Metro Transit Ridership Grows to 60 Million Through Q3; on Pace to Top 80 Million in 2011

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL – (Oct. 21) – More than 60 million served.

That’s the word from Metro Transit: Customers boarded its buses and trains more than 60 million times in the first nine months of 2011, a 3.6 percent increase over the same period last year.

Ridership so far this year is 60.6 million, or 2.1 million more rides than the nine-month period in 2010.

“Thanks to strong ridership results in the first nine months, we are nearly 900,000 rides ahead of the pace we need to achieve our 2011 ridership goal of 80 million,” said Metro Transit General Manager Brian Lamb. “The 80-milion mark has been exceeded only once in the last 30 years.”

Bus ridership accounted for all of the year-over-year gains, posting a 4.5 percent increase to 52.3 million.

Ridership increased in all three types of bus service. Urban local routes – the heart of Metro Transit’s all-day service – increased 4.3 percent, or 1.8 million rides to 43.8 million. Ridership on freeway-oriented express bus routes was up 5.1 percent, or 351,000 rides, to 7.3 million while rides on suburban crosstown routes grew 5.9 percent, or 70,500 rides, to 1.3 million.

Both the Hiawatha light-rail and Northstar commuter rail lines saw slight ridership declines in the January-September period – Hiawatha down 1.6 percent to 7.8 million and Northstar down 1.9 percent to 552,000. Although both rail services have seen increases in average weekday commuter ridership (Hiawatha up 1.3% and Northstar up 6.6%), they have been affected by fewer special-event rides to Twins and Vikings games and other large-scale downtown events. Northstar was also impacted by a freight train derailment near Fridley in mid-July halting all rail service on the BNSF Railways track for several days. Hiawatha light-rail is on pace to deliver the second highest annual ridership in the 7-year-old line’s history; last year was the highest at 10.5 million rides.

Student ridership is among the 2011 highlights. The nearly 20,000 students at the University of Minnesota who hold U-Passes took 2.8 million rides, up 1.1 percent, and students at other post-secondary schools took 1.1 million rides, up 2.8 percent. Teenagers using a new fare tool offered by interested high schools took 387,600 rides.

TRANSIT TECH TOOL USE BOOMING

Through September, 221,000 individuals used Go-To Cards to pay fares on Metro Transit buses and trains – more cards than were used in all of 2010. Go-To Cards can be reloaded and managed by web or phone and now make up 41 percent of all fare transactions. More than 13,000 Go-To cardholders have enrolled in Ride to Rewards, the transit industry’s first points-based loyalty program, which was launched late in 2010.

The agency’s website, metrotransit.org, topped 250,000 individual visitors to the site for the first time in the month of August and exceeded 750,000 monthly visits for the first time in September. The online Trip Planner notched five of the top 10 highest-use days in its 10-year history in the 3rd quarter. NexTrip, which provides real-time predicted departures from nearly 15,000 transit stops throughout the Twin Cities, was used more than 3.7 million times via metrotransit.org and metrotransit.org/mobile.

“Easy access to tools that allow customers to instantly plan trips, pay fares with just the touch of a card and see departures in real-time provides a new level of convenience,” said Lamb. “Offering customer service in person, by phone and increasingly over the Internet and via mobile devices attracts new customers to buses and trains.”

Metro Transit is a service of the Metropolitan Council.