garage in Lincoln Park and are not part of a regular route. This will allow passengers to ride these buses and track it on our trip planners. It provides sporadic trips between downtown and Lincoln Park.

In cases of extreme winter weather, the DTA will switch to an Emergency Mainline Service that is similar to Route 103. More information will be available on that route. Subscribe to DTA alerts for all detour and weather related disruptions – https://www.duluthtransit.com/home/getting-there/service-alerts/

Like many of you, our bus operators enjoy taking time on holidays to spend with their loved ones. We try to limit the amount of service to allow that, while also still trying to provide bus service to the community who would also like to travel on holidays. We also don’t typically see much trip demand on holidays where more service doesn’t seem warranted.

Due to teh same concerns we had with labor to launch the Better Bus Blueprint, our trolly service will remain paused for Summer of 2023.  We are aiming to resume service for 2024, and will provide any updates as soon as they are available.

The DTA has long heard requests for more frequent service to popular areas, later evening service between Duluth and Superior, and more weekend service. To meet that demand, we overhauled our bus system. As travel patterns have changed and more development has occurred in the Miller Hill area, we needed to shift resources to better serve that area. We’ve also heard that our system is overly complex and difficult to understand because of so many different route options and their inconsistent operating times. The DTA also needed to adjust service to attract more ridership, or risk losing funding and needing to reduce service later. We’ve served the Twin Ports for over 100yrs and need to have a sustainable system to last another century.

The DTA and its partners set guiding principles at the start of this project. Those principles were the foundation in which the Better Bus Blueprint was built around. The principles were to create a bus system that: is equitable; improves the passenger experience; deploys resources efficiently; is a community inspired solution; is resilient; is scalable; expands access to opportunities; and is attractive to the greatest number of Twin Ports residents. Many tradeoffs were considered throughout the process and tough decisions had to be made to meet the objectives.  the Better Bus Blueprint is the result of a lot of thoughtful planning and community engagement.

The better Bus Blueprint service will begin Sunday August 27, 2023

The DTA intended to launch the new service in 2022 but after dealing with an unexpected shortage of bus operators, we had to delay the changes. We need about 100 bus operators to run the bus system.  We are now staffed to levels that will allow us to deliver the service.

No. The DTA does not have any planned increases to fares. One of the top priorities of the DTA is to offer affordable service to the communities we serve.  Prices for all pass and ticket types will remain the same as they are today.

Yes. Please request a transfer ticket from the bus operator when boarding if you intend to transfer to another bus to complete your trip or use the activated pass in you MyDTA App the next time you board. Transfers can be completed downtown or at a number of bus stop locations. Use the Transit App for the best trip options.

Bus systems often intertwine routes with others for efficiency. We have many routes that start as one and then becomes another once it gets downtown. Sometimes those route combinations are different depending on the time of day or day of the week. After many years of adding and changing service, our bus system has become overly complicated, making it difficult to make any changes to. Even small changes would have impacts on many different routes because of it being so intertwined. It would also impact the ability and timing of connecting with other routes for transferring. It was like a house of cards. To make the changes the community requested, we needed to start over with a clean and manageable system. While the names of routes and the timetable may be different, we are operating service in the vast majority of areas where we currently operate service.

The DTA adheres to performance minimums set by our governmental partners that provide the majority of our funding. When we are using public subsidy to operate a bus route, we need to have ridership showing the route is viable. In the areas that will no longer have service, they make up 1% or less of our existing ridership but cost a considerable amount of resources to be able to offer service there. There’s a lot of demand for transit service in the Twin Ports and we cannot meet that demand with the resources we have. We must prioritize how we distribute those limited resources. Other route changes may be in an attempt to make a route more efficient and attractive by being more direct to destinations and not meandering.

It’s possible. That would mostly depend on an increase in funding and available bus operators. Ridership trends and new development will be tracked to evaluate future service changes.

Another thing we’ve long heard from passengers and from bus operators is that our buses are too slow and stop too frequently. The current bus system has bus stops every block, mainly due to a time when the DTA used to run the Duluth school bus system. For speed, efficiency, safety, and reliability – bus stops should be about three blocks apart. Because of our climate and hills, we have spaced bus stops roughly every other block in most cases. The Go-Lines will have further spacing to make that an even speedier, more reliable service. With fewer bus stops, it will also be easier for the DTA to make improvements and maintain. An updated map of bus stop locations will be available soon.

Winter conditions have long been a hindrance to safely accessing bus stops and to the success of our transit system. We hope that new local policies and tools will make winter conditions better. The City of Duluth now has a complaint form website to report sidewalks that are not being maintained according to the ordinance. We encourage riders to report issues. The Duluth website can be accessed here – https://rpr-duluthmn.hub.arcgis.com/  Information on Superior’s snow policies and contact info are available here – https://www.ci.superior.wi.us/1132/Sidewalk-Snow-Removal

Yes! Every bus stop will have new signs that will look very different to the ones we use today. The new signs will show the new routes that will stop there, be mounted different, have more colors and be reflective, have more information, and will even a great new tool where you can text in your bus stop ID number and instantly get real-time predictions for the next approaching bus arrival times.

That is one of our hopes. In the last few years, we’ve replaced many aging shelters, installed solar lights, and will update signage. We plan to make large investments in improving the concrete surfaces at bus stops, add more or bigger shelters, add additional lighting and real-time signs, and add more seating. By consolidating bus stops, we will also have more bus stops meeting minimum ridership metrics to warrant a shelter.

The Go-Lines (Blue and Green line) will be the pillars of the new bus system, covering the most heavily used corridors and going to the most popular destinations. Because it will be a more premium and useful service, it will be uniquely branded. Go-Lines will have unique buses, unique stop branding, and eventually have premium shelters. These routes will have buses every 15-min for most of the day, run later than most routes, stop less frequently, and move faster along corridors. The intention is to eventually turn these go-lines into more of a “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)” type of service.

Route 0 is a route where the bus operators leave or head back to the bus garage in Lincoln Park and are not part of a regular route. This will allow passengers to ride these buses and track it on our trip planners. It provides sporadic trips between downtown and Lincoln Park.

In cases of extreme winter weather, the DTA will switch to an Emergency Mainline Service that is similar to Route 103. More information will be available on that route. Subscribe to DTA alerts for all detour and weather related disruptions – https://www.duluthtransit.com/home/getting-there/service-alerts/

Like many of you, our bus operators enjoy taking time on holidays to spend with their loved ones. We try to limit the amount of service to allow that, while also still trying to provide bus service to the community who would also like to travel on holidays. We also don’t typically see much trip demand on holidays where more service doesn’t seem warranted.

Due to teh same concerns we had with labor to launch the Better Bus Blueprint, our trolly service will remain paused for Summer of 2023.  We are aiming to resume service for 2024, and will provide any updates as soon as they are available.