Northfield Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting Date: April 15, 2026
To: Members of the Northfield Transportation Advisory Committee
From: David Bennett, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Title
Consider formation of a small sub-committee to assist Hiawathaland Transit with expanding transit service.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield Transportation Advisory Committee a motion to approve [add names of NTAC members in the motion] to review and provide recommendations related to a potential alternative route.
Summary Report:
Hiawathaland Transit has received approval from MnDOT to launch the Rice County Community Connection service. This would connect communities to Northfield with transit services and allow residents to access services in other communities.
If NTAC wants to pause on this Rice County Community Connections and explore other benefiting transit service, Hiawathaland is requesting a small sub-committee be formed of existing NTAC members. The Chair will facilitate discussion including interest from members and to have the board appointments made within the recommended motion. The Mayor also may choose to appoint additional non-NTAC members related to this work. This likely would not require a Council action due to the more tactical focused work of this group but the City Administrator will be further exploring this in discussion with the Mayor to determine if additional Council actions should occur.
Hiawathaland cannot attend the meeting on October 21 but have provided some additional information below.
1. Community Connector - This route would primarily bring other communities to Northfield or vice/versa
a. We are planning to launch similar connection routes for Goodhue and Wabasha counties to provide transportation access across our 3-county service area.
2. Third Route - This would add to the Blue/Red Line - We have attached an Excel workbook with ridership information for our 3 route towns (Faribault, Northfield, and Red Wing) for comparison purposes. We think it's important to consider the variances in ridership when discussing a potential 3rd route.
a. Where is the demand or locations that this route would serve. Also attached is a survey we would like to use to help gather data to identify if, and where, the demand is in Northfield for transportation. Our denied rides and requested trips on DAR do not show a need for additional routes/transportation in Northfield at this time.
b. Third route could benefit by shortening trip times on red and blue routes for riders but may cause concerns with riders with more bus switching.
i. This would allow us the ability to shorten the routes; however, with the current ridership trends on the existing routes, we don't feel that a third route is going to help with ridership. Both routes are currently under the MnDOT benchmark standards for rides per hour. Adding a third route will likely hurt ridership from the current routes by splitting the area as most of the "hot spots" will be on one route and residential areas will be split between the others which will require additional transfers for passengers.
c. After review by a small committee this would require some sort of community outreach- We would like to begin distributing surveys now, and once we evaluate the data, we can begin working sessions with the enhanced committee to determine next steps.
d. This would also require $50,000 per year from the City for a two-year trial of this. This is an estimate and will require additional conversations with our fiscal team to ensure accuracy in capturing the cost share.
3. Additional Bus to service Dial-a-Ride
a. This idea came if there is more demand for dial-a-ride service with some of Allina Clinic service items moving to Northfield Hospital - We haven't seen an increase in requests to the hospital yet. This could change, but looking at current availability on DAR, we don't anticipate that we will have issues handling a potential increase.
b. Current dial-a-ride service has capacity and isn’t turning away riders - Correct.
c. Hospital Clinic in September finished with the purchase of the Allina Clinic and is now in operation.
i. Too early to tell if dial-a-ride will see increased service demand to Northfield Hospital.
Background from April 15, 2026 NTAC
One of the primary core focus areas of the Northfield Transportation Advisory Committee is to further enhance and improve transit for the community. We have asked Hiawathaland to present to the committee to further elaborate on the following items:
• Shortening trip times on the Red & Blue Routes.
• Demand Study - determine if 3rd Route could be added and does it align with MnDOT funding needs? Gap in demand, understanding of how funding works.
• How does 3rd route function?
• Can a Hospital stop be added?
• More evening service beyond 6 p.m. when Blue and Red route stop service.
• Expanding express route (doesn’t run when St. Olaf & Carleton are out).
• Limited amount of goods on bus (storage).
• How does Hiawathaland funding formula work? Why does Northfield pay vs. Dundas Pay, should they pay if stops are added in Dundas?
• Who helps design the routes, Blue, Red, and Express Routes?
• St. Olaf/Carleton - route gap or missing locations.
• Update of payment technology.
• Ridership user breakout.
City Plans & Policies Relevance:
This work is supported by the City’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan, Transportation Plan, and Strategic Plan.
The 2045 Comprehensive plans identifies these challenges:
• Community engagement identified a strong unmet need for reliable and effective public transit in Northfield.
• Public transit is provided by Hiawathaland Transit, offering two limited fixed routes, dial-a-ride services, and a weekday regional route to Faribault every two hours.
• Current transit routes and transfer locations do not align well with areas of highest need, particularly census tracts with the greatest number of households without vehicles.
• Fixed routes are infrequent, have limited coverage, and only connect at the Transit Hub, resulting in long wait times and complicated transfers.
• Service hours (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) do not accommodate second- and third-shift workers.
• Limited transit access creates time, convenience, and financial burdens, especially for households that depend on transit.
• Major destinations (hospital, shopping areas) are located at opposite ends of the city, making cross-town trips difficult.
• While centrally located, the Transit Hub requires safer crossings of Highway 3 to better connect to downtown and east-side destinations.
• Future transit planning should add stops near shopping and medical services and involve key user groups such as older adults, youth, people with disabilities, and college students.
• Transit is essential for affordability, regional connectivity, climate goals, and should be integrated with compact, connected land use and walkable development planning.
In addition to challenges, the 2045 comprehensive plan identifies specific actions related to access and equity related to transit:
• Implement a community-based evaluation of the existing transit routes-either to expand or reroute existing services- for better connectivity, coverage and ease of use.
• Commit to funding and improving transit services and ridesharing options. Encourage partnership between Hiawathaland Transit, healthcare providers, rideshare companies, or other private/public entities for paratransit services and/or providing last-mile connections from transit stops.
Alternative Options:
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Financial Impacts:
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Tentative Timelines:
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