Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2007
METRO TRANSIT SETS RIDERSHIP RECORD
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL – (Sept. 25) – Metro Transit today reported record ridership for the month of August.
The agency recorded 7.36 million bus and train rides last month – the first time in 25 years that ridership for any single month exceeded 7 million.
August ridership was 5.3 percent higher than August 2006.
Monthly ridership gains are attributable to a number of factors, said Brian Lamb, general manager. They include higher ridership due to the collapse of the I-35W bridge, spiking fuel prices, a general frustration with congestion and record State Fair ridership. (Nine of the 12 days of the fair are recorded in the August results.)
Ridership on express buses was up nearly 17 percent to 1.1 million while core urban local route ridership was up 3.3 percent to 5.1 million. The Hiawatha light-rail line contributed 864,000 rides to the monthly total, 10 percent lower than last year due to the closing for 12 months of Humphrey Terminal Station for airport construction. The station re-opened to rail service this month.
For the entire State Fair, Metro Transit recorded 986,114 rides, up 5.8 percent, or nearly 53,600 more rides than last year. State Fair ridership set a Metro Transit record. Nearly 30 percent of those attending the fair arrived on a Metro Transit bus.
For the first eight months of the year, Metro Transit has tallied 50.3 million rides, up 4.8 percent, or 2.3 million rides, over the same period last year.
“We are well ahead of the pace needed to exceed our 2007 goal of 75 million rides,” Lamb said.
Metro Transit is a service of the Metropolitan Council. Customers boarded its buses and trains 73.4 million times last year.
-30-
(Editors: For information call Bob Gibbons, director of customer services, 612-349-7509 or via e-mail at robert.gibbons@metc.state.mn.us)
