Prior to August 17, 2019, service along the entire length of the Green Line operated 24/7, the only one of 22 light rail systems in the United States to do so, but a common practice on some heavy rail lines such as the New York City Subway and PATH.

[9] In the 1970s, roughly contemporaneous with the construction of Washington D.C.'s Metro system and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit, the newly formed Metropolitan Council contemplated the creation of a similar mass transit for the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, but the idea was eventually abandoned due to opposition from the Minnesota Legislature.

[10] For the next few decades, there were repeated proposals to build light rail along several corridors, particularly the University Avenue corridor between downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul (the present Green Line), but the idea of light rail only gained steam in the late 1990s.

Low ridership projections would have made the required bridge for an extension of the Blue Line economically infeasible.

The Orange Line is bus rapid transit route that runs along I-35W from Minneapolis south into Richfield, Bloomington and Burnsville.

Fares are purchased before boarding, either at ticket machines located in the stations or by scanning a Go-To card at dedicated pedestals.

[15] Within the two Downtown Zones of Minneapolis and St. Paul, tickets are 50¢; otherwise they follow normal Metro Transit fares:[16] (Rush hour is classified as Monday - Friday, 6-9 am & 3-6:30 pm) In addition, passes are available for various lengths of time or numbers of trips at appropriate discounts.

Other Transit projects are under planning stages by other organizations in the region, these may be operated or integrated in the METRO system in the future.

[21] The Gold Line is an under construction bus rapid transit route to run along Interstate 94 from Woodbury to downtown Saint Paul along Mounds Boulevard.

[23] The Purple Line is a planned bus rapid transit route to run largely along the Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority corridor adjacent to the Bruce Vento Regional Trail from downtown Saint Paul to downtown White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

The B Line is an arterial bus rapid transit route undergoing engineering and design for the Twin Cities' Lake Street/Marshall Avenue corridor, running from Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood [27] to downtown Saint Paul along Selby Avenue.

[27] The E Line is an arterial bus rapid transit route undergoing engineering and design for the Twin Cities's Hennepin Avenue corridor.

However, after further study in the spring of 2019, Metro Transit recommended a route from the Green Line's Stadium Village stop, through Dinkytown to Hennepin Avenue, and then south via Hennepin, 44th Street, and France Avenue to the Southdale Transit Center, replacing most of route 6.

The corridor serves an area from the Saint Paul Union Depot to the Mall via parts of the Metro Green Line and the Metro Blue Line, and a route running parallel to West 7th Street, which runs southwest from Downtown Saint Paul.

The Metro system's rail lines use a combination of exclusive and shared right-of-way, depending on the circumstances.

Many stations on the line were initially built to be capable of serving only one- or two-car trains, as a cost-saving measure; all of the shorter platforms were designed and built with future extension in mind and currently all stations are capable of serving three-car trains.

Type I LRVs are Bombardier Flexity Swifts, utilizing a low floor for accessible boarding at all stations.

During this time, Type I cars also were retrofitted with colored LCD headboards for route destination displays and other improvements.

[40] These used a modified center-truck design that allowed sideways-facing seating in the center section,[41] for better passenger flow.