Missoula Mountain Line fixed-route ridership increased 21 percent since launching seven-day and seven-night service in July

Missoula, Mont., Mountain Line fixed-route ridership has increased 21 percent since launching seven-day and seven-night service in July. The agency provided a total of 220,429 rides on its fixed-route service in April through June, compared with 267,175 rides July through September.

“It’s fantastic to see Missoulians using the long-requested later-evening and expanded weekend service,” said Corey Aldridge, Mountain Line CEO and general manager. “This increase in ridership reenforces that Mountain Line is essential, valued and widely used.”

 The agency found a nine percent increase in average weekday ridership, a 59 percent increase in average Saturday ridership and an average of 1,319 trips per day on its new Sunday service. A rider getting on and off the bus is considered one ride or one trip.

Mountain Line fixed-route ridership has also increased 35 percent from August and September of 2021 to August and September of 2022.

The agency’s expanded service also benefits seniors and people living with disabilities who use Mountain Line’s paratransit and shuttle van services. Paratransit ridership has increased 59 percent from last year during the same period.

“Mountain Line benefits us all by helping students get to school, employees get to work and seniors and those living with disabilities remain mobile and active,” Aldridge said. “Even those who don’t ride benefit from reduced traffic congestion, decreased parking demand, cleaner air and a healthier, more equitable community.”

The July service expansion was a direct response to public input gathered during Mountain Line’s strategic planning process that began in 2017 and culminated in 2020 when voters approved the agency’s service-expansion initiative by a 20 percent margin.