5 EYEWITNESS NEWS found there are mixed reactions to Metro Transit’s new Gold Line, which opens Saturday.

The Gold Line is a bus rapid travel route that runs from Woodbury to St. Paul, serving 16 total bus stations.

It serves the communities of Woodbury, Oakdale, Landfall, Maplewood and St. Paul.

It’s the first rapid bus route in Minnesota to primarily run in dedicated bus-only lanes.

Metro Transit said the project included construction of a new “guideway,” which is a road for Gold Line buses only built adjacent to Interstate 94.

The bus has its own lane for 70% of the 10-mile route, including both the I-94 guideway and red-painted lanes in the city of Woodbury.

Metro Transit said this means the bus will not get caught in traffic.

“The advantage of BRT over regular route buses is it’s faster, with more frequent stops. You really don’t have to look at a schedule because the buses run roughly every ten minutes,” said Laura Baenen, spokesperson for Metro Transit.

Baenen said 16% of households in the Gold Line service area do not have cars, so the route opens up new options.

“It does really help increase the connections, and I think as we continue opening these new lines, people are going to start to think about, ‘Oh, how can I use that?'” Baenen said.

Some who live in the east metro are excited for a new way to get into St. Paul.

“I’d like to go down there and leave my car behind, not worry about it. To me, that sounds like a great idea,” said Kim Nurkiewicz of Woodbury. “I think it’s a step in the right direction.

One Woodbury City Council member, however, has long opposed the Gold Line.

“I felt personally it was a complete and utter waste of money,” said Kim Wilson.

Wilson said her statements represent her own personal opinion and are not reflective of the City of Woodbury, which has supported the project.

“We build the Gold Line down a corridor that has hardly any development at all,” Wilson said. “And the problem with doing that is now we have to develop to support the Gold Line as opposed to the Gold Line going to where the development is happening.”

Some in the community also voiced concern about the red bus-only lanes in Woodbury taking away a lane of traffic for cars.

Others criticized the project for eliminating the long-standing express bus from Woodbury to St. Paul that had no stops in between, saying the new bus route will take them twice as long to get to the city.

Wilson said she is also critical of the $505 million price tag.

“Public transportation, I’m a huge supporter of. But do we need a bus-dedicated lane and half a billion dollars to get people from Woodbury to St. Paul? No, we do not,” Wilson said.

Metro Transit told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS there was a 14% increase in travel on their other rapid bus routes last year, so they are hoping the new Gold Line adds to the momentum.

The first rides begin at 5 a.m. Saturday, with a ribbon-cutting celebration at 10 a.m. at the Woodlane Station in Woodbury.

This is the first of three bus rapid travel routes Metro Transit is launching this year. The B Line between St. Paul and Uptown opens in June, while the E line between the University of Minnesota and Southdale opens in December.