moving to minneapolis-public transportation from lakeville (Apple Valley, Welcome: apartment complexes, house, to buy)

[santoshk]

i am moving to Minneapolis in a couple of days and will be working out of lakeville and downtown minneapolis . i cant seem to decide where do i need to stay so that i can travel to both places with ease . is there any public transportation available from lakeville to downtown . or what do u think is the best place to stay ?????

[uptown_urbanist]

Check out Metro Transit and MVTA. Are you entirely dependent on public transit, or are you just using it to commute to and from work? Unfortunately Lakeville is a terrible place for someone who is going to be living without a car. If you have access to a car and just prefer not to use it for commuting, you could either live in Lakeville or nearby and take one of the commuter buses to downtown Minneapolis (assuming you're working regular hours); the transit options for doing a downtown commute are pretty good, it's just the getting around town (or getting into Minneapolis or elsewhere during "off" times) that are more problematic. If you're going to be depending on bus for your regular needs, you may want to look at the bus sites and check the times for the reverse commute OUT to Lakeville; if the timing worked out (and you could get to your work either by walking or by bus on the other end) you could live downtown and commute to Lakeville by express bus when needed. You could also investigate around the Mall of America; you could take the Hiawatha Line (light rail) into downtown, and I think there are buses to Lakeville from the transit station there, and they've been working on a bus transitway that will speed up and otherwise improve the bus commute out to Lakeville. I don't have any personal experience with this, though, so you will want to check both bus schedules carefully.

[santoshk]

i am planning to buy a car but that may take some time , maybe a fortnight . till then i am planning to use public transport . where can i find the actual info regarding if the public transportation is available

[golfgal]

There is a huge transit station in Lakeville with express buses into Minneapolis. There are many buses each day that can take you to work, not an issue at all. If you don't have a car right away, you might want to consider Apple Valley. There are several apartment complexes near the transit station in Apple Valley all within easy walking distance of the bus station, grocery stores, movie theaters, shopping, etc.

Taking the bus that hubs out of the Mall of America to the suburbs is a terrible option. They are really goofy routes and take over an hour to drive 15 miles. I would not suggest doing that if you have to get to Lakeville.

Where in Lakeville will you be working? I know that the MVTA operates shuttles from various places in the suburbs to take riders to the transit stations as well. There are also several park and ride options so carpooling is possible. The MVTA also operates a van pool system which picks you up at your house and you vanpool with other people in the area. You have a multitude of options actually.

[1stpontiac]

Originally Posted by santoshk

i am planning to buy a car but that may take some time , maybe a fortnight . till then i am planning to use public transport . where can i find the actual info regarding if the public transportation is available

metrotransit.org is the place to start. Takes a little work and playing around to figure out what combination of buses works the best for any given route, though.

[uptown_urbanist]

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[northsub]

Originally Posted by santoshk

i am moving to Minneapolis in a couple of days and will be working out of lakeville and downtown minneapolis . i cant seem to decide where do i need to stay so that i can travel to both places with ease . is there any public transportation available from lakeville to downtown . or what do u think is the best place to stay ?????

I'd be shocked if you didn't find it much easier to live in Lakeville without a car. You most likely will have major issues getting to Lakeville for a workday if you live in Minneapolis ("major issues" = may not even be possible). It's probably hard to get to Lakeville even from suburbs that are not immediately adjacent, and even the adjacent ones might be spotty. So, check the routes to make sure you can get to where you need to go.

Getting from Lakeville to Minneapolis for a workday wouldn't be a big deal, provided that you were close enough to a park-and-ride (or along a bus route that takes you to a park-and-ride/express bus or were willing to bike).

If possible, I'd suggest finding a place near some kind of shopping center near your work in Lakeville. A single full-service grocery store or Target or Fleet Farm could get you by on most days. Or maybe find a place on a bus route to a shopping area near Lakeville.

[xandrex]

I think it's a safe bet to say that if you're going to be doing even a little bit of work in Lakeville, having a car is going to be really important. If you live in Lakeville and do have a car, you could commute into Minneapolis when you need to. I did some fairly basic mapping on Google with the public transportation option in maps and you're looking at over an hour of commute if you are trying to get from Minneapolis to Lakeville via public transportation. I was plugging in fairly general locations (typically near downtown as that's likely where you'd have to catch an express bus going out), so your results may vary. However, one part of the route--once you get to Lakeville or whatever station it is--is listed as "drive or taxi to", which includes the last leg of the destination. If you aren't within walking distance of the station, you just might be out of luck. With the amount you'd be spending on taxis or whatever in combination with bus fare, you might as well just get a car.

Even in the best case--if you could somehow live in Lakeville and live without a car--you'd still need to commute into Minneapolis, and the far-flung suburbs are not likely to meet normal travel needs to get around. I imagine it would be fairly isolating.