Two years ago, the Metropolitan Council embarked on an all-too-rare governmental effort — to redesign an unwieldy program with the goal of making it more efficient and equitable.
The program was the dial-a-ride transit service being delivered in the seven-county metro area by a hodge-podge of 14 different providers — some of them community and social-service agencies. The program had developed over several decades with the help of federal and state funding — and without a lot of regional oversight.