MN: Metro Transit saw overall ridership growth in 2024, as transit patterns shift from rush hour to other times of day

Despite continuing declines during weekday rush hours, Metro Transit saw an overall gain in ridership for the fourth straight year in 2024, providing more than 51.8 million rides.

A jump in riders taking trips in the middle of the day and using rapid bus service wiped out losses experienced during traditional commuting periods and a late-year slump, fueling an overall 6% growth in ridership over 2023.

Nevertheless, ridership last year remained well below pre-pandemic levels. Metro Transit ridership hit a peak of 85.8 million in 2015 before slipping to 77.9 million in 2019, the year before the onset of COVID-19. Transit agencies have been trying to catch up ever since.

“The peak of the peak in the morning used to be 7 a.m. and that is where we are seeing our biggest declines,” said Joey Reid, a Metro Transit data analyst. He said there were also notable, if smaller, declines during the afternoon rush.

Reid suggested the rush-hour commuter market may be tapped out, as many workers continue to work at home or go into the office for only part of the week. Metro Transit is adapting to that trend by tailoring service to meet emerging and changing travel demands and patterns with new services and routes, he said.

“The investment we have made in high-use corridors, like the Green Line and D Line, have led to pretty big ridership returns,” he said at a Metropolitan Council Transportation Committee meeting this week. “We have more investment coming in really great corridors. We can be really hopeful about ridership on those corridors.”

Metro Transit’s bus rapid transit lines (BRT), which feature less frequent stops than regular buses and offer faster trips, saw some of the largest growth last year. BRT ridership was up at all hours of the day except for the 6-9 a.m. period. Overall, more than 8.3 million rides were taken on Metro Transit’s five BRT lines — A, C, D, Red and Orange — from January through December, marking a 13% increase over 2023.

The rapid lines are part of the agency’s “Network Now” initiative to grow ridership, enhance mobility and meet travel needs over the next two years. The Gold Line, which will run between downtown St. Paul and Woodbury, opens March 22. Two other BRT lines will open by the end of the year, and two more could be operating by 2028.

Local buses continue to be the workhorse of the transit system, providing nearly half of all rides taken. Light rail accounts for 30% of trips, and rapid buses 16%.

Vanpooling, the Northstar Commuter rail line and special services for people with disabilities (such as Metro Mobility and Metro Move) all saw slight increases last year, according to Met Council data. A bill was recently introduced to shut down the struggling Northstar line, following a report that bus service between the Twin Cities and St. Cloud would cost much less.

In the metro suburbs, SouthWest Transit and Plymouth Metrolink public transit systems each saw ridership grow by more than 20% last year, the data showed. Expansion of on-demand shared ride or micro transit service might explain those numbers, Reid said; SouthWest and another suburban transit agency, Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA), have expanded their on-demand programs in recent years and are extending transportation to festivals, concerts and sporting events to attract riders.

Nevertheless, MVTA saw a year-over-year decline of 3% in ridership.

“They are struggling, as we are, to recapture commuter express,” said Reid. “That market is not coming back in a robust way. They are looking for ways to implement things that are different to capture transit ridership.”

All modes of public transit — local bus, rapid bus, express/commuter bus, light rail and commuter rail — experienced some downturn in the last quarter of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. Ridership declines across the entire metro transit systems were sharpest on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but ridership numbers increased by double digits on weekday afternoons and weekend evenings.

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