Gophers and Vikings Service

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1 September 2015 Hello Riders! Are you as excited for Fall as we are? We can t wait for Gophers and Vikings football, gathering with friends around bonfires, and being able to find all our favorite foods with a hint of pumpkin again. For us, though, the best part of Fall is being able to welcome back all of our University of Minnesota and Normandale Community College riders! As we head into this new season, we are bringing back our express service to all of the Gophers and Vikings football home games! In fact, we already took 520 people to the first Vikings game! We have also added some new and exciting services, such as more stops on Washington Ave. in Downtown Minneapolis, Saturday SW Prime service and more! And, we re continuing to work on even more great things to make your commute with us even better! Read on to see what s new with your premier transit company. We ll see you soon! -The SouthWest Transit Team Gophers and Vikings Service SouthWest Transit is going to all regular season Gophers and Vikings football games again this year! Just hop on the bus at any of our stations along Hwy. 212: Carver Station, Jonathan Carver Pkwy. & Ironwood Dr. in Carver East Creek Station, Hwy. 212 & 41 in Chaska SouthWest Village, Hwy. 212 & 101 in Chanhassen SouthWest Station, Hwy. 212 & Prairie Center Dr. in Eden Prairie For only $5 round-trip, we take you right down to Oak & Delaware, about two blocks from TCF Bank Stadium. After the game, board the bus in the same spot we drop you off! For more information and schedules, go to SWTransit.org. On the Move, Sept. 2015

2 SouthWest Transit Breaks Another State Fair Record SouthWest Transit reached another State Fair milestone this year with record ridership of 89,937, which is up 6.4 percent from 2014 s record ridership of 84,528. This was all accomplished while still managing to run our regular route service during the week! Our schedule this year remained the same for weekdays, transporting riders to the Fair from Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie. On the weekends and Labor Day, we departed from the park and ride facilities along 212, which included Carver Station this year. This year s workforce included 65 regular route drivers, 60 school bus drivers, 21 high school and college-aged workers who helped assist riders at the park and rides and staffed the fairgrounds, full-time SouthWest Transit staff, and several retirees. Whether they were planning, doing maintenance to keep the buses running, driving customers safely to and from the fair, taking money, loading strollers, or simply making sure people were getting on the right buses at the end of the night, everyone played an important role in helping things run smoothly. We appreciate everyone who rode to the Fair with us this year, and we look forward to breaking even more records next year! On the Move, Sept

3 SouthWest Prime has expanded its service area and added hours on Saturday! Here s what s new with your local demand response service: You can now take SW Prime anywhere in Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Chaska, and Downtown Carver. SouthWest Prime also picks up and drops off at Fleet Farm in Carver. SW Prime hours are: Monday-Friday from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm and Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm. Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, and Chaska residents who are 65+ can take advantage of $1 Senior Prime Days on the following weekdays: Tuesday: Eden Prairie Wednesday: Chaska Thursday: Chanhassen Request your ride on SW Prime today! Visit SWPrime.org, Click on the SW Transit App, or Call 952-SW-PRIME. SWT Commercial Thank you to everyone who participated in the new SouthWest Transit commercial! We hope you had as much fun as we did! Keep your eyes open for our fun commercial, airing soon on local networks! On the Move, Sept

4 Painting at SouthWest Station If you have been to SouthWest Station in the past month, you have probably noticed that the walkway by our bus gates looks different. We are working hard to sandblast, scrape, and repaint this area to make it look like new again! The glass in this area is also being covered again with new graphics. The painting and new glass graphics should be completed by mid-october. We can t wait to show off our new look! Rider Rewards Several riders have signed up for SW Rider Rewards Have you? Signing up is easy! Go to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and search for SW Rider Rewards. Load the app on your phone and start earning points right away! You can earn points for checking in at any SouthWest Transit park and ride station and for interacting with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Then, trade your points in for fun prizes, such as Vikings tickets, gift cards, free rides on SouthWest Transit, and more! On the Move, Sept

5 Apply to be the Next SWT Rider Representative From our current Rider Representative, Dan Wilczek: My term as Rider Representative ends on December 31, 2015, and I encourage interested persons to apply to be the new Rider Rep. Why? It is an important role. There are seven Commission members. The Commissioners now include the Mayor of Eden Prairie and City Council Members from Eden Prairie, Chaska and Chanhassen. Only two members regularly ride the bus, so the Rider Rep provides an important perspective. The next few years are critical. Light rail is coming, and important decisions will need to be made to ensure that the light rail serves our communities without jeopardizing the peak service SWT provides. Light rail cannot match the speed, convenience and comfort of SWT s service, and it will be important to ensure that light rail does not negatively affect the service to which we have become accustomed. Other important issues will be addressed, such as: Should SWT expand geographically? Can SWT better provide local transportation to citizens in our communities? Should new park and ride facilities be built? What amenities can improve the rider experience? You will have the opportunity to make a real contribution, and your vote counts just as much as any other member s vote. For example, the Rider Requested Quiet Zone was the idea of the previous Rider Rep. What is required? There are eleven meetings a year on Thursday evenings, which last between 2 and 3 hours. You should review the packet of information prepared for each meeting in advance. These packets are available for public review at Are the meetings boring? No! I look forward to the meetings. Staff and other commission members are welcoming, and your role is respected. SWT is truly an innovation leader and is rider-focused. They have a wall full of awards for excellence in various areas, but customer satisfaction is what drives SWT staff. Expect the Best is not a slogan, it is the standard. It s fun to be a small part of the efforts made by many people to deliver great service to riders. What else should I know? Everyone pulls in the same direction with the same focus the rider. The more you learn and the more involved you become, the more impressed you will be with the talent and commitment of SWT staff and the commissioners. You will be glad to be part of that team. You are SWT You may not be interested in or have the time to be the Rider Rep. But, Rider Rep or not, if you ride the bus, this is your bus company. The quality of your ride each day is important, and your comments, suggestions and complaints will be welcomed and heard. Contact info is on the SWT website; don t hesitate to use it. Apply by Sunday, November 8 at SWTransit.org. On the Move, Sept

6 Resilient Communities Project SouthWest Transit is taking part in the University of Minnesota s Resilient Communities Project (RCP) with Carver County. The mission of the RCP is to connect communities in Minnesota with the wide-ranging expertise of U of M faculty and students to address pressing local issues in ways that advance sustainability and resilience. The current partnership between RCP and Carver County involves more than 30 community-identified projects that will be matched with dozens of courses and hundreds of U of M students. We have been assigned to a class and are working to incorporate the sustainability practice of riding a bus into our marketing efforts. Mary Poppins Takes a Ride on SWT Mary Poppins and Bert took a break from their show at Chanhassen Dinner Theater to ride our double decker Mary Poppins bus on August 21st. They visited with riders, posed for photos, and handed out some free Chanhassen Dinner Theater passes. A great time was had by all! On the Move, Sept