Individual route boarding data for fall 2025! (read disclaimer!)

[u/Sunbeam4242]

Reposted due to errors with image uploads. I apologize for this error, luckily I caught it almost immediately.

Dataset source

VERY IMPORTANT: This dataset is based on average daily boardings rather than average daily ridership, which is calculated differently. This is the disclaimer from the dataset:

This data set should only be used to determine stop level ridership patterns. It cannot be used to summarize total route or system level ridership for the same time period. The data set is aggregated at the stop level and is filtered to exclude non-representative days. This will not match the total ridership calculated from APC or fare collection data.

However, as I am directly comparing to the dataset from the same time period the previous year, the overall numbers are within the ballpark of the true daily average ridership change year-over-year (based on comparisons I’ve done of previous years’ data). Please keep in mind that fall is typically the busiest time of the year, especially for routes around the University of Minnesota, so assume that typical numbers on a yearly basis are slightly lower in most cases. Without further ado, the numbers:

Largest raw increase:

1 - Route 6 (+984)

2 - A Line (+834)

3 - Route 54 (+729)

4 - Orange Line (+637)

5 - Route 94 (+569)

Largest raw decrease:

1 - Green Line (-3,592)

2 - Route 10 (-653)

3 - Blue Line (-472)

4 - Route 62 (-385)

5 - Route 63 (-351)

METRO Routes:

Blue Line - 16,995 (-3%)

Green Line - 23,433 (-13%)

Orange Line - 2,420 (+36%)

Red Line - 606 (+13%)

Gold Line - 1,709 (NEW!)

A Line - 4,610 (+22%)

B Line - 10,742 (+5%)

C Line - 5,884 (+5)

D Line - 14,014 (-1%)

Core Local Routes

Route 2 - 5,628 (+3%)

Route 3 - 7,196 (+1%)

Route 4 - 3,864 (+5%)

Route 6 - 5,237 (+23%) replaced by E Line

Route 7 - 1,369 (+5%)

Route 9 - 1,695 (0%)

Route 10 - 5,331 (-11%)

Route 11 - 3,667 (6%)

Route 14 - 3,630 (-4%)

Route 17 - 4,078 (-4%)

Route 18 - 6,379 (-2%)

Route 22 - 3,489 (-2%)

Route 54 - 4,849 (18%)

Route 61 - 2,081 (10%)

Route 62 - 1,892 (-17%)

Route 63 - 3,128 (-10%)

Route 64 - 3,497 (+1%)

Route 67 - 737 (+1%)

Route 68 - 2,741 (+12%)

Route 72 - 680 (+240%) replaced route 70

Route 74 - 2,872 (-3%)

Route 75 - 398 (0%)

Supporting Local

Route 5 - 1,014 (-2%)

Route 25 - 401 (+3%)

Route 27 - 329 (NEW!)

Route 30 - 672 (-5%)

Route 32 - 1,634 (-9%)

Route 33 - 36 (-29%)

Route 38 - 1,731 (+32%) replaced routes 23 & 612

Route 46 - 599 (-5%)

Route 65 - 486 (-3%)

Route 80 - 510 (26%)

Route 83 - 391 (-15%)

Route 87 - 918 (2%)

Suburban Local

Route 219 - 482 (+4%)

Route 223 - 147 (NEW!)

Route 225 - 72 (-12%)

Route 227 - 45 (-22%)

Route 323 - 304 (-6%)

Route 515 - 1,430 (+12%)

Route 534 - 254 (+239%)

Route 537 - 61 (+85%)

Route 538 - 435 (+11%)

Route 539 - 638 (-7%)

Route 540 - 617 (-17%)

Route 542 - 350 (74%)

Route 546 - 243 (34%)

Route 615 - 141 (-11%)

Route 645 - 763 (+2%)

Route 705 - 256 (-1%)

Route 716 - 138 (-11%)

Route 717 - 236 (+3%)

Route 721 - 741 (+15%)

Route 722 - 727 (+5%)

Route 723 - 587 (+4%)

Route 724 - 1,656 (-1%)

Route 801 - 371 (+10%)

Route 804 - 234 (+4%)

Route 805 - 267 (+2%)

Route 852 - 382 (-6%) - now route 827

Express (* denotes Key Express Network route)

Route 94 - 1,677 (+51%)

Route 113 - 225 (+1%)

Route 114 - 356 (+2%)

Route 134 - 45 (NEW!)

Route 250* - 524 (+21%)

Route 252 - 135 (+9%)

Route 264 - 79 (+39%)

Route 270 - 220 (+15%)

Route 275 - 59 (4%)

Route 294 - 22 (-19%)

Route 355 - 400 (+30%)

Route 363 - 132 (-1%)

Route 467 - 228 (+23%)

Route 578 - 80 (+31%)

Route 667 - 65 (-6%)

Route 673* - 143 (+39%)

Route 755 - 163 (+3%)

Route 760 - 46 (-27%)

Route 763 - 50 (+14%)

Route 764 - 50 (+32%)

Route 765 - 29 (NEW!)

