100 million transit trips in Minnesota

From Barb Thoman, Executive Director

Transit service across Minnesota is taking people to the places they need to go. MnDOT’s 2011 Transit Report provides a summary of the “state of transit” in Minnesota, with information on providers, level of service, investment, and ridership.

In 2010, 100 million trips were taken on public transit in Minnesota. Our state’s residents rode to work and school on systems large and small. They caught the bus to the doctor in Roseau and to a summer community education class in Rushford. By the end of 2011, 70 of the 80 counties in Greater Minnesota had county-wide transit service – a dramatic increase from only 35 counties with county-wide service 20 years ago. 

All seven metro counties have transit service. Ninety percent of transit trips occur in the Twin Cities Metro Area, in part because service there is better funded, more widely available, and a greater density of destinations and riders make service easier to provide.

Some interesting things in the report: 

• State support for intercity bus service, primarily provided by Jefferson Lines, has lead to greatly increased ridership and declining costs. The state supports intercity connections between Minneapolis and Duluth, Rochester, and Sioux Falls; and service between Fargo, Bemidji, Grand Forks, and Wadena. 

• Transit providers with the lowest cost per rider are University of Minnesota transit, Winona Transit Service, St. Cloud Metro Bus, and Hiawatha light rail. Minnesota transit service cost numbers compares very favorably with peer agencies around the country.

• MnDOT estimated that currently only 60 percent of the transit need is being met in Greater Minnesota. Another $140 million annually will be needed to ensure that service is available in all counties and that routes and the frequency of service meets community needs. The report did not contain an estimate of the unmet transit need in the metro area as the Metropolitan Council would more appropriately make that estimate. 

Here is a link to the full report:

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/reports/transitreports/11/index.html