As Metro Transit tries to lure commuters back onto buses and trains, it's eliminating the surcharge for local rush hour routes starting in 2025.

Why it matters: Transit ridership has been slow to recover. Last year it was still 41% below pre-pandemic levels, and while it's up nearly 9% this year, much of the rebound has come from people riding to events or errands.

• Morning rush hour ridership remains down a whopping 65% compared to 2019, according to Metro Transit numbers.

Driving the news: Metro Transit staff on Monday presented to the Met Council an overhaul of the agency's fare policy designed to appeal to the people who ride to and from their jobs.

By the numbers: Currently, riding a non-express bus or train during morning and evening peak hours costs $2.50. Starting Jan. 1, local rides will be a flat $2 at all times. (The change will not affect express bus routes.)

• People who qualify for reduced fares will pay $1 for all rides.
• All-day pass prices will be cut from $5 to $4; 10-ride passes will be cut from $20.50 to $20; and a 7-day pass will drop from $24 to $20.

The big picture: The changes are also part of a broader effort by Metro Transit to make riding simpler.

• Starting in the spring, the agency will begin to install new fare collection machines that will allow passengers to tap their credit card instead of having to get a Metro Transit Go-To card and load it up with credit.

Between the lines: Metro Transit estimates that the fare reductions will result in an additional 900,000 rides in 2025, but will reduce revenue by about $4 million.

What we're watching: If Metro Transit will also eliminate the peak hour surcharge on express bus routes.

• The agency plans to study the issue and come back with a potential comprehensive transit policy proposal in the middle of 2025.

Keep reading for more ticket price cuts...

This North Minneapolis yellow rambler may not look like a landmark, but it might soon be one.

Context: The house at 8th Avenue N and Upton is where Prince Rogers Nelson lived between the ages of 6-12, according to historian Kristen Zschomler, who has been working to preserve homes where the music icon lived.

The latest: The city's Historic Preservation Commission last week approved the home's nomination as a historic landmark, and it will now be studied by city staff.

In the application, Zschomler writes that Prince basically taught himself to play the piano in the house by mimicking songs he heard on TV.

• "This is where it all happened" for Prince musically, his cousin Charles Smith, is quoted as saying.

Related: Prince's "Purple Rain" house in Minneapolis is becoming an Airbnb

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💰 3M spinoff Solventum pledged to keep its headquarters in Minnesota after the state granted it a $13 million subsidy to help renovate a new Eagan campus. (Star Tribune)

🏛️ A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against the state trooper who fatally shot Ricky Cobb II. (WCCO)

🗳️ The Minnesota Republican Party scored a pre-election victory when the state Supreme Court ruled Hennepin County must remake the panel that oversees the county's absentee ballots. (MPR News)

• The court ordered the county try to reach out to more of the GOP's preferred judges by Friday.

⚽️ The Gophers face Penn State in round one of the Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament at the U's St. Paul campus tonight. (Bracket)

❤️ Your Valentine's Day plans are made: The next season of the Netflix series "Love Is Blind" — which is set in Minneapolis — will premiere on Feb. 14, 2025. (Announcement)

Editor's note: This item was corrected to reflect that the University of Minnesota is hosting the Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament at the U's St. Paul campus (not in Minneapolis).

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty isn't on the ballot this year, but she's still showing up in campaign ads.

State of play: GOP-aligned groups are funding mail pieces and digital spots seeking to tie vulnerable Democrats to the progressive prosecutor whose charging decisions have at times prompted public backlash.

Driving the news: Axios has spotted the tactic used against former state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart, the DFL's candidate in the high-stakes Senate special election, and Rep. Zack Stephenson, a swing-district Democrat who works as a prosecutor in the Hennepin County Attorney's office.

• The attacks accuse Johnson Stewart of being "soft on crime" by backing Moriarty's 2022 bid and Stephenson of working with a "radical liberal."

What they're saying: Johnson Stewart told Axios she "will not be supporting [Moriarty] if she runs for re-election."

• "It is clear to me that our vision of public safety and crime prevention are not aligned," she said in a statement.

Stephenson, who started his job under former County Attorney Mike Freeman, endorsed one of Moriarty's opponents in the 2022 primary.

• He told Axios recently that it's "fair to say that there are some issues where we have a pretty significant difference of opinion," but said it wasn't appropriate to comment beyond that on her performance given his role as a civil servant.

Zoom out: This attack ad strategy of focusing on progressive Minneapolis Democrats isn't new.

• GOP ads have for years used U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Attorney General Keith Ellison.

More political news: Royce White declares "war" over GOP mailer...

Readers in the west metro might want to stock up on extra candy.

The big picture: About 13% of Minnesota residents are between 5 and 14, aka prime years for trick-or-treating, according to the latest U.S. Census American Community Survey data.

• But in several metro counties, including Carver, Scott and Wright, the share grows to 15% or more.

🎃 Go deeper with interactive state and national map.