Rider's Almanac Blog

Rooftop solar panels keeping the light on at bus shelters

Posted by Drew Kerr | Feb. 29, 2024

Have you noticed solar panels on the top of some of our shelters? Since 2022, these roof-mounted solar panels have been used to keep the lights on at 19 shelter locations in Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, and Saint [...]

Community Shelters St. Paul

Leukemia diagnosis, love of transit lead mother-daughter to Adopt-A-Stop program

Posted by Drew Kerr | Feb. 29, 2024

People have a lot of reasons for adopting bus stops and light rail stations through the Adopt-A-Stop program. For Keshawn Williams and her daughter Josephine, the inspiration came from an unlikely place – a leukemia diagnosis that [...]

Fares

New fare technology will bring many benefits, including contactless payments

Posted by Drew Kerr | Feb. 28, 2024

Angst over lost fare cards and long lines to buy tickets after big events will be things of the past after a planned upgrade to fare validators found at stations and on vehicles. The upgrade – the first in 20 years – will allow riders to buy [...]

Expanded on-board presence coming to Metro Transit’s light rail lines

Posted by Drew Kerr | Feb. 22, 2024

As another step in the continued effort to improve the transit experience, a new team dedicated to assisting riders will begin traveling on light rail vehicles on Friday, Feb. 23. Duties assigned to Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) [...]

Ridership

Annual transit ridership grows 16% as bus service expands

Posted by Drew Kerr | Feb. 13, 2024

Metro Transit provided nearly 45 million rides in 2023, a 16% increase from 2022 and the second consecutive year of growth following a pandemic-driven drop in ridership. Average weekday ridership was 136,893. The 2023 total includes more [...]