Knowledge Base

New transit schedule and 75th Street Park & Ride opens for commuters June 3

May 29, 2024 – ROCHESTER, MN—The City of Rochester Transit & Parking Department held a ribbon-cutting event to mark the beginning of transit service to the first City-owned park-and-ride facility. Starting Monday, June 3, the 75th Street Park & Ride will give commuters another option to access express transit service to Saint Marys Hospital and downtown Rochester.

The 478-stall facility, located near the intersection of US Highway 52 and 75th Street NW, will provide free parking to commuters with amenities such as heated shelters, safety lighting, security cameras, and accessible parking. The long-planned, $3.25 million project was funded with $2.52 million in Federal grants and $730,000 in local matching funds.

Rochester Public Transit (RPT) will provide express service on the new Route 450X, with weekday trips departing every 20 minutes from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. Return trips depart downtown every 20 minutes from 3 to 6 p.m. and continue at 30-minute intervals until 8:40 p.m.

New transit schedule includes other service changes

The new RPT schedule that goes into effect on June 2 will introduce additional changes to park-and-ride and neighborhood routes. Routes affected by these changes include 101, 250X, and 560X. Complete details on the changes, including updated route maps and schedules are available at rptride.com.

Route 101 in Northeast Rochester will be extended to the north adding new stops on 55 Street NE at Zumbro Ridge Estates and Hallmark Terrace. Route 101 offers trips every 30 minutes on weekdays from about 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. This route expansion will add hundreds of households to RPT’s service area.

With the addition of the 75th Street Park & Ride, RPT is adjusting express service system-wide which now connects at total of five park-and-ride facilities with Saint Marys and Mayo Clinic downtown.

Route 560X, which previously served Fairgrounds Park & Ride and IBM Park & Ride, is being discontinued and replaced with two new routes.

The new Route 450X will now service IBM Park & Ride and the new facility at 75th Street. It will feature a 20-minute trip frequency during morning and afternoon peak times. Midday service to IBM Park & Ride will continue to be available on Routes 411 and 412. 75th Street Park & Ride will not have midday service at this time.

Route 350X, a new route with trips every 15 minutes during peak times, will service Fairgrounds Park & Ride. During midday and evenings, customers can request a stop at the Fairgrounds Park & Ride on Route 306.

RPT will also be suspending Route 250X to RCTC Park & Ride. Instead, the facility will be serviced by local Route 203, which provides 30-minute service from 5:15 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.

Interim Director of Transit & Parking Ia Xiong shares, “Park-and-rides and express routes are the workhorses of our transit system, responsible for half of all passenger trips. With the new 75^th Street Park & Ride and the expanded service on Route 101, RPT is making public transit accessible and appealing to more potential customers.”