Just as clouds may have a silver lining, so does road construction season.

Consider MATBUS. Moorhead’s 11 bus routes currently are winding their way through seven detours. But that’s not all bad, says Lori Van Beek, who’s seen plenty of change since she began working with the public bus service 32 years ago.

One such forced rerouting has been such an improvement that it’s going to become permanent. It’s on Route 5, the south-side circuit surrounding the Highway 75 overpass across Interstate 94. When construction made its original turn onto Eighth Street almost impossible, the bus route’s east-west path was rerouted a few blocks east of the highway past the Safari Theatre, Grand Inn, Essentia Health and the Azool Shopping Center. It crosses back to the west at Hornbacher’s – where there’s a stoplight.

Not all adjustments have been so beneficial, the Moorhead transit manager acknowledges. Some areas, like downtown Moorhead, have left back-tracking the only option. Others – Route 5 again– require relocated bus stops, like the shelter near M State. It’s been moved to 24th Avenue, now that left turns onto 28th Avenue are forbidden.

Does all this sound confusing? Lori laughs. “Our drivers do have to check out the notice board pretty carefully at the beginning of every shift,” she acknowledges. “But we’ve been able to keep up – and stay on schedule – pretty well. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has been wonderful about keeping us in the loop.”

Most routes can maintain their 30-minute circuits between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., despite accommodating detours, lane closures and heavier traffic on detours. “The new Route 5 is actually faster,” she points out. The evening route that circulates around the college campuses from 6:45 to 11:15 p.m. has been stretched out to 45 minutes, however: “There’s just no way to make it faster. It has to double back a lot to get around detours and traffic.”

Lori has managed Moorhead’s portion of the Metropolitan Area Transit System since 1990. She was the city’s community development specialist for three years, mastering the basics of federal rules and grants during the demolition of the old Moorhead Armory. She brought that useful familiarity to the bus system, where it comes in very handy; community transportation depends heavily on federal funding, along with support from the cities of Moorhead and Fargo.

The city pays Lori’s salary, along with two other employees stationed, as she is,at the huge Metropolitan Area Transit offices and bus barn at 25th Street and Seventh Avenue North in Fargo. The 55,000-square-foot facility, completed in 2007, houses all the system’s vehicles overnight, including Moorhead’s 11 buses – each costing $450,000. The facility includes an area where mechanics maintain and repair the fleet, along with the XX-large version of a car wash, where every vehicle is showered clean every night.

Part of the facility is reserved for the corps of bus drivers who muscle the buses around town, from West Fargo to Dilworth and north of Hector Airport to the south Fargo Walmart. They’re employed by First Transit, a national company that contracts with the local system.

The entire system generated 2.1 million riders last year. Some of them take the bus to be kind to the environment. Some can’t afford cars. Some simply value the cost-conscious convenience of riding rather than driving … and avoiding the hassle of parking.

Half of the buses’ regular riders, Lori says, are college students, who ride free with U-Passes provided by the four colleges. The rest are a diverse assortment, from very young to very old. Day cares, for example, transport their youngsters to the library or swimming pools. Elementary, junior high and senior high students are getting around on the special Summer Youth Pass, which offers three months of rides for just $26. Each group accounts for 2 percent of passengers.

Four percent of riders, according to Lori’s statistics, are senior citizens, and 14 percent are people with disabilities. The remaining 28 percent are described merely as “adult.”

“Ridership is down a little this summer, beyond the normal dip when the colleges aren’t in session,” the manager notes. It could be due to construction, she suggests. Alternately, she credits increased bicycle traffic throughout the metro area. In a tip of the hat to the two-wheeled trend, Moorhead buses have been equipped with front-end racks that can carry two or three bikes.

One rockin’ pink bus is in a category of its own. LinkFM circulates every 15 minutes between the downtowns of Fargo and Moorhead. Originally intended to provide parking solutions for Fargo’s downtown workforce, the free route got off to a slow start a year ago when the parking lots threatened by dike construction stayed open longer than expected. “We’re seeing a steady increase, now that the Fargo lots are closed,” Lori reports. LinkFM usage peaked during the Scandinavian Hjemkomst Festival, and is expected to surge again during Fargo’s Downtown Street Fair this month.

One obstacle to increasing bus ridership, she notes, is the ever-changing faces who board them. Nationally, about 4 percent of regular riders come and go every year. And figuring out how to use and navigate the system requires some getting used to.

Lori is happy to refer would-be riders to the wonders of the Web. MATBUS.com and its mobile app provide both an orientation to routes, fares and procedures … but a surefire way to track times and locations.

In addition to regular printed bus schedules and maps, she points to the app (available at matbus.mobile.com) as a 21st century wonder. Using their smartphones or computers, riders can track the progress of every bus on every route and get up-to-the-minute readings on when they will arrive at any stop on their routes. Their locations are scanned by GPS and updated every 10 seconds.

Google, too, has done its part to make riding easy. Google Maps’ new tool – added in April – calculates the best routes, stops and transfers to get anywhere in the Fargo-Moorhead. The detailed instructions can be tailored for departure time and a choice of fewer transfers, less walking or fastest.

Lori adds that the transit system is using every communication mode possible to keep riders up to date with changes and adjustments, including Facebook, Twitter and email alerts, as well as lower-tech postings in every bus.

“We seem to be doing pretty well at keeping everyone informed,” she says hopefully. “Despite all the projects going on all over the whole community, it’s working out for most everyone.

“Thank goodness its summer, and things will be back in shape by the time school starts again,” she adds. “Now, if we had this going on in winter, it would be a whole different story.”