New, returning transit options for the 2024 Minnesota State Fair
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The Minnesota State Fair is approaching fast, and the hundreds of thousands of people who’ll be attending this year’s fair will have some new options for getting there.
Monday marked one month until the start of the fair — scheduled to run from Aug. 22 through Labor Day, Sept. 2 — and fair officials outlined transportation arrangements for the 2024 event.
Among the changes for this year:
Metro Transit will be offering its State Fair Express Bus service from six park & ride lots, up from four in 2023. New this year is service from Maplewood Mall each day of the fair, and from the Maple Grove Transit Center on weekends and Labor Day. Those two options join existing service from Blaine, Bloomington, Cottage Grove and Minnetonka.
SouthWest Transit is adding State Fair Express Bus service from Carver to the fairgrounds this year, along with the previous service from Chanhassen, Chaska and Eden Prairie. Those routes will operate for 11 days of the fair — every day except Labor Day — up from nine days last year.
The State Fair’s Free Park & Ride shuttle will again operate from 31 lots — but one of them, the I-35W and County Road C Park and Ride Ramp in Roseville, will be open for all 12 days of the fair, up from five days last year.
Fair officials said nearly half of fairgoers use some form of public transportation to reach the fairgrounds each year.
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“We are proud of the year-round planning done by our team of staff and partners to provide transportation options for not only guests, but livestock exhibitors, employees, vendors, performers, volunteers and other fair participants as well,” Minnesota State Fair CEO Renee Alexander said in a news release.
“On some days and at certain times, we know that traffic and parking can get congested, so we encourage guests to have a Plan B and C if their preferred lot or route is unavailable. There are many options to choose from, and we encourage fair fans to explore all of them ahead of time.”
2024 Minnesota State Fair transportation and parking options
More information, including locations, schedules and fees, for various State Fair transportation options:
Parking is also available in neighborhoods near the fairgrounds. Each community has its own parking policies.
Fair officials are asking people parking in those neighborhoods “to help the fair be a good neighbor by not littering, being loud, or blocking driveways, alleys or emergency lanes with their vehicles.”
State Fair transit ridership
Also Monday, fair officials provided recent ridership numbers for various transit options.
The fair’s Free Park & Ride service served about 940,000 riders in 2023, down from about a million in 2022 and 1.13 million for the pre-pandemic fair in 2019.
Metro Transit’s State Fair Express Bus service drew about 241,000 riders in 2023, an increase of 33 percent over the previous year.
Minnesota Valley Transit Authority’s State Fair Express Bus service set a record with 110,000 riders last year.
SouthWest Transit’s State Fair Express Bus service carried more than 77,000 riders in 2023, up from 68,500 the previous year.
Ridership on regular Metro Transit bus routes to the fairgrounds was about 49,600 last year, up from 36,500 in 2022.