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State Fair ridership sets new records

For immediate release

St. Paul, MN — September 11, 2007 — Final ridership figures for Metro Transit’s 2007 State Fair service show a record-breaking performance, with 986,114 rides during the 12-day event that wrapped up on Labor Day. With the final numbers, ridership is up 5.7 percent over last year, beating this year’s goal of 943,000 rides by 4.6 percent.

Metro Transit set another record, beating the previous one-day ridership total. On Saturday, Aug. 25, buses provided 115,500 rides, which surpassed by 6 percent the earlier record of 108,567 set on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2003.

Market share – the percentage of attendees who rode Metro Transit buses to and from the fair – was 29 percent, up nearly 2 percent over last year’s performance. State Fair attendance inched out 2006 numbers by roughly 1,100 visitors.

Rides taken on express service from 11 park-and-ride lots were up 35 percent to more than 411,000. One of the newest sites – the recently expanded ramp at I-394 and County Road 73 in Minnetonka – was also the most popular. Maple Grove Transit Station, which operated State Fair service on weekends only, and Oakdale Center, which offered daily bus service, grew by the largest percentages: 41.7 percent and 40.7 percent respectively.

Ridership at all express sites grew in comparison to last year except for Maplewood Mall, which switched from daily service in 2006 to weekend-only service this year.

As expected, ridership on free shuttles from lots near the fairgrounds was down compared with 2006, owing to the loss of thousands of parking spaces due to University of Minnesota stadium construction. Free shuttle ridership totaled 519,995, or 9.4 percent below last year.

The busiest free shuttle parking lot was Roseville High School, which produced more than 98,700 rides. The shuttle route serving the U of M 4th Street Ramp and various surface lots near the U Transitway recorded nearly 98,600 boardings and there were 90,800 rides taken at I-94 & Snelling Avenue.

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For more information contact, Bob Gibbons, director of Metro Transit customer services, 612-349-7509 or robert.gibbons@metc.state.mn.us.