MSP Transportation Options- A Complete Guide

1. Citywide (MSP Transportation)
   Twin Cities Pricing Page
   Outside the Twin Cities Pricing Guide
2. Airport Taxi Services
3. Uber / Lyft
   Their App needs to be downloaded to your phone
4. Public Transportation Bus Service (Twin Cities Only)
5. Public Transportation Train Service (Twin Cities Only)
6. Group Ride Shuttle Service
7. Bus Services outside the Twin Cities
8. Amtrak Train Service
9. Park & Ride or MSP Airport Parking
10. Limo Services

We offer travelers a seamless and comfortable transportation experience. With our dedicated and meticulously maintained vehicles, including the Lincoln MKS and the Yukon XL, we prioritize both quality and affordability. We understand the importance of reliability, and our commitment to timely service sets us apart. If you seek a personalized journey from cities like St. Cloud to MSP, Citywide is your ideal partner, providing efficient and cost-effective options to meet your travel needs. Experience a hassle-free, door-to-door ride to and from Minneapolis MSP Airport with Citywide, ensuring a memorable start and finish to your travels.

Most, if not all service the MSP airport. The downside to using a Taxi service is reliability, communication and no upfront pricing but in a pinch, they are a good option. Most Taxi services pick you up and drop you off at the MSP airport in the ground transportation area. This means a little extra walking underground or the upper walkway to the main terminal. Pricing will depend on the distance and the type of car you need. Expect to pay between $30 and $75 for a basic ride.

They offer very competitive pricing, forcing the local Taxi service to alter the way they do business. But with the cheap prices come some downsides as well.

Keep in mind the drivers have no idea where they are expected to go until you get in the car and they are only paid while you are in the car. What this means to you is, say the driver lives and works in Burnsville (a Southern Twin Cities area) and you want to go to Cambridge (A far Northern Twin Cities Location). The driver has no idea that he/she will have to travel an hour North of the MSP airport to drop you off and then they must either find a ride back to MSP which means waiting up to several hours for a ride if it comes at all. Otherwise, they must drive back to their home area on their own dime, paying for the gas as well.

So, a driver will ask you where you are going and if they do not want to go to that area, they will just tell you they are not available. This isn’t so bad when going from MSP to your destination because there are normally plenty of drivers to pick from but if you are going from say Cambridge to MSP and the driver says no, you are out of luck and the chances of finding another driver are very slim leaving you to find an option B.

Understanding the schedules and routes can be a little daunting (I am being kind) but if you take the time to familiarize yourself, it can be a great option for a lot of people in and around the Twin Cities Metro Area. The major downsides would be bags and no door-to-door pick-ups. You can, however, get right to or from either Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 at the MSP airport. There will be some walking as they cannot get you right up to the Arrival or Departure areas but for $3.00 to $5.00 per person it’s a very cheap way to travel. Reliability is usually not a problem, but they will not wait for you so be sure to be early.

The commuter rail system has 2 basic parts. The Northstar and the Northstar Link.

Think of it this way. The Northstar gets you to and from Minneapolis and then the Northstar Link will bring you to various places like downtown St Paul, the Mall of America (MOA) and to the MSP airport. Expect this system to continue to grow over time but like the bus system, it can be a little difficult to understand and again there is no door-to-door pick-ups so you need to get yourself to the transfer station. You can also expect some walking once you get to the MSP airport so if you have a lot of bags, this would need to be considered. It will end up costing you less than $15 a person so the price is hard to beat. Be sure to look at the 2nd part of your trip that there is a way back with your return times.

when weighed against convenience would be to drive yourself to either an outside parking lot close to the airport and shuttle in from there or park directly at the MSP airport and walk to the terminal. You also have the option to stay at a hotel close to the airport the day before deciding with the hotel to leave your car there until you return. Pick a hotel close to the airport and one that has an in-house shuttle service. The money you pay for the hotel against the money you would pay to park your car can be close to a wash.

If choosing a Park & Ride parking lot, most of them are open lots. Some have covered locations, but this could be an important consideration in the winter months. These places run a continuous shuttle between their lots and the airport, so you generally don’t have to wait more than 20 or 30 minutes in either direction.

Most of the parking at the MSP terminals are covered but they are a bit more expensive than the outside lots. You can also expect to do some walking so be sure to drop your luggage off 1st before heading to the TSA lines or have someone wait by the luggage carousel while someone heads out to fetch the car.

Limo services are by far the most expensive. Private car services use slightly older model cars, 6 – 8 years old instead of 1-2 year old cars. The difference in pricing can be anywhere from 10% to 50% less with a private ride car service such as Citywide.

Citywide uses a 5 year old Lincoln MKS or a 6 year old Yukon XL for our black on black car service. Both meticulously maintained and very clean, but they are not 2022 or 2023 vehicles. So, if this is important to you, your best bet is to do a search for a limo company out of Minneapolis for your ride to MSP.

Keep in mind, say you live in St Cloud, and you need to get to MSP. The operating cost to hire a company out of Minneapolis would be exactly the same as the operating cost of a company out of St Cloud. They both travel almost the exact same distances. So, when pricing, be sure to not only look in your city but include any city that may be large enough to have a limo service along the route of travel.

I’d like to think that they no longer exist because of my service but actually you can blame the Uber / Lyft phenomenon for that. A lot of the major cities lost this type of service back when Uber and Lyft took off. It made their service very difficult to operate under and still make a profit.

Outside the Twin Cities however you still have one major option that will service a variety of cities around Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. That would be Groome Transportation. Rochester Shuttle does the same thing but they only service the route between Rochester, MN and MSP.

These services offer very inexpensive rides to and from the MSP airport and even offer Door-to-Door pickups in some areas for an additional fee. They run scheduled rides, anywhere from 10 – 20 rides a day between various cities and the MSP airport. This means your wait time is generally around and hour or less. Expect to pay between $30 and $60 a person without door-to-door pickups or drop offs.

The down sides are:

1. You need to adjust your schedule to theirs
2. If you are running late, they will not wait for you and catching another ride can be questionable.
3. You will pack yourself in a van with 13 – 14 other people you don’t know.
4. There will most likely be several stops along the way to pick people up and/or drop them off.
5. If you have a lot of bags, or larger pieces of luggage they may not be able to take you on as a customer.
6. Most will not allow pets. Service animals may or may not be an exception, you would have to check with them.

There are other private services that charter bus services, but these services require quite large groups. I am focusing on single or double ridership here with companies that run a scheduled service.

Bus services are cheap, comfortable but have very limited times and routes, the rides are two or three times the direct driving time. There are a lot of stops, there is no door-to-door pickup and again, you are stuck in a confined area with a lot of people.

outside of the public transportation train that only services inside the Twin Cities.

The two biggest downsides to using a train service such as Amtrak would be the very limited routes and times of travel. The second would be you will have to make a transfer to get to the MSP airport. But for reliability and comfort, the train service is a decent option.