Last fall, a new Metro Transit bus stop opened across the street from Edward Hopkins’ Uptown home.
A neighbor across the street, whose bedroom is about 14 feet from the stop, is bothered by the noise, Hopkins said. Because the new stop has no bench, riders waiting for a bus sometimes sit in the building’s window sills.
Hopkins reached out to Curious Minnesota, the Strib’s reader-powered reporting project, to ask: “How close can bus stops be to someone’s home or apartment?”
The short answer: There’s no minimum distance a stop needs to be from private property, as long as public transit agencies in Minnesota place the stop within the public right of way, like a street or sidewalk. (Some buses also make stops on private property, such as at a shopping mall. These stops have led to legal disputes in the Twin Cities metro area.)
Minnesota’s public transit agencies do seek community feedback and take safety into account when planning.
“We try our best to not be located in spots that would be disruptive to the adjacent neighbor, but also sometimes can’t avoid it,” said Duluth Transit General Manager Chris Belden.