CO: Mountain Metro Records Highest Ridership for the Month of October Since 2009

Mountain Metropolitan Transit (MMT), reports the highest ridership in one month since 2009. MMT local fixed-route bus service provided 252,738 one-way trips during October. The October 2013 figures are up 7.3 percent over October 2012.

MMT attributes the increase in ridership to increased service — which provides riders with more options — enhanced marketing and promotions efforts, and a general trend of more local citizens getting to work on bicycles, walking, and using public transportation. As reported earlier this week, in a study released by CoPIRG, Colorado Springs came in eighth for American cities with the largest decline in proportion of workers commuting by private car.

“With the addition of evening service, Saturday service, and our efforts to improve operational efficiencies, we have been able to give riders more options. If you couldn’t use the bus system because your job ran into the evening or you needed to work on Saturday, now you can,” said Craig Blewitt, director, Mountain Metropolitan Transit.

Blewitt commented, “We are also stepping up our marketing and promotions efforts including a focus on outreach via social media, television commercials, and a push to conduct free travel training classes with local groups who are interested in learning how to use the bus system and local employers whose employees can benefit from using the bus to get to and from work.”