New Residential Transit Pass Brings Big Benefits to Twin Cities Renters and Properties

Metro Transit has an innovative new transit pass! The Residential Transit Pass is available exclusively to property managers and building owners—and by extension to local residents in multifamily housing. By making transit significantly more affordable, making passes easily available, and hopefully encouraging more people to get around by bus and train, it has potential benefits for tens of thousands of people in the Twin Cities metro.

This pass has been in development for years and there is a whole lot to get excited about, starting with the financial benefits for many transit riders. If you are someone who rides transit often, you might know the cost of an unlimited ride transit pass. For an individual, an unlimited ride transit pass is an investment at $120 a month. Metropass is slightly less expensive: it allows individuals to get a transit pass for $83 through their employers, which can then be further subsidized. But the new Residential Transit Pass is an unlimited ride pass that costs just $14 dollars a month! That is 88% less than the usual unlimited ride pass and 83% less than Metropass. How does this work? 

Metro Transit has said that offering these passes in bulk is what allows them to discount the pass so significantly. An apartment or condo needs to buy at least one pass for each unit. For example, a 100-unit building would need to buy 100 passes for at least a year. Only residences with 10 units or more will be eligible. 

The pass brings clear cost savings and convenience for residents, but there are benefits for property managers and developers as well. By offering this pass as a perk for tenants, it can help retain current residents and attract new ones. And now that both Minneapolis and Saint Paul have removed minimum parking requirements for new developments, this much more affordable transit pass gives developers another incentive to create less parking and to offer residents choice in how they get around.

Since individuals cannot purchase this pass from Metro Transit directly, we encourage you to talk to your building manager about getting it! And definitely ask about it if you’re looking to move into a new apartment or condo building. Lexington Commons, Oaks Hiawatha, Oaks Station Place, and others are among the local buildings offering the new pass to their residents—with more hopefully along the way! Move Minnesota has been, and will continue to be, working with local property managers and developers to promote the Residential Transit Pass and other transit solutions. Metro Transit will soon be promoting it on their website and at in-person events as well.

Quick Facts:

How do renters benefit?

• Saves residents up to $1400 annually on the cost of a transit pass.
• Residents get to live in communities with less traffic and less pollution.
• Residents can explore living without a car, which typically saves thousands of dollars more each year.
• Residents don’t need to worry about refilling their transit pass for at least a year!

How do property managers and developers benefit?

• Save construction costs by reducing total parking when offering the pass.
• Decrease traffic and reduce parking shortages around their building.
• Attract and retain residents who are interested in greener living.
• Makes the development more equitable, affordable, and sustainable.

Has this pass been used before?

• Metro Transit conducted a 6-month pilot of 4 properties with a combined total of 682 units.
• 74% of those residents surveyed used transit more often with their Residential Transit Pass.
• 100% of those residents surveyed would prefer living in a building that offered the Residential Transit Pass.
• 70% of those residents surveyed owned a car.

Transportation is one of the highest household expenses people face. That’s why we’re so happy to see the Residential Transit Pass and to share it is one of several ways that Metro Transit is making bus and train fare more affordable this fall: Riding Metro Transit is $1 in September and October. Seniors, youth, people with lower incomes who sign up for the Transit Assistance Program (TAP), people with limited mobility, and people with Medicare can all ride for just 50 cents through the end of October. And the Metropass is 50% off through the end of this year.

If you have more questions about these options or the Residential Transit Pass, reach out! Email Erik Thompson at erikt@movemn.org