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Last updated on May 21, 2008

Cities Area Transit (CAT), as the public transportation provider for Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN will coordinate and provide a multi-modal system of transportation resources. Cities Area Transit will promote mobility by developing, providing, maintaining and supporting the development and delivery of public transportation services. These services will be geared toward improving the quality of life for residents and increasing the economic vitality of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.

Description:
The City of Grand Forks provides transportation to the cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Service is provided to East Grand Forks through a cost-sharing contract between the cities, which has been in place since 1982. The goal of the contract is to provide a seamless service between the two cities and any changes in service must include approval from elected officials of both cities.
Grand Forks Public Transportation Department operates three separate and distinct transportation services. These three services are the City Bus fixed route service, the Dial-A-Ride paratransit service, and the Senior Rider service.

History:
The street railway system on both the local and national levels represented a stage in the evolution of public transportation.

The use of the electric streetcar as a means of public transportation resulted from the inadequacy of the horsecar, the principle mode of public transportation prior to the electric vehicle.

A horse utilized by a transit company averaged only five hours of service a day, consumed approximately 30 pounds of hay and other grains daily, required the service of veterinarians, blacksmiths and hostlers, and sustained a short life expectancy. A transit company purchased approximately seven times as many horses as cars.

The electric vehicle traveled under six miles per hour, frequently derailed, halted service under conditions of extreme snowfall, and could not be used on steep grades.

In Grand Forks, the street railway system was the response to the demand for adequate public transportation by a growing population in the late 19th Century. Horsecabs, the existing mode of transportation, were too expensive; the average fare was fifty cents per ride at a time when “a dollar would buy three meals and a room for a day in a hotel. This need led to the first attempt to create a street railway system for the city.

On April 20, 1887, the Grand Forks City Council approved its first franchise for the construction of a street railway. The franchise stipulated construction commence within 90 days and that one mile of track be completed within one years time. Construction never began and a street railway in Grand Forks never materialized.

In 1892, the “sprawling city of 5,500 inhabitants became excited over the prospect of a real electric streetcar line, which would run through its unpaved streets to the far reaches of the city.” On May 2, the city council granted a second street railway franchise to the “projectors” of the community and several St. Paul businessmen.

On August 2, 1892 a survey began, and with it came a series of problems and delays. The firm in charge never laid any track. The actual completion of a street railway line in Grand Forks took place over 15 years later.

In 1904 another attempt for a street railway system began under the direction of Webster Merrifield, President of the University of North Dakota because of the distance between the University and the city. “Several professors and businessmen founded the Grand Forks Transit Company. By the early months of 1904, Merrifield and the Transit Company accumulated $15,000 through the sale of stock.” The company began initial construction of the University Avenue line.

Actual construction under the supervision of Andrew Morrison, the University Registrar, began on July 13 after the directors finally decided to employ electric power. The directors approved the use of electricity after a second generator was installed in the University powerhouse. The laying of steel rails began on University Avenue directly in front of the present day Gamma Phi sorority house, and reached the Great Northern Railroad crossing on October 6, 1904. The switchboard arrived shortly thereafter. October 10, 1904 witnessed the operation of the first streetcar in the city; it ran from the University powerhouse to the railroad crossing. Construction ended at the junction of First Avenue and Third Street on November 20, 1904, and shuttle service began on a half-hour schedule. An estimated 300 people rode the streetcar daily and at times reached a peak of 800 a day.

Initiative for a second streetcar line came from Robert B. Griffith, and resulted from the fact that the University car operated almost solely to the advantage of the students while the growing metropolis of over 12,000 people remained without a means of public transit. Griffith organized a streetcar committee within the Grand Forks Commercial Club; together they started amassing the necessary construction monies, but encountered great difficulty because other projects competed for the limited capital of the city. The streetcar committee also went before the city council and requested a franchise. On September 2, 1908, the franchise was granted to:

E.J. Lander, John Dinnie, W.H. Kelsey, E.H. Kent, and O.A. Webster, their successors and
assigns, the authority, right and privilege to build, equip, maintain and operate a street railway line
or lines with single or double tracks together with all necessary sidetracks, turnouts, switches,
loops, poles, wyes, conduits, and appliances in connection there with in, over, across [sic] and
along the following streets, avenues, bridges and public places within the limits of the city of
Grand Forks, North Dakota.
The above-mentioned streets included Skidmore (Gateway Drive), DeMers, International, Woodland, Minnesota, Belmont, Boulevard, L’Hiver, Second and Tenth Avenues and on Chestnut, Conkling, Third and Fifth Streets.

October 3, 1908, marked the beginning of construction. On that day the citizenry and a band gathered on south Third Street and listened to an optimistic address given by Edward J. Lander, President of the local Commercial Club.

By 1913, the Grand Forks Street Railway Company operated lines from the downtown district to the University, Lincoln Park, East Grand Forks, the State Fair Grounds and Riverside Park. These five lines constituted the entire amount operated throughout the lifetime of the Grand Forks street railway system and totaled approximately 8.5 miles. The company purchased and operated 16 streetcars during the system’s existence.

In 1921, the Street Railway Company entered a very critical period. The purchase of the six Birney cars, the cost of paving requirements, the issuance of bonds and the outstanding loans for operations put the company heavily into debt. Although the streetcar era of prosperity generally continued until roughly 1927, the national system started to decline thereafter. In Grand Forks, the decline began in 1930 with the purchase of two buses and ended in 1934 with the change to a total bus system. The street railway system in Grand Forks and in the nation’s other cities, declined primarily because buses were more versatile. It also declined as a result of the financial burden created by the paving requirements and the increased usage of the private car.

Shortly before the complete switchover to buses, on July 1, 1934, the only remaining streetcar clanged through the city of Grand Forks for the last time.

Contact people:

Roger Foster, Superintendent, (701) 746-2590, (email) Dale Bergman, (701) 746-2591, (email)

Office fax number: (701) 746-2582

Address:

867 S. 48th Street Grand Forks, ND 58201 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.grandforksgov.com/bus

Directions:

Travelling North on I-29 entering Grand Forks, exit at the Demers exit. Turn left (West)and travel approximately 1/4 miles and then turn left (South) and travel approximately 1/2 mile. We are located on the left in a large building with a sign for Grand Forks City Bus.   Nearest Bus Stop: Jefferson Bus Lines co-locate with us., Here minute walk

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