Metro Transit riders who turn to the Transit app to get information about when their bus will come or plan a trip can do so now without having to pay a subscription fee.

The agency earlier this month announced a partnership with Transit to automatically upgrade riders in Minneapolis-St. Paul to the app's Royale version, which comes with several benefits not offered to nonsubscribers.

Among the features are the ability to look up departure times for later buses and trains and track locations for any transit line. Royale users also can expand the number of trip results when using the "Trip Planner" function and look up schedules for transit running days or weeks in the future.

"This partnership demonstrates our commitment to meeting customers where they are and to learning what they have to tell us about the experience they are having on transit," said Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras.

Metro Transit is footing the $196,800 bill to provide the free access for the next two years, said spokesman Drew Kerr.

Transit has about 21,000 users in the Twin Cities, according to Kandaras. Transit is available in hundreds of cities nationwide, so visitors to the metro area will have a more seamless experience when using Metro Transit, she added.

Metro Transit joins other agencies in Minnesota such as those in Mankato, Duluth and Rochester and some rural transportation providers in gifting Royale to its riders.

In return, Metro Transit is hoping to get quality feedback on everything from how accurate its real-time data is to how clean their station or stop was.

Transit can be downloaded from the Google and Apple stores. Metro Transit's app, primarily used to purchase mobile tickets and access trip planning features, will continue to operate.

Routes officially terminated

Commuters who rode Route 865 from East Bethel to downtown Minneapolis, Route 262 from Blaine to St. Paul or local Route 12 serving Minnetonka, St. Louis Park and Hopkins have probably realized their Metro Transit buses are not coming back.

Last week, the Met Council Transportation Committee moved to make it official. The committee signed off on a plan to officially discontinue 50 routes that have been suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The cuts come as the agency moves ahead with its Network Now initiative to reimagine and grow the transit system. As travel patterns have changed, the agency plans to bring on-demand service to six additional suburbs over the next few years, increase frequency on more than 60 routes, bring bus service to areas now without it and return light-rail service to every 10 minutes.

"Service reductions are significantly outweighed by reinvestment of service throughout the region," said Metro Transit route planner Mark Christenson during a committee meeting last week.

Metro Transit will open three rapid transit bus lines this year, including the Gold Line from downtown St. Paul to Woodbury on Saturday, The B Line to run on Selby Avenue and Lake Street and the E Line from Southdale in Edina to the University of Minnesota set to open later this year.

Free rides for St. Patrick's Day

Free rides on Metro Transit and Minnesota Valley Transit Authority buses and trains are back for St. Patrick's Day. Miller Lite will bankroll the cost of the program allowing revelers to hit celebrations fare free. There will be no charge to ride from 6 p.m. Monday until the last bus or train on all routes.