Why do blackout plates begin with the letter Z?

There is no question Minnesota’s blackout license plates have been wildly popular.

Vehicle owners through Nov. 17 had purchased nearly 225,840 plates featuring white letters against a black background, making them by far the top-seller of the 123 specialty plates offered by the Department of Vehicle Services (DVS), according to an agency spokesman.

Each plate costs $15.50 plus a minimum annual contribution of $30 that goes to fund DVS operations or to organizations or a designated charity.

With the exception of specialized plates, blackout plates follow a conventional alphanumeric configuration of three letters followed by three numbers. William Greene is one of several Drive readers who have noticed that other than vanity plates, all blackout plates all start with the letter Z, and wanted to know why.

“Is there a reason for this?” he asked in an email.

Not particularly, said DVS spokesman Mark Karstedt.

“I wish I could tell you something exciting like the Z on the plates was motivated by a fondness for Zorro,” he joked. “But the truth is in our DVS system we have to designate a series for each plate type. It just so happened that Z was available, so we went with that.”

With so many blackout plates in use, Karstedt said DVS has nearly exhausted its supply of combinations beginning with the letter Z and will soon inverse the order so they will begin with three numbers followed by three letters.

“We expect to be issuing plates with this configuration before the end of the year,” Karstedt said.

Reduced transit service Friday

Twin Cities transit agencies will reduce service on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, and the same will be true Friday as demand is typically lower on the day after the holiday, Metro Transit said.

All fixed-route Metro Transit buses and light-rail trains will follow Sunday/holiday schedules on Thursday, meaning fewer trips and more time in between runs. The Northstar commuter line will not run Thursday.

On Friday, a majority of buses and trains will follow a Saturday schedule, but the agency will operate special trips on some routes that don’t normally run on Saturdays. That includes the 94 express between Minneapolis and St. Paul and some express trips from the suburbs. Routes that don’t have service on Saturday will not operate.

A few routes, such as the 705 that runs from Brooklyn Park to St. Louis Park and passes through New Hope and Crystal, and the 717 from Plymouth to Brooklyn Center, will run regular weekday schedules on Friday. Metro Transit Micro, the agency’s on-demand service, will operate both Thursday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Northstar trains will follow a regular weekday schedule.

A complete list of what is running Thursday and Friday is available at metrotransit.org.

Minnesota Valley Transit Authority will run only one route Thursday, the 495 from Shakopee to Burnsville, the Mall of America and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On-demand rides via Connect will not be available.

On Friday, routes that run on weekends will operate. Additionally, select trips on express routes 460, 477 and 490 from Burnsville, Apple Valley and Prior Lake to Minneapolis, and Route 480 from Burnsville, Apple Valley and Eagan to St. Paul will run. A complete list of services is available at mvta.com.

Neither Plymouth Metrolink nor Maple Grove Transit will operate on Thanksgiving Day. On Friday, Maple Grove Transit will run Route 781 between the Maple Grove Transit Station and downtown Minneapolis with seven trips in each direction.