MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Northstar Commuter Rail Line has seen a significant increase in ridership so far in 2013. Last month the line crossed the 3,000 boarding’s a day mark for the first time since the line became operational in late 2009.
Drew Kerr of Metro Transit describes the increase in ridership over the past year, “We’ve had a really great year so far—for the first six months we’ve had more than 380,000 passengers.” Kerr points to three factors that helped spur the jump in daily ridership. First, late last year the line’s seventh station opened, this one in Ramsey, and with that a new group of riders started to use Northstar. Second, the bad and lingering winter weather caused more people to choose Northstar over snow laden commutes. And, the third reason was simple – cost. “Last year we decided to reduce the fare” explained Kerr.
Metro Transit is committed to continuing to grow Northstar, in fact their current projections call for 5,890 riders per weekday by 2030. One way they are working to attract more people to the line is by expanding the amenities and amount of service. “By the end of the year we hope to have WiFi on at least one of the train cars” said Kerr. Metro Transit continues to add more special event service into Northstar’s schedule. The train runs to all Minnesota Twins games, it will service all Vikings games this fall, and also services large downtown concerts.
Even with the growth in ridership Northstar still receives a sizeable public subsidy. But, according to Metro Transit the line is performing on par with other commuter rail operations across the country. “We always want to see our ridership grow, but the line is performing at about the same level of its peers so we’re pretty encouraged by that.”
As Metro Transit works to grow Northstar there are also new transit options coming to the area including a new way for Anoka County residents to get to the State Fair. This year an express bus service will run from the Fridley Northstar station to the State Fair. A family four pack of tickets is available for $15. Also, the launch of the second light rail line in mid-2014, means Northstar riders will soon be able to connect to the University of Minnesota and downtown St. Paul.
While the Metro Blue Line, previously know as the Hiawatha Light Rail, has seen a decline in ridership during the first half of 2013 from 2012, the rest of the system has joined Northstar in outperforming the previous year. “We’ve had almost 40 million customer boarding’s so far this year,” states Kerr. “We think that’s a great show of support for our system, our buses, our trains—we’re really encouraged that more and more people are turning to transit.”
Related Links:
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