Excited to go to a Twins game after their flurry of acquisitions this spring?

Well, you might have to literally jump on a bandwagon because the Northstar train won’t be available for commuters out of Sherburne County.

Declining ridership and extra costs to run the train are two big reasons Metro Transit decided to unplug the public transportation option for Twins fans in 2022.

Metro Transit is placing the blame for the decision on Anoka County — one of three counties that provide funding for the service. According to Metro Transit, Anoka County — the commuter rail’s largest funding partner — has withdrawn their portion of funding the train.

“Metro Transit would like to be able to provide more Northstar service to Twins games,” a representative with Metro Transit said. “Unfortunately, Anoka County, the largest county funding partner for Northstar, is withholding their share of Northstar operating funds. As such, we cannot take on additional costs to Northstar service at this time.”

The downturn on ridership since the pandemic has seen the train average more than 60,000 riders per month in the year before the pandemic to  just about 2,000 monthly riders over the past year. That’s a 96% plunge!

With the rail line’s future in limbo, Metro Transit has pulled back significantly on Northstar’s operations. Last May, Metro Transit was having trains make just 20 trips a week, down from 72 before the pandemic. Northstar has been operating two southbound trains to Target Field Station in the morning and two northbound trains to Big Lake in the evening.

The trains that do operate are hardly full.

The Northstar line currently has trains running into Minneapolis from Big Lake, Fridley, Coon Rapids-Riverdale, Anoka and Ramsey Stations.

However, if one is looking to catch a ballgame, one might have to jump in the SUV, fill it up for $80 and make the trek downtown on one’s own. Of course there’s parking costs to consider as well.

Or, one can move the TV to the lawn, unfold some lawn chairs and “pretend” to be seeing Byron Buxton climbing the walls or Carlos Correa making throws from deep shortstop in person. 

“Take me out to the ballgame...” — well it won’t be the Northstar!