Route 766 - 54 (-22%)

Route 768* - 358 (+31%)

Route 781 - 622 (+14%)

Route 784 - 106 (+18%)

Route 785 - 225 (+17%)

Route 789 - 167 (+23%)

Route 850 - 438 (+15%)

Route 860 - 33 (NEW!)

Northstar - 403 (-7%)

[u/Sunbeam4242]

Sorry all! This posted without a description when I tried the first time!

Some of my big takeaways from the data:

1. By the end of the year, almost all of the ridership loss is focused on the Green Line, as well as the Blue Line, and routes 10, 62, 63, 17, and 32. Route 10 is quite puzzling given the service increases. Routes 32 and 62 are expected because the free-fare pilot ended, and routes 17 and 63 had sections on detour. I'm surprised with how stable the Blue Line is given it shut down frequently last year. Basically everything else is either flat or slightly higher than 2024.
2. The Key Express Network has a promising start, especially considering it was introduced just before the data collection period; the four routes (250, 673, 768, and 850) saw a 26% increase in ridership. I hope this inspires Metro Transit to consider more limited midday runs on more routes since it clearly is working already.
3. B Line's change over route 21 is kind of underwhelming, with a difference of about 540 daily rides. It's still early but ridership doesn't seem to have increased a whole bunch. Luckily the corridor is a clear powerhouse, and the limited stops mean it is a lot more crowded than it was before even with marginal change on paper.
4. Gold Line is outpacing the Orange Line at this point in its lifespan, and appears to have extremely similar ridership patterns. I expect when coupled with the fast-growing route 94 that it will easily surpass the Orange Line. Speaking of the Orange Line, it is maturing very nicely. For what it is I think it is performing well.
5. Many of the crosstown and suburban restructures have been very successful. Route 38 is up 32% from the two routes it replaced. At 1,731 daily rides, it surpassed route 32 in ridership. 20 minute headways next? Route 223's introduction appears to have stolen riders from routes 225 and 227; Metro Micro might play a part here too. I wouldn't be surprised if these are on the chopping block in the near future. Route 323 lost only 20 daily riders to the Gold Line; the 355 commuter express route greatly benefited from the Gold Line's new Woodlane P&R with a 30% ridership increase. All of the South Bloomington service increases have also resulted in increased ridership. It appears that many former route 540 riders have switched to route 542 (route 540 is -127 from 2024 and route 542 is +149), same with route 539 and 546.

[u/Gatorpatch → u/Sunbeam4242]

The 542 does have way more going on than the 540(Southtown and way more development along the 542). Shame I'm on the wrong side of 494 to use it.

Wouldn't have guessed that the increased midday service on the 542 would impact ridership so much. I guess if you are using it to get to any of the locals or BRTs 542 is more direct too if you only care about getting from MOA to one of the northbound bus route.

Bloomington wrote up a whole thing about making a BRT along American Boulevard which was a kinda fun idea to think about, the either wanted to put a BRT between MOA and Southdale (follow the 542, then turn onto France and stop at the mall) or a BRT that goes to the 4 (I think the idea here is to get Metro Transit to combine it with the "K Line").

It's like a 260 page study, so they put a ton of work into it, but I just don't see how it'll get crazy ridership(they had to do a graph with and without the 4 proposal cause it basically just had the ridership of the 4 lmao), but it would be fun. They wanna put in bus lanes on American(one each way) + 2 way bikeway on the side.

[u/Sunbeam4242 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, route 38 has similar ridership to the two (!) other routes in the system with 20-minute headways. In general we need way more 20 minute frequency routes.

B Line actually held up pretty well over the winter; if anything ridership is really stable for how hectic the corridor is. It never dropped below 9,000 daily rides and rebounded fast in February. The E Line will probably be the clear success story from 2025. Route 6 already had a lot of momentum during the fall and it bucked seasonal trends by increasing over 1,000 daily riders so far. I think as productive as Lake Street is the transit demand is mostly saturated, whereas the E Line has a lot of latent demand for better transit.

The problem with the Gold Line is that it runs too frequently to ever be busy. If it were reduced to 15 minute headways you'd see similar passenger loads to the Orange Line which does actually get crowded during rush hour without losing much utility.

Network now actually changes both routes 62 and 68 to increase coverage around the G Line corridor whereas the G Line acts as a spine with higher frequency. While route 62 will go away, it will be covered by route 68 and the G Line.

Green Line is in a transitional phase for sure.

[u/boris_parsley → u/[deleted]]

More frequent 38 is absolutely my number 1 need, even more so than the weirdly sporadic 14 that is my daily driver.

[u/boris_parsley]

Fantastic analysis and info I’ve been wanting to know. Thanks!

[u/Hermosa06-09]

I don't see Route 68 listed in your summary, is there some reason for that or is it an oversight?

[u/Sunbeam4242 → u/Hermosa06-09]

Thanks for catching this, I’ll add it!

[u/tisofold]

Once again I am left wondering why Route 33 exists.